William B. Richard World War II letters

Overview

During February 12 and November 2, 1945, Corporal (later Sergeant) William B. Richard wrote a collection of 15 letters to his mother, Mrs. Sarah Richard in Akron, Ohio. This object was made when he was stationed in Tezgaon, Dhaka in then-British India, in the China-Burma-India theatre of World War II. World War II was a global conflict that occurred during 1939 till 1945. The main countries involved were Germany, France, England, Russia and later on, the US. The US involvement was crucial to the victory of the allies. As seen from the one soldier, the US army was deployed worldwide even to India.

Ownership

The letters made by William B. Richard were purchased from Kurt Kitasaki, 2010. It was purchased from Kurt Kitasaki by the University of Pennsylvania in 2010, making the publisher now the University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts. There is no evidence of the object being copyrighted or licensed.

Physical Analysis

Substrate

The letter are composed of combination of different material however the most prominent is wood pulp based paper. This is due to the paper having a light tan color and a very thin and fragile feel. This is what was available at the time. There were consistently only 3 sheets of paper used in each of the letters. This limit can be explained with the wood pump shortage that occurred beginning in 1943 because of labor shortages in the US and Canada. Wood pulp supply fell from 12 million tons in 1942 to 11 million tons in 1943. Rationing controls on wood pulp began in late 1943 and lasted until 1945. https://albionalumni.org/chevrons/ww2/oth/w2pap.html

Pulp paper is made from timber cut into logs and then converted into fibrous masses. It is then placed in a digester for further pulp refining consisting of washing, screening and bleaching. Then, the pulp is treated to form individual fibers and is made into a furnish. The sheets of paper pass into presses and dryers and then cut. The production of pulp is around 200 mills and the paper production is 2000 mils. This intricate process was responsible for the formation of the letters William wrote to his mother.

The use of wood based pulp paper was essential to the war. Its utility spawned a number of industries. For example, it was needed for transmitting complicated data or instructions which were responsible for constructing new military equipment, for packaging especially food products and communication like letters. The industry had over 3,000 establishments and employed over a million wage earners. Furthermore, it was interconnected with other industries such as the electrical supply and transportation. When shortages began to emerge in 1942, it limited the amount of paper available for sending letters and for many other applications. https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/SCB/pages/1940-1944/3409_1940-1944.pdf

Format

The book object is a letter. The biographical format is three loose manuscript sheets. They are about 30 centimeters by 15 centimeters in size and are written on both sides. They are not folded so are therefore not a folio, quarto, octavo, etc. so it is three loose manuscript sheets. The object is not bound at all. It is made up of usually 3 single sheets of paper and they have no attachment to one another.

Historical Significance

World War 2

US involvement in India

World War 2 was a global war which began in 1939 due to German invasion and was followed by a defense of the allies France and England. US involvement began in December 1941 after the unprompted attack on Pearl Harbor as a declaration of war by the Japanese. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=c-NVDwAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PP1&dq=world+war+II+america&ots=p9D4QpKslJ&sig=ICcp8ixkGaPn9WYNtWz0unwpdbM#v=onepage&q=world%20war%20II%20 americanf=false

An often forgotten focal point of the war was the China-Burma-India Theater of World War II. The purpose of the US in this region was to protect China against Japanese invasion by giving them support in terms of supplies and some manpower alongside the other allies: the British, Chinese and Indian. The large number of troops made sure that the Japanese could not deploy their troops elsewhere, lessening their power globally. Only 3000 volunteers became dedicated US ground fighters. The main role of the US soldiers was to bring lend-lease supplies to China. This is what can be assumed that William was involved with. The surrender of the Japanese occurred on the 28th of August 1945. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/listen-to-8-people-describe-the-war-in-burma-in-their-own-words#:~:text=8.%20Japanese%20surrender,the%20surrender%20agreement%20at%20Rangoon.&text=By%20the%20end%20of%201944,the%20central%20plains%20of%20Burma. Therefore, based on the time period, William was present during the war and remained 3 more months once the War had concluded in order to aid in the readjustment of the area. https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/listen-to-8-people-describe-the-war-in-burma-in-their-own-words#:~:text=8.%20Japanese%20surrender,the%20surrender%20agreement%20at%20Rangoon.&text=By%20the%20end%20of%201944,the%20central%20plains%20of%20Burma. https://cbi-theater.com/menu/cbi_home.html#HISTORY

