GENEALOGY CHALLENGE 2021Wartime Letter III - January 26th entry of a 31-day challenge to post a document, photo or artifact on social media every day in January.
by Nancy Gilbride Casey
My grandmother Margaret Simonik Kozlina, received several letters from her friend Katherine "Kay" Kurutz, an Army Nurse, during WWII. They were sent via the "V-Mail" system, designed to make frequent and efficient mail delivery possible during the war.
The holiday greeting, above, was one of several standard cards which were printed for service members to share with their families. Of the four pieces of mail in the group my grandmother received, this is the earliest one, sent in November of 1943.1
The last piece was a pre-printed forwarding address form, which Kay filled out and sent on to my grandmother. This one is full-size, not microfilmed like the others.2
After discovering these letters, I wanted to find out what had become of Grandma's friend Kay.
Newspaper research revealed that WWII was not the end of Kay's military service. A hometown item in The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pennsylvania) in October 1950 noted that she was stationed in Korea—just after the beginning of the Korean War.3
In 1954, she was stateside at Camp Pickett in Virginia.4
By 1959 she had risen to the rank of Major, and was honored for her outstanding achievements, while on assignment in Landstuhl, Germany.5
I wish I knew if Grandma and Kay kept in touch as they continued their lives—Grandma raising her four children, and Kay pursuing her nursing career. Even though their lives were very different, knowing my Grandma, I believe she would have held tight to the bonds she and Kay shared before and through the war years.
Katherine Kurutz died in 1992 and is buried at St. John's Cemetery in Connellsville, Pennsylvania—near where she and Grandma had first become friends.6
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1 Lt. K.R. Kurutz, ANC (England) to "Greetings from Britain," V-Mail letter, 22 November 1943; privately held by N. Gilbride Casey, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] Tioga, Texas, 2021.
2 Lt. K.R. Kurutz, ANC (England) to "Effective Immediately," V-Mail letter, 5 July 1945; privately held by N. Gilbride Casey, [ADDRESS FOR PRIVATE USE] Tioga, Texas, 2021.
3 "News of Men and Women in Uniform," The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pennsylvania), 30 October 1950, p. 8, col. 6; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39249907/katherine-kurutz-at-army-hospital-in/ : accessed 25 January 2021).
4 "Personal Mention," The Daily Courier (Connellsville, Pennsylvania), 29 March 1954, p. 2, col. 1; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39249993/capt-kurutz-visits-parents/ : accessed 25 January 2021).
5 "Nurse Given Army Honor," The Evening Standard (Uniontown, Pennsylvania), 2 April 1959, p. 1, col. 5; digital image, Newspapers.com (https://www.newspapers.com/clip/39249993/capt-kurutz-visits-parents/ : accessed 25 January 2021).
6 Ancestry, Find a Grave (https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/99427966/katherine-r-kurutz : accessed 26 January 2021); memorial 99427966, Katherine R. Kurutz (1915-1992), grave photo by WichitaFalls.
Wouldn't it be interesting to discover that her nurse friend kept the V-letters she received? Maybe someone reading will know...
ReplyDeleteWouldn't that we wonderful? I have not looked into it, though I believe she had siblings. I might be able to find out if they had descendants. It appears that Kay did not marry and had no children. Thanks for reading.
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