I don't know when this letter came to be in my house, but I found it today. It's a love letter from a Melbourne girl to a US Marine in 1943. Fortunately, the marine had an unusual name, so this is the story! Letter dated 7 Aug 43, Tuesday night (7 August was a Saturday, 7 September was a Tuesday and the letter is postmarked 8 Sep 43, so she was so giddily in love she got the month wrong) from Win (?) Wilson, 1 Killeen Avenue, Brighton, Vic. “My darling, you’ve just been gone for ten minutes - but I thought I’d write this short note instead of waiting till tomorrow. I hated to see you go tonight - that’s how I feel every night but it felt worse this time Johnnie - I love you so darling - please always take care of yourself won’t you? This is a senseless sort of letter sweet - but it was just to tell you that - how much I love you so goodnight now Johnnie - always Win” The first two images show the front and back of the envelope. The third looks like a partial red-lipstick kiss on the folded letter and the fourth is the letter. It didn't take much digging to find that the marine was Cpl. John T. Wojtkowiak, Jr., of 2934 9th Street, Wyandotte, MI. Incredibly, his picture is on Facebook (pictures five and six) with this write-up: ""GUARDING THE BEAUTIES: PFC Albert E. Joreid, Jr., USMC, of 112 Rockway Boulevard, South Ozone Park, NY, left, and Cpl. John T. Wojtkowiak, Jr., of 2934 9th Street, Wyandotte, MI, stand guard at the dressing room door as two of the showgirls head for the stage to give a performance. The photo was taken at a recent Marine–Australian party somewhere in the South Pacific. "Australia9 April 1943. Albert Erling Joreid was born in Queens, New York, on 10 May 1923, and grew up in Ozone Park with his parents, Albert and Stella, and younger sister Ellen. He attended John Adams High School prior to enlisting in the Marine Corps in January 1942. Joried had his baptism of fire at Guadalcanal with Company A, 1st Marine Regiment, and spent several peaceful months in Australia, where he helped organize (and fight in) inter-unit boxing matches. Perhaps his record with morale-boosting measures won him the best guard duty in the First Marine Division – protecting the showgirls' dressing room during a vaudeville performance. Joreid's break from the war was all too brief. He would go on to fight at New Britain and make the landing at #Peleliu – but never got farther than the beach. He was hit by a shell and killed on 15 September 1944. John Wojtkowiak was more fortunate; he also fought at Guadalcanal and New Britain, but transferred back to the United States before Peleliu. He was honorably discharged in October 1945, and passed away on 22 March 2000.Photographed by Cpl. George Sylvester. Official #usmc image no. 57502"

@Julianne Anderson thanks for joining the community. Seems like we've known each other for ages! This community has been in somewhat of a hiatus for a while, as you can see, but hopefully that will change

I found this website today, https://www.britishbattles.com/ It has detailed articles on battles from 43AD to 1916. Recommended

This community embraces three of my passions, military history, genealogy and stamps. The about page says it all, and I look forward to some in-depth research. Introduce yourself here and include your country, as I'd like to map the membership for collaboration purposes

A British soldier leaning against a jeep. He's a corporal, possibly a sergeant (the armband may be covering a third stripe (chevron). The cap badge is very helpful by it's shape, despite the poor detail in the image. The armband helps to identify the cap badge. The armband is a Military Police band, which was always worn on duty, and was a red MP on a black background, which is a good example of the detail that is lost in a copy of a copy of a black and white image. The badge is Royal Military Police. The jeep can be identified as British, post WWII, by the tiny light on the wing above the wheel. These were fitted from 1949 onwards. There's little else that's useful, except that I know that this is my Dad in Malaya at the start pf the Malayan Emergency, so I've cheated a little. I've "back-engineered" this image to show the little details that emerge when you look closely. BTW, he swore that was a cup of tea in his hand, not a drink!