And that’s exactly why their candid, intimate correspondence is so important, say archivists at the ONE National Gay and Lesbian Archives at the USC Libraries, where their letters are now stored.
These were not activists or celebrities, just women in love at a time before being openly gay, let alone marriage equality, had achieved broad public acceptance. I know that I need you and want you with me and nothing about it seems remarkable or different. It doesn’t startle me at all, she wrote to her girlfriend, saying her mother would be shocked if she found out about them. The writer, a witty young “service gal” stationed in San Bernardino was in love - with another Army woman. I’m so very used to going to sleep watching you smoke that cigarette (if I’m not in your arms) that I couldn’t sleep. The paper is yellowed now, the penciled cursive fading, but the letters from the World War II Women’s Army Corps servicewoman to her sweetheart are romantic as ever.
