When 450 love letters written by her father to her mother during WWII made their way from storage into her hands, Jenny did not, at first, know what to do. These were not, after all, letters written to her, and she was a little nervous about what would she might find.
What she found was not only a compelling love story but a history lesson and a touching understanding of her father’s deep patriotism. What she found was a love story that took place against the backdrop of war. What she found was the power of found letters to open portals unimagined and got to know her father who died before she got to know him well as his adult daughter.
There was a war, but Rol was too old for the army or so they thought, and they made their wedding plans. Rol and Virginia were in love and life looked good as far as the heart could see. Until one day in February came crashing down on them a reality that the sweethearts had not anticipated. Rol Jett had been drafted and had to report for duty on February 28th. The wedding was cancelled. Would he ever come home and would they ever get married? They had no idea.
Jenny talks about her father’s life as a soldier in the jungles of New Guinea in 1944, too far away to imagine and yet committed to writing letters to the love of his life, letters that were fun and filled with romantic specifics. You can see in Jenny’s face how happy she was to learn of her parents’ passion for each other and the singular delight in realizing she was born 9 months from the day he got home.
You will be able to revel in the joy of these letters when they appear in the book LETTERS LOVE AND LONGING, MY PARENTS’ WWII STORIES. Me, I can hardly wait.