G.I.s’ letters to Donna Reed during World War II

I had never danced with a celebrity before, so I felt delighted, privileged even, to meet her. But I really felt she was like a girl from back home.
— Edward Skvarna, on meeting Donna Reed as a young airman during World War II.

The late movie and television actress Donna Reed’s children have published 341 letters that she had received from soldiers, sailers, and airmen during the war, and that she had preserved in a shoe box. They provide a poignant glimpse into another era.

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Tim W. writes:

What a different world America was back then. Everyone remembers Donna Reed for her role in It’s a Wonderful Life, and rightly so But she also was excellent in John Ford’s They Were Expendable, starring John Wayne and Robert Montgomery. Miss Reed played a military nurse stationed in the Philippines. In one scene, she had dinner with some servicemen. They all greeted her so politely, and were very grateful that she was sitting down to dinner with them. She had to fight back the tears, knowing they would soon be heading into dangerous battles with the Japanese. A very moving scene.

Carole Lombard died in a plane crash coming home from a war bond rally. Actresses took pride in our troops back then. There’s a rarely seen film called So Proudly We Hail with Claudette Colbert, Paulette Goddard, and Veronica Lake as Army nurses in the Pacific Theater. Very moving and patriotic film. How many actresses and films do we have like that today? Betty Grable was the official pin-up girl for our military back then. Can you imagine the furor if they tried to have an official pin-up girl today? Our spirit and our normalcy are too shattered.

LA replies:

“They Were Expendable” is a fine movie, I’d like to see it again. I didn’t remember that Donna Reed was in it. I’m not a fan of John Ford’s Westerns, but I like many of his non-Westerns.

Posted by Lawrence Auster at May 25, 2009 02:21 PM | Send