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MEMORIAL
“Corregidor”
Letters from home provided comfort to servicemembers throughout World War II. And throughout major wars, folks at home were encouraged to write to members of the armed forces — especially on their birthday. For this occasion, businesses and institutions jotted encouraging words on sponsored birthday pages. When The Payson Chronicle featured the birthday roll call in February 1944, one Paysonian stood out: Pvt Alvin R. Holden, whose address was listed Prisoner of War Camp No. 1 in Tokyo, Japan. Private Holden had been held captive as a prisoner of war for nearly two years when he celebrated his twenty-third birthday on February 18, 1944.
PHOTO: From The Globe-Header to The Payson Chronicle, letters to and from service members were commonly posted in the public square of ink and newsprint. A segment of a sponsored birthday list encouraging letters from home in February 1944 is pictured here. Chronicle readers were asked to send birthday wishes addressed to soldiers far from home. A prisoner of war camp was listed as the address to use for mail sent to Pvt Alvin Holden.
