The letter shown below, written in 1945, was not found until August 1, 2010. It had never been opened. It was found amidst a collection of Turn of the Century postcards. Tthe envelope was addressed to: (The) Honorable George W. Bowers, President; Sons of the Revolution - State of West Virginia."   The return address is "The General Society Sons of the Revolution."   Curiosity demanded an opening of the 65 year old document.   It would be just like the Frances Bowers we have come to know that this letter to her father would be preserved in its original state.  

 

Written and Posted on February 16, 1945, the author, Stuart Ragland, did not yet know that Germany would surrender on May 7, 1945.   Nor would Mr. Ragland know of the August 6 and August 9, 1945 first usage of 'atomic bombs' in warfare which resulted in Japan's August 15 announcement and September 2 signing of the "Instrument of Surrender."   All the Honorable Mr. Ragland would know through the first half of February was that the United States was waging war on two defensive fronts: the Atlantic and the Pacific with possibly no end in sight.   Please keep this in mind as your read his letter to (The) Honorable George W. Bowers upon what must have been the eve of the WV Chapter's Annual Meeting.
 
The (national) Assistant General Secretary of the Sons of the American Revolution seems to set a keynote for the meeting of 'Exemplification' of "High Courage" and requests the WV Meeting Minutes be forwarded to the national SAR headquarters.   Curiously, George Walters Bowers was first admitted into this secretive Society on February 18, 1927.   When he rose to the position of WV Chapter President is not clear.   What is clear is that he was thought to be the Chapter President in early 1945.
 
The envelope's postal stamp is fun.   It portray's the symbolic 'V' for Victory and shows the cost of mailing to be just $0.03!