Operation Homecoming

Writing the Wartime Experience

Sullivan Ballou, Read By Edward Gero (Civil War)

Major Sullivan Ballou was in his early 30s when he joined the Union Army’s Rhode Island Volunteers. At the outbreak of the Civil War. Actor Edward Jarrow reads from Major Blue’s now famous letter to his wife. July 14th, 1861. Washington, D.C. my very dear Sarah, the indications are very strong that we shall move …

Read more

Samuel Cabble, Read By Ed Bishop (Civil War)

Whether sent by email from a Navy carrier today or by a letter courier in the American Revolution. Love letters home are a constant across the centuries. Writing his wife in June 1863, Samuel Campbell of the Massachusetts 55th Volunteer Infantry expresses his love for his family and his determination to end slavery here. Ed …

Read more

Hazel Jane Raines, Read By Diane Cooper-Gould (WWII)

Hazel Jane Raines perfected her piloting skills as a barnstormer in Georgia air shows during World War Two. Raines first served the Allied cause as an Air Transport Auxiliary pilot for the RAF in England. When the U.S. military finally accepted women pilots. Raines returned to the states and joined the Wasps, pulling targets for …

Read more

Hugh Alexander Leslie, Read By Edward Gero (WWI)

Throughout history, the sailors life has always involved risk and peril. In World War one. A terrible new danger was introduced. The submarine attack. In the following letter, a young Navy sailor from Texas, Hugh Alexandra Leslie, tells his family about the sinking of the USS President Lincoln. Actor Edward Giraud reads a selection from …

Read more