Bert J. “Jay” Borrone, WKU Class of 1941
In the extensive collections of war letters in WKU’s Special Collections Library, no expression is more common than the joy of a soldier who has received mail from home. In April 1943, Corporal B. J. “Jay” Borrone, stationed in North Africa, wrote to Dorthie Hall, his former classmate at Western Kentucky State College, and vividly described the whirlwind of anticipation, exhilaration, and sometimes disappointment, known as “mail call”:
“The truck driver is pestered all day to go into regimental headquarters for the mail even tho all know that it is not finished being sorted until 4 p.m. . . . Usually it is about 7 before they get back and no lynching mob in all its fury ever went after a victim like we go after that driver. . . . [F]inally someone grabs the bunch of letters and starts yelling off names.” Those lucky enough to receive mail, Borrone continued, “go off into a corner and get that beatific look for hours while the other poor guys that didn’t get anything pretend (very poor pretending by the way) that they didn’t expect any anyhow. Pretty soon the score is tabulated on just how many letter[s] each fellow got and the winner comes in for a lot of kidding. Then the discarded envelopes are looked at and sniffed at for evidences of female traits and more kidding follows.”
It was 3 a.m. as Borrone wrote these words, but even at such a late hour and so far from home, he was looking forward to “the promise of a grand sunrise and a perfect day” — and, no doubt, the next mail call.
A finding aid for the Dorthie A. Hall collection of World War II letters can be downloaded here.
Thank you for your effort to make america and the world safer. Your efforts allow all of us to live in liberty. We will never forget your sacrifice. Thank you
Thank you for you
Aloha! I want to say gracias for an interesting website about a something I have had an interest in for many years now. I have been lurking and reading the posts frequently and just wanted to thank you for providing me with some very good articles. I anticipate more, and taking a more active role in the conversations on your site.
I like this article, thank you for your sharing.
Been following your blog for 3 days now and i should say i am starting to like your post. and now how do i subscribe to your blog?
Thank you for another great article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.
I wanted to say that it is nice to know that someone discussed this as I had problems discovering the same information elsewhere. This was the first web site that gave me the information. Thanks.
Thank you for another great article. Where else could anyone get that kind of information in such a perfect way of writing? I have a presentation next week, and I am on the look for such information.
I should mention. while reading what I just read, you are an fantastic author! Really, you use very good grammar, proper use of pronunciations, proper everything! I might also like to add and say that I believe you pin pointed my style of writing as well which I love! What I also admire about your blog is that you give an opportunity for a larger variety of an audience to unravel the immense storyline of your writings. And with that, I think you will definitely keep up succeeding in flourishing an exceptionally well written piece 🙂
This is a great article. Thanks for sharing this.
What a great blog, thank you for letting me comment on it.
Kudos for writing this information, I don’t know about everyone else, but I could totally use it.