War and Family: Letters Home

PFC Arnold John Nerthling Jr., US Army, 232nd Port Company


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Arnold John Nerthling,  A young man from Buffalo, with roots reaching back to the Seneca people of the Tonawanda Reservation, Arnold carried out the unglamorous but essential work that kept the Allied advance moving across the Pacific. His words—written between cargo ships, tropical rain, mosquito nets, and distant islands—remind us that victory in World War II depended not only on the men in the headlines, but also on those whose names rarely appeared in history books.

Welcome to War and Family: Letters Home.  I am your Podcast Host/ Lauren Muise More than eighty years ago, members of the Greatest Generation sat down with pen and paper to write home from training camps, ships at sea, foxholes, air bases, and distant battlefields. Most never imagined those letters would survive long after the war ended. But some did. They surface today in antique stores, estate sales, and auctions—small pieces of history separated from the families who once treasured them. These are not just military records or casualty statistics. They are personal stories of the men and women of WW2, whose words somehow survived the decades. These letters belong back to their families – maybe this letter was meant for you!
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War and Family: Letters HomeBy Lauren Muise