Lieutenant Colin Simper had never held his baby son Douglas when he wrote this letter from the jungles of Borneo. He was killed eight days later, trying to save a wounded mate.
Second Lieutenant Haruo Araki married his childhood sweetheart at 11 PM and had four hours with her before flying his final mission. He was 21 years old.
A submarine communications officer writes to his wife about their newborn son — whom he has never seen. His submarine was sunk 25 days later. All hands lost.
A kamikaze pilot's final letter to his young wife, written the day before his mission. The letter is composed in careful calligraphy and includes a death poem.
On Christmas Eve 1944, with Budapest under siege and the Soviets approaching, Ilona wrote her 300th letter to her husband István — who never received a single one.
On Christmas Eve 1944, surrounded by Germans in the frozen foxholes of Bastogne, Private First Class Robert Giordano wrote to his wife Rose in Brooklyn. He was killed the next day. The letter was found frozen in his hand.
Sergeant Jan Novák hadn't seen his wife Hana or Prague since 1939. He wrote this letter from the siege lines of Dunkirk, fighting for a country he feared he might never see again.
A Dutch nurse betrayed for helping Allied airmen wrote this letter from her prison cell. She bribed a guard to smuggle it out. He kept it for 50 years before returning it to her family.
Smuggled out of burning Warsaw by a Home Army courier, this letter was written by a young medic to her brother, a POW in Germany. It would not reach him until after the war.
On June 6, 1944, Audrey Gerrans stood on Snips Hill waving a white handkerchief as her husband's convoy rolled past in the dark. She didn't know if he saw her. She wrote him this letter anyway.
Written the night before D-Day, this letter was held by the Red Cross and delivered to Eleanor six months after Thomas was reported missing.
Written the night before loading onto transports for D-Day, this letter was found in Bobby's barracks bag after he was killed when his C-47 was hit by flak over Utah Beach.
A young Italian partisan writing to his wife during the Battle of Monte Cassino. The letter was smuggled out by a medic.
Found hidden in the walls of a Berlin apartment during renovations in 1998. Hannah wrote this letter to her husband Karl, who had been taken to the Eastern Front. She died in a bombing raid before she could mail it.
Smuggled out of a Gestapo prison by a guard who pitied him, this letter is the final testament of a 22-year-old Resistance courier executed three days after his capture.
A French resistance doctor writes to his wife from hiding in Lyon, having just treated a hidden Jewish child. The letter was smuggled out and hidden in a hollow book.
Smuggled out of the burning Warsaw Ghetto during the uprising, this letter was written by an 18-year-old Jewish fighter to his younger sister — the only surviving member of their family.
On the first day of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising, concert pianist Samuel Rosenberg played Chopin one last time on the last piano in the ghetto. His letter to his wife Leah was sealed in a jar and found in the rubble of a bunker after the war.
An unsent letter found among Lieutenant Dmitri Volkov's belongings after he was killed at the Red October factory. He writes by the light of a burning building as the Battle of Stalingrad rages around him.
Captain Miguel Santos of the Filipino Scouts wrote to his wife Maria on the eve of Bataan's fall. He survived the Death March but died in a POW camp. The letter was carried by a fellow prisoner and delivered to Maria in 1945.
Found in the lining of a sergeant's cap after he fell defending the bridge approach at Changsha. He wrote this by moonlight on scrap paper, knowing he would not see the morning.
Captain Nikos Stavros of the Greek army wrote to his wife Eleni from the frozen Pindus Mountains, where Greek forces were pushing Mussolini's invasion back into Albania. He was killed a month later.
Written by candlelight in a basement during the Blitz, this letter was never sent — Evelyn didn't know Harry's POW address. It was found 53 years later, tucked inside a copy of Mrs. Dalloway.
Written at dawn on Battle of Britain Day — the decisive air battle over England. Jimmy was shot down hours later. The letter was found in his locker at RAF Middle Wallop.
Squadron Leader Tadeusz Kowalski of 303 Squadron RAF wrote this letter on the eve of the decisive Battle of Britain engagement. He fought for England but dreamed of Poland — and the wife and daughter he left behind in Warsaw.
After her RAF pilot husband was shot down over France, Doreen Wright wrote him a letter every single day for three years — 1,095 letters — even after she knew he was dead. None were ever mailed.
