Grab the Tissue Box, Because these Historical Letters are Heartbreaking

Grab the Tissue Box, Because these Historical Letters are Heartbreaking

Shannon Quinn - October 31, 2022

Grab the Tissue Box, Because these Historical Letters are Heartbreaking
Letters from World War II correspondence. Credit: Midcentury Modern Mag

“The Moon Shines On You, Too”

Here is another love letter from Pauline Elliot to her husband Frank, which was written on June 5, 1944. The truly tragic thing about this letter is that it was written the day before he died. So there was no way that Frank would have ever seen this letter.

“June 5, 1944

Darling,

This is a beautiful summer evening, darling. I am sitting at the kitchen table (and not even noticing the noise of the refrigerator) from which place by merely lifting my head and looking out the window, I can gaze upon a truly silvery, full moon. It’s beautiful, dear — really beautiful, and it has succeeded in making me very sentimental. I had begun to think that I was becoming immune to the moon’s enchantment — so often I have looked at it without you and to keep myself from going mad told myself “It’s pretty, yes — but, so what?”

That’s not the way it really is though, darling — the sight of that shining moon up there — the moon that shines on you, too — fills me with romance — ; and even though it’s just a dream now, it’s a promise of a glorious future with one I love more than life. The darned old moon keeps shining for us, darling — and even as it now increases that inescapable loneliness, it also increases my confidence in the future.

I truly love you”

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