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On offer is an outstanding collection of 10 letters written by a young man enlisted in the United States Army during the Second World War. His letters are thorough and situate the reader squarely in the political and social climate of the time, while providing insight into his training, travels and service in the Philippines (under Doug Macarthur or "Dugout Doug"). Our author is Albert W. Wiggin Jr. Born in 1925, Albert grew up with his parents and three siblings in Wakefield, Sanbornville, New Hampshire. Private Wiggin s (Later Private First Class Wiggin) letters begin in September of 1944 when he is living at Traux Field, near Madison, Wisconsin and attending Army Air Force Eastern Technical Training Center. His final letter is sent in February, 1946, the day after he arrives back home in the United States from his deployment. Through his letters, we learn that he trains to be a radio operator in Wisconsin, prior to being sent to Camp Howze in Texas for "six weeks intensive infantry training". From there, he is deployed to the Pacific Theater in the Philippines and is involved in the Battle of Luzon. He references "Dougout Doug" (General Doug Macarthur) twice and context clues indicate that Macarthur was the General overseeing his division. Wiggin is a funny, intelligent young man who, at once, understands and accepts his duty to serve, while keeping his eye on the future, always considering his life after the war. Unlike many WWII letter collections, Wiggin does not dwell on his daily tasks (though he does comment on his various assignments, such as building a mess hall when he first arrives in the Philippines and driving trucks of Japanese people to a base camp in Luzon). Rather he infuses his letters with his thoughts on the people around him, on politics of the time and of his plans for the future. Some excerpts from the letters allow the reader to understand the flavor of the archive of letters: "There s a lot of controversy here on the election and better than 50% section of the fellows seem to be solidly in back of Tom Dewey…Most of the fellows with any education seem to be for Dewey, while most of the Roosevelt supporters are Jews and the mental midgets from the factory and Southern farms" [Wiggin, to his Gramps, November, 1944]. "I was glad to hear of Rowell getting back to the States. It s too bad about those other fellows. I guess a lot of the guys I went to school with have been killed". [Wiggin, to his mother, June, 1945]. "Sanbornville is the liveliest place on earth when you compare it with this [hole]" [Wiggin, to his brother, comparing his small New Hampshire town to his station in the Philippines, August, 1945]. ""They aren t worth a damn as combat soldiers on the line as [they are] always pulling out and taking to the woods" [Wiggin, explaining his feelings about the Filipino soldiers with whom he is working, September, 1945]. "So far it has been a pretty rough war but I don t figure I ve done very badly as I only had to sweat out 41 or 42 combat days. I was still plenty glad to get pulled back down here though. They tell me there were 40,000 Japs up there in the hills, posted so as to keep the Flips from working them over" [Wiggin, to his mother, September, 1945]. "Just heard we were in for a Presidential citation for the Luzon campaign" [Wiggin, to his mother, Fall, 1945]. "I have never saw a bigger collection of illiterates in my life, and every one is an authority on everything from spelling to tactics and logistics"; "Another thing that didn't help on the voyage was a bad cold that was aided and abetted by a slight touch of malaria so I had to go back to taking those damn Atabrine tablets again" [Wiggin, to his mother, describing his trip back to America, February, 1946]. The detail with which Pfc Albert Wiggin writes is outstanding and the reader really gets the sense that they are with him throughout his journey. His proximity to important moments in the Pacific Theater is, of course, the highlight.
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