Norwegian ski trooper Erik Solberg wrote to his wife Ingrid from a mountain cabin during the Battle of Narvik. His letter was found in the pocket of his white camouflage jacket, stained with snow and blood.
Bostonian James O'Sullivan fell in love with a French girl while training. He wrote proposing marriage. She received his letter the same day his commanding officer's letter arrived — he had died at the Argonne. She kept both in a locket for 70 years.
Written on Christmas Eve during one of the coldest winters of the war. Friedrich describes the unofficial ceasefire and the carols drifting across no man's land.
Italian soldier Marco Nardi's wife gave birth to their son while he was at the front. He received a photograph but never held the baby. This letter was found on his body after the Austro-German breakthrough at Caporetto.
Written from a captured German dugout on the heights of Vimy Ridge on the morning after the victory. Tommy's letter is a love letter to his wife and a declaration of a nation's coming of age.
An Australian soldier writes to the Scottish nurse who saved him, describing the moment he knew he loved her. He died at Messines Ridge three weeks later.
Captain Harry Cromie was too shy to propose when he saw Vera on leave. He wrote her a letter on the eve of battle: 'By this you will know that I have been killed. I meant to ask you to be engaged to me but when I was on leave I was too frightened to say anything — I loved you very very much.' He was killed 13 days later.
Edith, a VAD nurse at the vast Étaples base hospital, writes to her sister Margaret in London as the wounded from the Somme pour in like a tide. She describes the horror, the humour, and the small graces that keep her going.
Written on the eve of the Battle of the Somme, this letter was found in William's tunic pocket after he fell on the first day of battle.
Thomas married his childhood sweetheart Emily at 8 AM on July 1, 1916. By noon he was on the front. By 4 PM he was dead. His letter was found in his breast pocket, still smelling of her perfume from the ceremony.
Henri wrote to his wife Marie from the hell of Verdun, describing a daughter he had never seen. The letter fell from his pocket as he died. A German soldier kept it for ninety years before it was returned to Henri's granddaughter.
A Russian Imperial Army officer writes to his wife during the Brusilov Offensive, describing the snow on the Carpathians and the cherry blossoms of their orchard. He was killed by shellfire four days later.
Besieged and starving in the ancient city of Kut, Havildar Amar Singh writes to his wife Priya in the hills of Kumaon, knowing this letter may never reach her. It was found among the debris of the garrison after the surrender.
Frederick Key wrote 42 letters and 15 postcards to his beloved Zen Hall. This was his last — written on Valentine's Day 1916. He died on the first day of the Somme. She wrote in her diary: 'Letter came saying my darling killed... went to Lichfield.'
Written during the Great Retreat across Albania, this frozen letter was found in Zoran's hand after he succumbed to hypothermia and starvation in the Albanian mountains.
A Highland piper writes to his wife on the eve of the Battle of Loos. The next morning, he went over the top playing 'The Flowers of the Forest.' He was killed within minutes.
Sergeant Mehmet writes to his wife on the night of May 19, 1915 — the day of the great Turkish counterattack at Anzac Cove. He speaks of Kemal, the enemy ships on the sea, and the wheat fields of home he will not see again.
A French soldier of Jewish faith from Alsace writes to his wife on the morning of the Second Battle of Artois, blending French and Hebrew in his final farewell.
Jack writes to his sister Mary from the cliffs of Gallipoli, describing the chaos of the landing, the heat, the flies, and the strange beauty of a place that was meant to be their finest hour.
A French soldier's letter to his sweetheart, written before the Second Battle of Ypres. Jean-Luc was a poet before the war.
A German theology student writes to a woman he has never met — falling in love with her photograph during the Christmas Truce of 1914. The letter was found in his kit after he was killed.
A classics professor from Heidelberg — a man who taught Homer and Goethe — volunteers for war and writes to his wife from Flanders. He was killed at Langemarck, one of the 'Kindermord' — the Massacre of the Innocents.
A Belgian soldier writes to his wife from the Yser River, describing the desperate flooding of the land to stop the German advance. 'We are drowning our country to save it.' He died three days later.
A French farmer conscripted in August 1914 writes to his wife of two months on the eve of the First Battle of the Marne. He died the next day.