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| Envelope of a letter from Charles Snell to his parents. The envelopes in this collection have a variety of different stamps. |
The letters also contain a lot of information about military
life. They talk about training routines, food, entertainment, inspections, life
on the home front and items they might need from their family. Charles goes
into great detail about his time spent in the California before he was
deployed. He gives descriptions of national parks, talks about his love of
gardening and classical music and his work with the Chaplain. Douglas describes
his time in England and discusses the people, places and things he encountered
there. Douglas’ sense of humor is also on display in the correspondence.
Accompanying the newspaper clipping below was a note from Douglas stating that
he “wasn’t as bald as the picture made him out to be.” He also calls notice to
a particularly painful pun that he uses in one of his letters by saying he was
“short on shorts (ouch).”
These letters give us a very personal connection to the
authors as the brothers write about their family and friends in Schenectady.
After returning from his tour in the Pacific, Charles married Julie Kamerer and
moved to Silver Spring, Maryland. Douglas enrolled in Union College and
eventually moved to Norristown, Pennsylvania. Both brothers died in 1997 and
are buried at Arlington National Cemetery.
A finding aid for the Charles and Douglas Snell Collection can be found here.
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| Diagram of Charles' living quarters in the South Pacific which he calls his "home". |
Charles and Douglas Snell were the sons of William A. and
Kathryn Snell of 418 Plymouth Avenue, Schenectady, NY. Both Charles and Douglas enlisted in the Army
in 1943, but they were sent to different theaters. Charles was sent to
California and fought in the South Pacific while Douglas was sent to England. While
the bulk of this collection is correspondence, there are also a few political
cartoons, newspaper articles, postcards, and pictures.
The letters are usually short on specific combat information
as they were heavily censored by the government. Some of the letters have
pieces cut out of them due to this censorship or words redacted. The brothers
often “self-censor” their letters and an example of this can be seen in
Charles’ correspondence. In the heading of his letters he will describe his
location as “Somewhere in the Pacific Ocean Area.” Both brothers were vague in
saying exactly where they were located as this information would definitely be
censored. There is some general information about what the brothers are working
on, they mention classes or lectures that they go to and in the letter
displayed below Charles states that he “heard his first radar today.”
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| Letter from Charles Snell to his parents. |
There is also some discussion about political views and the
1944 presidential election between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Thomas Dewey.
Charles, a Roosevelt supporter writes to his parent that “I suppose you heard
about the election by now Ha! The Dewey men on ship made a lot of noise but
won’t bet a cent on the election.” Douglas also mentions that he supports
Roosevelt and was happy when he was elected.
Many of the letters in this collection were written using “V-Mail”. These letters were written on small sheets of paper and after going through the mail censors they would be photographed onto microfilm and transported. When the microfilm arrived, the letters would be blown up and printed.
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| Clipping from the Schenectady Union-Star showing Douglas Snell in the jeep that he drove for the chaplains in his unit. |
Many of the letters in this collection were written using “V-Mail”. These letters were written on small sheets of paper and after going through the mail censors they would be photographed onto microfilm and transported. When the microfilm arrived, the letters would be blown up and printed.
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| Example of a V-Mail letter sent by Douglas. |
A finding aid for the Charles and Douglas Snell Collection can be found here.
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