Dear Virginia, It seems ages since I last heard from you. Your Valentine was very sweet, and I enjoyed it very much. I wish I could come up to see you. I will some of these week ends, wait and see. How is everything in Niagara? We had a strike down here at the chocolate works. It lasted 12 days. About all I have done for the last two weeks is stand on the pickett line. I am glad it is over. We won the strike, got our contract and our raise. I go back to work this afternoon in about a half hour. How is school going? I wish…

Dear Virginia, I received your letter to-day, and was certainly glad to hear from you. I sure miss you a lot. There isn’t much change around here, everything seems to be the same. I haven’t been out much, except last Saturday night I went to the Pontiac for the Presidents ball. Oh yes, I almost forgot to tell you, Sun. night Becky, and Romney Ingalls wanted me to go to Mexico with them so I went. Romney took Shirley, Beck took Frances, there wasn’t anybody else in town, so I had to take Lois. Hope you don’t mind. She told me she got a letter from Dan. She seemed all…

Dear Virginia, I am sorry it has been so long since I have written to you, but my brother brought your letter over to me just a short time ago, so I had to wait until I could get your address. Leon said he received a letter from you. He mentioned you were homesick for Mexico. I am living in Fulton now. My address is 604 Fay St., Fulton, N.Y. It is three houses from the P.C.K. Choc. Co. where I work. I have decided to stay here instead of going to Buffalo. I have a good rating here and I hate to leave. Please excuse the pencil, as I…

Dear Virginia, Received your letter today, and was supprised at you. I have no date with Shirley this Fri. night. If you don’t believe it, you may go down and stay with her and see if I come or not. I think you are just plain jealous, and behaving like a child. After all, we are not going steady and I didn’t say anything when you went out with Kenny last Saturday night. I don’t think I will be able to come down Sat. or Sun. this week, as I am going hunting. Sun. is the last day, and I have to go to work Mon. morning. So I will…

Dear Virginia, Well you see I didn’t forget to write to you tonight. I just came back from voting, and at the present time am listening to the radio. How is every thing with you? School going O.K.? Hope so. Well I got Danny home about 2:00 A.M. and I got home about 3:00. How did Lois like him? If Lois wants me to, I’ll bring Stanley down for her Saturday. Ask her, will you? And don’t forget to let me know by Saturday. I am staying with my brother for a while, so my address is Sterling Sta. in care of Rockwell Powers. Well I have to go to…

Dear Virginia, I just came home from work, so I thought I would write to you. How has everything been going this week? Please excuse the paper and writing, as I am all out of writing paper. What do you want to do Saturday? You name it, and we will do it. I was invited to Rochester to some friends of mine for the weekend, but I don’t think I will leave until Sunday morning. I have not received your letter yet, but I thought I would write just the same. I have another letter to answer this morning besides yours before I can get to bed. I don’t know…

Dear Virginia, Here goes your letter, although there isn’t much to write about. I guess I told you everything over the phone. Hope you get better soon, it’s awful to be sick. Well, what do you want me to say? I can’t think of anything. I didn’t find much to do tonight in Fulton, I didn’t feel like bowling, so I came home and listened to the radio. There weren’t even any pretty girls around. I guess a fellow has to go to Mexico to find them. (‘Or New Haven’) I would have come down to see you, but on second thought the place for a sick girl is in…

Dear Virginia,I received your letter yesterday and was glad to hear that Shirley wants to go with us Saturday. I have talked with Leon and I guess he is going to try to get away, so we ought to have some fun. What was the matter with “Pete” that she couldn’t go? Didn’t she enjoy her evening the other night? Well, there isn’t much to talk about. I have to go to work soon anyway, so I guess I may as well close. By the time you receive this letter it won’t be long until we see each other, so be good. Love,Harry P.S. Tell Shirley to live in hope.Bye,…

Dear Virginia,I imagine you think that I am a little late with this letter, but I have been so busy that all I have done is eat, sleep, and work. Have been picking apples 7:00 A.M. – 12:00 P.M. Working in the mill 3:00 P.M. – 11:00 P.M. How is school going? Getting good marks? You had better. You can tell Lois that I think I have Stanley lined up for her. I told him about her and the first thing he wanted to know was if she was 18 yrs of age. I told him she was, so you had better tell Lois to stick to it. He is…

Harry Powers July 4, 1920 – June 17, 2008 Harry was born to Harry and Zilpha Powers in Martville, NY.  He served his country proudly and sacrificially as a Tech Sgt during WWII in the U.S. Army Air Corps, 1942-1945. His B-17 was shot down over Schweinfurt, Germany on October 14, 1943, and he was taken prisoner by Hitler Youth. After spending 19 months in Stalag 17B in Krems, Austria, and being marched 350 km without food or shelter, he and his fellow POWs were freed by General George Patton’s army. He returned to the U.S. in June of 1945, marrying his sweetheart Virginia Foster on August 4, 1945. Harry…

Today I’m introducing a new project for this blog. It’s actually an old project, because I had started it a long time ago with another blog but never finished it. But it’s something that’s very near and dear to my heart, and I want to see it through this time. This is the love story of my grandparents, Harry and Ginny Powers, told through the letters he sent to her during and just before WWII. My mother has provided a proper introduction to this project… If you are an adult that has lost both of your parents, you probably can identify with the process of managing the loss and grief.…