Milwaukee City Hall |
Postcard from |
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May 1945 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
[ Postmark: Charleston, South Carolina, 25 May 1945 ] Thurs. Dear Bill — Love, [ To: ]
The building patriotically carries a three-line banner: Enlist in |
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Wilfred R. Franson, a U.S. Army Air Forces instructor in celestial navigation for pilots at Charleston, South Carolina, was attending a school at Homestead Army Airfield in Florida. His wife Vera Howe Franson, for a period a civilian instructor in celestial navigation for Army pilots, remained at Charleston while he was at Homestead. Some Army acronym hierarchy: Wikipedia articles on Florida World War II Army Airfields Vera Franson's use of "w", initial letter of Wilfred, replacing "u" as an abbreviation for "you" in the common postcard catch-phrase wish you were here, is I believe a deliberate typographical pun. That is, she wishes Wilfred were in Charleston with her. I suspect she also would have been happy if they were together in Milwaukee. Vera was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin; hence her choosing a hometown postcard to send from Charleston, South Carolina, where they lived during the latter years of World War II. Milwaukee City Hall at Wikipedia Victory in Europe was very recent: Nazi Germany surrendered on 8 May 1945. |
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© 2013 Robert Wilfred Franson |
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