Daniel White Letters
The letters exhibited here represent a small portion of several hundred letters written from Daniel White to his wife Shirley Presser White during the time that he was in the Army from June 29, 1942 until his return from Italy in August 1945. These letters were discovered in a well-cared for box by their sons, Larry and Kenny White, following the death of their mother in 2017. Danny White lived his entire life in New York City when he was drafted and then inducted into the Army. After training, he and Shirley married in New York City on October 16, 1943 and four days later, he was shipped overseas. He initially served in the 88th Division until he was transferred to the 91st in mid-1945. While in the War, he served as a Private, but was soon promoted to a Staff, then Technical Sergeant. He received a battlefield promotion to Second Lieutenant in March of 1945, where his brother, Louis, was there to congratulate him during the commencement ceremony. He received several commendations, including the Bronze Star for “heroic achievement in action” in 1944. He returned to the U.S. at the end of WWII after serving 678 days in Italy. He returned to Italy in 1968 to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary with his wife, Shirley.
“My dearest, [I] received a few more of your V-notes during the past two days and I grow more and more perturbed at why you haven’t heard from me in almost a month.” -Daniel White, Letter to Shirley, December 13, 1944
During WWII, soldiers relied on the mail service to send letters home, to recount their experiences and share their feelings of homesickness and longing to be with their loved ones. V-mail, short for Victory Mail, was a hybrid mail process used by the United States during World War II as the primary and secure method to correspond with soldiers stationed abroad. V-mail correspondence was on small letter sheets (7 by 9 1⁄8 in) that would go through mail censors before being photographed and transported as thumbnail-sized image in negative microfilm. Once the V-mail arrived at their destination, the negatives would be printed (Wiki 2020). V-mail saved space on military cargo planes and was a more efficient means of transporting mail. However, this was a long process, usually taking up to one month, resulting in constant delayed arrival of letters and packages.
“My very dearest, Today the bells in Italy are ringing wildly-we got the news at 8pm last night over the BBC Radio and it was kind of hard to believe for a while. We all stood around and looked at each other-not knowing what to say or how to say it. There were no wild cheers or great exultation-the boys more or less sighed, smiled and exchanged handshakes.”-Daniel White, Letter to Shirley, May 3, 1945
In this letter, dated May 3, Lieutenant White is writing to Shirley to announce the surrender of German forces. Hitler was dead by May 1 and within 24 hours, the Germans had officially surrendered to Allied forces in Italy and parts of Austria. This statement reflects the various emotions that soldiers felt at hearing the news of Hitler’s death and Germany’s surrender-disbelief, shock, fatigue, and relief. White also goes on to say that the war still isn’t over,”…until the sound of the last rifle shot has echoed throughout the world.” Even though Hitler’s reign was over, marking the end of the War in Europe, White was prescient in noting that WWII would continue to ravage on.
“Already the wheels of demobilization have begun-four men have left the company since Thursday for the States…”
“It can only be a matter of two or three months at the latest before I start back unless they have other plans for us veterans.” –Daniel White, Letter to Shirley, May 6, 1945
The War Department initially projected demobilizing 2 million soldiers in the year following the victory in Europe: 50 percent of this total were in Europe, 33 percent in the Pacific, and 17 percent had already returned to the U.S. after an overseas assignment (Wiki 2020). On V-E day, 3 million American army men were in Europe [Ziemke, p. 320]. Army and Army Air Force units in Europe were classified into four categories for the purpose of occupation, redeployment, or demobilization. After the war ended in Europe, Lt. White’s division, the 88th Infantry, was classified as an occupation division and was stationed in Italy guarding the Morgan Line.
“I take great pleasure in writing this-the last of such missives to emanate from a foreign source, and now we can both give our weary hands a long deserved rest.”
“…Please be patient these next two weeks as they will seem to go very slow, but go they shall and then one fine day I shall be standing somewhere in New York with you securely in my arms and the misery and appalling loneliness of some six hundred and seventy eight days gone completely from my heart!”
–Daniel White, Letter to Shirley, August 13, 1945.
This is Lt. White’s final letter to his wife Shirley, written within 36 hours before he was deployed back to the United States. White had previously been transferred to the 91st division in June of 1945, which placed him on a faster track to be deployed home. In this letter, Lt. White squelches any concerns that Shirley could have about his remaining in service and being deployed to the Pacific, which became a reality for many soldiers in lower ranking positions and other branches, such as the Marine Corps. White reunited with Shirley in late summer/early fall of 1945 and lived out his remaining days with her until his death in May 2003 at the age of 88.