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Great love
letters are
written,
not
tweeted.
fine stationery, pens,
handmade papers, cards
— 313 N. Front Street —
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down and they formed a line to pass
the ammunition to the guns. First
place was a song I never heard
‘White Christmas,’ it struck a high
spot by me too.”
This letter in particular, and one
on which Wieser drew stick figures
holding semaphore flags to tell Jean
he loved her, are among those that
captivated author Cindy Horrell
Ramsey of Pender County, who
interviewed Wieser and other veter-ans
for her 2007 book, “Boys of the
Battleship North Carolina.”
“It impacts you immediately as to
how young they were and how inno-cent
they were,” says Ramsey, who
found inspiration from the letters
for her next project — a novel to be
called, “600 Letters Home.”
Laura Stone’s November 1944
letter to her husband, Edgar Stone,
describes the weather as a dark, rainy,
blue day and how she wishes he was
there.
The letter also includes a note
from their daughter, Mary: “We
are listening to dark waters on
the radio. We are going to
see the picture of it. Mama
washed my hair and rolled.
Mama said she was going
to take my hair down in the
morning so it will be curly.”
The USS North
Carolina’s museum
archives are a treasure
trove containing
boxes of love letters,
sweatheart pillow
cases (left), Valentine’s
Day cards — even Jean
Coddington’s wedding
gown (seen opposite).