60 years ago: I was a young Marine and was temporarily in Japan far, far, far away from home. Our only contact with anyone back home was via mail, the kind you write on paper, put in...

jwhphotos Loc: Maryland

I was a young Marine and was temporarily in Japan far, far, far away from home. Our only contact with anyone back home was via mail, the kind you write on paper, put in an envelope with a physical address and stamp. The letter would then arrive one or two or three weeks later.

Here is a 60 year old pic of one of my comrades writing home.

PhotogHobbyist Loc: Bradford, PA

I was not as far from home but I remember doing that same thing 51 to 55 years ago.

kpmac Loc: Ragley, La

We could call home from Germany when I was there but you had to get on a list and wait for your turn to come up.

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

I was a young sailor 50 years ago and further away from home in the Philippines. And was reminded frequently that I didn't write home nearly often enough!

jwhphotos Loc: Maryland

Retired CPO wrote:

I was a young sailor 50 years ago and further away from home in the Philippines. And was reminded frequently that I didn't write home nearly often enough!

Me too

Retired CPO Loc: Travel full time in an RV

jwhphotos wrote:

Me too

Manglesphoto Loc: 70 miles south of St.Louis

jwhphotos wrote:

I was a young Marine and was temporarily in Japan far, far, far away from home. Our only contact with anyone back home was via mail, the kind you write on paper, put in an envelope with a physical address and stamp. The letter would then arrive one or two or three weeks later.

Here is a 60 year old pic of one of my comrades writing home.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I found some letters that my mom's cousin wrote to my grandparents while he was in WWII. They do make the war very real.

Stash Loc: South Central Massachusetts

Sixty years ago I too was overseas. I addition to letter writing I remember a lot of us has little tape recorders to tape our messages home. When we got a return we could hear the voices of our parents, brothers, sisters, etc.

jwhphotos Loc: Maryland

Stash wrote:

Sixty years ago I too was overseas. I addition to letter writing I remember a lot of us has little tape recorders to tape our messages home. When we got a return we could hear the voices of our parents, brothers, sisters, etc.

Yes! Now that you remind me, I had one also, a small portable device.

KillroyII Loc: Middle Georgia

jwhphotos wrote:

I was a young Marine and was temporarily in Japan far, far, far away from home. Our only contact with anyone back home was via mail, the kind you write on paper, put in an envelope with a physical address and stamp. The letter would then arrive one or two or three weeks later.

Here is a 60 year old pic of one of my comrades writing home.

You were in service a little sooner than I was. I joined the Air Force in 64, after basic… had a year of technical training, and my 1st overseas … Vietnam… was 65/66. There, we didn’t have to buy stamps, just wrote FREE where the stamp would be.

I wrote home more often in Vietnam but after returning to an assignment in Florida didn’t do so well. My mom complained to my dad and he called my base commanders office! For a while I had to go to one of the administration offices and write a letter to my mom.

I stayed in 20 years & 9 of those were overseas. My incentive for retirement was another overseas assignment… a year without my family. Otherwise, I would have stayed longer as I had a wonderful job at a location I loved.

vpeek1947 Loc: Louisville, Ky

I remember Osan, Korea 1969 - two weeks for a letter to get back to the States. Decided to bite the bullet and call my wife on her birthday. 3 Minutes - $50 bucks and they shut it down precisely at the 3-minute mark. It was worth the $50 just to hear her voice - 14 Months was a long separation.

jack schade Loc: La Pine Oregon

jack

rvharvey Loc: Southern New Jersey

60 years ago on March 9th 1963 we got married and then spent 38 years in Europe! To call USA I had to spell out my name using common German first names for each letter of the alphabet as given on a chart. Imagine spelling "Kansas City Missouri" plus the person's name and street address with that chart. After that you had to hang up and wait until the operator got through and called back. Often the operator didn't know English. As you can imagine we didn't call unless it was an emergency! I also had to consider the six hour difference in time.

JerryOSF Loc: Bristol, VA

In the USN, at sea somewhere off the Vietnam coast in about 1965. We had just taken on supplies from another ship & I got a letter from home. It was dated only 7 days earlier which was a BIG surprise. I was puzzled about the contents as there was no new news! Read the date on the letter again. The right date, but one year earlier!