  Initially important to the Allied war effort because of plans to invade Japan from the Chinese mainland, it became mainly an effort to keep China supplied and in the war.  Allied forces, mostly British, Chinese, and Indian, engaged large numbers of Japanese troops that might have otherwise been used elsewhere.  The less than 3,000 volunteer soldiers who became famous as Merrill's Marauders, and the units of the Mars Task Force, were the only dedicated U.S. ground fighting forces in the Theater.
  America's role in CBI was to support China by providing war materials and the manpower to get it to where it was needed.  The majority of Americans in CBI worked to bring lend-lease supplies to China.  The Flying Tigers fought the Japanese in the air over China and Burma.  Army Air Forces flew supplies Over The Hump from India to China.  Merrill's Marauders and the Mars Task Force fought through the jungles of Burma.  Army Engineers built the Ledo Road to open up a land supply route.

From the 12,300,000 million Americans involved in World War 2 only about 2% were assigned to the Theater making each of their soldiers, William included, extremely unique. Given this scale, Williams' letters are extremely important in learning about this area of the war. Even in today's search of World War 2 material, the China-Burma-India is hardly covered. The remarkable efforts by the soldiers is often overlooked therefore it is crucial to gain understanding of this geographical area during the war. The letters take place past the main conflict period but still give great insights into what day to day life was like and some of the tasks the soldiers had towards the surrender of the Japanese. It is also important to have a letter from a US army official because it provides an alternative viewpoint and is perhaps slightly less biased than Chinese or Japanese writing. in terms of the day to day life there and other aspects of a soldier stationed in the rare place.

Importance to the Outside World

Letters have always been an important resource for biographical information. It allows for a more personal and raw intimate knowledge to be explored which is unique.

Hearing from Loved Ones

Letter writing is a very ancient practice which has long served as forms of expression for all members of society. Before the appearance of newspapers, letters were the only form to receive gossip and news. As other forms of writing developed, the letter has remained a unique window into the writer's mind and is crucial for human connection and emotion even when two people are very far apart. Letters, as physical objects, come directly from the hands of the sender. This creates a transient bond between sender and receiver that even a phone call cannot forge. Because the handwriting is familiar and the way words are said can remind one of the writer, it is not surprising the importance letters had to maintain morale during world war II. The most important use of letters was to enable communication which allowed families to not feel so distant during such a hard time. Being able to touch something that your loved one has also felt in a close amount of time made the war experience more bearable. Because of this, both the soldiers overseas and the family members in the US had motivation and energy to keep fighting in the hopes that one day soon they would be able to return home and hug their loved ones. Without a physical piece of paper, family members at home would grow stressed and worried not knowing if they were never going to see their loved one again. This also explains why these letters were kept. The letters Williams' mother was receiving could have been the last thing she had to remember him by in the case that he passed away. Furthermore, because this was such a remarkable time in history and, as mentioned previously, his unique geographical location in the global conflict she kept these as important artifacts of the future to be looked at and studied.

Importance at Personal Level

Letters like William’s had more significance than just to the world around him. Writing letters was a tedious task and it took time away from their tasks at war but the gains were not just for the readers. Writing was a form of self expression and a time for the writer to develop their own identity. This is extremely important especially in a war zone. All the soldiers had lost some sense of identity as they all became dressed in the same uniform and addressed the same way for one collective mission. These letters gave William a way of restoring himself and through his writing we see him create himself. He was able to express his sentiments and feelings in his own unique manner and reflect on himself in the process. Therefore it is fair to assume that even aside from the joy of thinking he is in contact with his mother it is also a moment to himself to reflect at such a difficult time. 

Rebecca 192

Masculine Emotion

These letters are also significant because they highlight the emotion or lack thereof of men on the battlefield. Before letter writing and even after it, it was uncommon for men to express their feelings or thoughts in such an open manner. There was hesitation and danger in spreading too much sentiment especially for a man at war. This can be clearly seen in Williams' own letters. Each letter starts off similarly where he mentions how he is fine and dandy. These words never change throughout the whole collection. It is unlikely that during his whole time at war he never felt any negative emotion or anything other than fine and dandy therefore this reflects the controlled and cautious action from men at war to never express their sentiments too deeply. This also probes the question of how insightful these letters actually are if there is always a lingering hesitation on the writer's part. Meaning that we would also not be able to learn from the letters about all the truly raw and unpleasant things that were happening.

Rebecca 191