Heartbreaking Letters

         Going to war is difficult for anyone, but leaving loved ones behind can bring a whole other dimension of pain to departing soldiers. During World War I, the only form of communication between soldiers and their families was the letter. Unfortunately, there were many obstacles in transporting letters from the battlefields to the United States and back. Letters could have been lost in the mail or burned by fire in a battle before they could arrive in the States. It would also be difficult to get letters from family to the soldiers since soldiers needed to move to where the fighting was. Soldiers might have written letters and mailed them to their wives and girlfriends in the U.S. and by the time the family members received them, the soldiers were already killed in battle. Family would think that their husband or brother was alive when he wasn't. The passing of a loved one affects a family emotionally, mentally, and financially. The children that grow up without a father, the traumatizing effect of watching a friend die to a bullet or a bomb, and the family that can no longer afford their home since the father won't be coming home all feel the effects of war.