Our Collection

At the Institute’s core is the Gilder Lehrman Collection, one of the great archives in American history. More than 85,000 items cover five hundred years of American history, from Columbus’s 1493 letter describing the New World through the end of the twentieth century.

Stone, Robert L. (1921-2009) to Jacob Stone, Beatrice Stone, Don Stone, Jim Stone, Barry Marks, and Ken Marks

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Gilder Lehrman Collection #: GLC09620.114 Author/Creator: Stone, Robert L. (1921-2009) Place Written: At sea Type: Autograph letter signed Date: 11 July 1944 Pagination: 1 p. ; 14.5 x 11.8 cm. Order a Copy PDF Download(s): Transcript of document

Addressed to "All." He just finished a long letter, GLC09620.113, and thought to send a V-Mail to see which one got to his family first. The trip has been rather dull on their way to an unknown destination. He's hoping to have mail waiting for him when he lands. He writes that his "long newsy letter" is coming.

The V-mail letter is dated "Somewhere at sea." "Letters in a Box" notes the date as July 11, 1944.

Robert "Bob" Stone was a Bombardier in World War II and served in the Pacific Front. These letters, were compiled by Bob's wife, Sheila M. Stone, and Ali Adair into a book named Letters in a Box. This book details Bob's service to his country, and his life after the war. Bob's letters were donated to the collection by his wife, Sheila M. Stone, in 2017. It contains a variety of letters, postcards, patches, pins, photographs, and scrapbooks that relate to Bob's training and combat missions.

[Draft Created by Crowdsourcing]
TO: Lt. Comdr. J. C. Stone
375 Park Avenue
New York City
N.Y.
FROM:
Lt. R. L. Stone 0-696041
APO 16280 (AS) 19
San Francisco, Cal.
Somewhere at sea
Dear All -
I just finished a long letter to you but I thought I'd send one V-mail just in case the straight mail is slow in arriving. Let me know which arrives first.
The trip so far has been rather dull, but then it's not intended to be a Cook's tour. Most of our time is either spent on deck or else playing cards.
As yet our final destination is still a question mark and only time will tell. Here's hoping when we arrive I'll find some mail from the various Stones waiting for me. I received some mail from you before I left the coast - it was mailed to my APO number.
Hope you receive my long newsy letter before too long. Until then, love you you all -
Bobby

Stone, Robert L., 1921-2009
Stone, Jacob, fl. 1894-1985
Stone, Beatrice Hecht Marks, 1901-1962
Stone, James, 1926-2007
Stone, Donald, 1925-2017
Marks, Barry, 1926-1983

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