How often do you encounter letters that are about 75 years old? Over the past 2 weeks my classmates and I have transcribed some letters that were sent by a U.S Navy to his wife who lived in San Diego. Levi Kinsel wrote to his wife about every month. Through the letters I was able to identify Levi's most dominant characteristics which were caring, busy and unhealthy.
Levi was caring because one day he sent Rose a letter saying "We were paid Friday but I will get paid again the 1st so I will wait until then to send you some money I think you probably have some from the last time."(Pg 14) This shows how he cares that she has enough money to sustain her life here in San Diego while he is away. In another letter from April 4, 1939 he wrote "I am sending you a money order for $75. You can get yourself a Easter hat or something."(pg 4) This also shows how he cared that she had new clothes and was happy that day even though he couldn't be with her. Levi also wrote in his letter from April 8, 1944 "I don’t see why you are doing all that hard work or so much of it all at once. I told you in my first letter that i didn’t expect to be at work long enough to get mail there. I was glad you had the house painted, but you should have waited and had someone do it."(Pg 34) This shows how he cares that Rose doesn't get injured or hurt while she is fixing the house and would have liked for her to wait for someone to help her out.
Levi was always busy in the Navy bases where he would be located but he would always have time to respond to Rose's letters. In a letter he sent on the December 21, 1944 he wrote "I went through Arizona N.M. Colo. Cans. Missouri. Ill. Ohio and VA., I was really all the way through Colo. except about 50 miles. and we went through Raton at 2:30 A.M."(Pg 38) This shows how he traveled a lot to get to where his mission was located. Levi also wrote in his letter from May 13, 1945 "I have a new red book going to read after I finish this: I just got thru shining my shoes and fixing my laundry will take it in the morning. Well to-morrow is the launching of the Tarawa I guess I will see it from the bridge of the Champlain. We haven't long to go now before we start getting busy ourselves."(Pg 42) In this letter we can see that Levi had a busy schedule in the base but still a little bit of time to write to Rose.
Levi was most of the time unhealthy. In almost all of his letters he would write something about how he was sick with the stomach flu or a cold. In his letter in January 24, 1942 he wrote "I woke up this morning about 3 o'clock and I just barely made the toilet in time and I'm still going about every hour and a half sweetheart"(Pg 21) This shows how he was sick but still had the time to write back to Rose. In his letter from April 25, 1939 he wrote "I did catch a cold in Newport." (Pg 5) This show how he easily gets a cold just from going to Newport.
In conclusion through the letters that Levi sent to Rose I was able to identify three characteristics that make Levi stand out. He was caring in almost every letter he would ask Rose how someone was doing or he would make sure that she had enough money. Levi also was always busy. He would write about his busy schedule and how he had time to write at least a little. The last characteristic I identified was that he was unhealthy. Levi would write in almost all of the letters that he was sick or just recovering
