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What Was Important to Mom: The Last Roll of Film

  (An out of town trip waylaid continuing to write Jane's story so I have not completed the next post in the series. I'll be back to that next week, promise. In the meantime, here's another post I had ready to go.)   My mom—Ann Margaret Kozlina Gilbride—has been gone since 2010, but I got a glimpse into her life recently: I developed the last roll of film discovered in her 35mm camera. There was nothing really earth-shattering in the photos. Still, they spoke of my mom in subtle ways. And there were a few connections that I made to my current life. I wish I knew the exact years the images were taken, but I can only estimate. It turns out the date stamp was incorrectly set, so all the photos are stamped with '94. I'm guessing that the photos were taken between October when Mom had her birthday, and June or July of the following year. Other clues in the images tell me they were likely taken about 2005-2006, give or take a year.  There are no people in any of the ph...
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GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021 - Wartime Letter


GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021

Wartime Letter - January 22nd entry of a 31-day challenge to post a document, photo or artifact on social media every day in January.  

by Nancy Gilbride Casey

 

When my grandmother Margaret Simonik Kozlina (1913-1988) passed away, a cedar chest full of her possessions passed to my mother, Ann Kozlina Gilbride, and in turn when she passed away, I was fortunate enough to inherit most of the items in the chest. 

Amongst Grandma's things were a few very small letters in military envelopes, marked "V-Mail," "Official Business" and "War Department."  The letters themselves look as if they were a photograph or a print from a negative, as the surface of the letter is shiny. And, they appear to be shrunken down somehow, as I can't imagine that anyone could write that small and expect the letters to be readable.

The letters were from a Katherine "Kay" Kurutz (1915-1992), my grandmother's friend, who was an Army nurse, stationed in England at the end of WWII. There are two letters, dated in May and July 1945. I've transcribed the first below; the second will follow in tomorrow's post.1



May 8, 1945

Dear Margaret, 

   To-day is a great day for the British. We were 

expecting our boys to go a bit wild but I am

proud of them. The really are sensible over the

whole thing. Even though the war in Europe is over

we still have the Japs to lick. I'm afraid 

our unit will get a trip there. I certainly hope

not, but I wouldn't be too surprised to find

myself in the Pacific. We all want to move

to the U.S.—anywhere in the U.S.

   We had a Thanksgiving mass at 11 a.m. to-day. The

whole post is celebrating V.E. day. The British

are doing most of the celebrating. 

   How's the baby getting along? Next thing 

you know the baby will be going to First Communion,

too. How did Cleveland behave when V.E. Day was

announced?

  I hope I can soon be writing to you from 

a place where I won't have to post an A.P.O. # in my 

address. God Bless you on Mother's Day.

            Love, Kay


The baby referred to is my aunt Marian Kozlina, my mother's sister. The family lived on Waterloo Road in Cleveland at the time. 

I'll transcribe the second letter for tomorrow's post, and will have more info on V-Mail to share.


NEXT UP: Wartime Letter II

 

1 K.R. Kurutz, ANC (England) to "Dear Margaret" [Margaret Kozlina], V-Mail letter, 8 May 1945; privately held by N. Gilbride Casey, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] Tioga, Texas, 2021. I identified Kay's identity via her memorial on FindaGrave, as well her newspaper obituary. 

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