Dude. Stamps were 8 cents in 1945.

As much as I argue with Papa and as much as he irritates me with his actions (or lack thereof these days), it's nice to take a moment or two to remind myself that he was not always this way. He was actually a very cool guy and someone who would give you the shirt off his back if he had to. Well, I got a little reminder today in the form of some old letters.

I am a history buff. I love watching The History Channel and enjoy reading about the past. I was actually a history major my first year at Bowling Green, until I realized you can't do squatola with it. I especially enjoy reading and learning about World War II (specifically the Holocaust, but that era in general). Papa was in the Navy Air Force during WWII, although he was never shipped overseas. But he always talks about how he flew planes.

There is a room in the house that has sort of become the designated "junk room". We pretty much use it to store everything that does not have a place in the house, i.e. seasonal decorations, suit cases, etc. In this room, there are also pictures. Tons and tons of pictures. I have actually spent a good couple of hours just going through all of these pictures. They are all of the various generations of Manwell's. It is really cool to kind of go back in time and try to imagine what life was like way back in the 1800's.

Today, I came across something that I don't know how I missed. I saw an envelope that was addressed to Mrs. D. Manwell. I thought they were letters to my grandma but upon further investigation, they were actually letters to Papa's mom. I about squeeled with glee and did a little happy dance! I mean, how cool is that? To actually read what about how he was feeling in 1945 during the war!? Well, I think it's cool anyways. Most of the letters are about how deadful the conditions were on his base but they are pretty funny and gives me a glimpse of what his life was like then. Here are a few pictures of the letters and pic of Papa when he was about 17 or 18 by one of his planes (you'll have to ignore the flash on the pic...it's a picture of a picture):