V-Mail in World War II: How the Military Solved the Problem of Too Much Mail

The United States in World War II had a big mail problem: there was too much of it. Old-fashioned hand-written letters flooded ship holds in staggering numbers, clogging sea lanes back and forth across the Atlantic and Pacific. Mail competed for cargo space with the ammunition, fuel, food, and equipment needed to win the war. But mail was also considered essential for troop morale, the more…