The Swing Shift Shuffle is a radio program of swing, big band, jazz, boogie woogie and other popular music from the 1930's and 40's that airs every Wednesday from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. (US Central Time) on WEVL 89.9 FM in Memphis, Tennessee, with a live webcast at wevl.org. In addition to the radio show, this blog is dedicated to all aspects of the Swing Era, including art, automobiles, cartoons, comics, history, movies, music, news, science, technology, and anything else that happened during that time. It also includes announcements about events in the Memphis/Mid-South area related to the Swing Era, such as classic movies, concerts, dances, lectures, etc. If you see something that fits the description, send it to me at tim@wevl.org. If you would like more information about the radio show, just go to the Radio Show FAQ page.

Monday, July 24, 2017

V-Mail

US poster encouraging use of V-Mail, World War II. Read more: "Victory Mail in World War II" on Sarah Sundin's blog
Sarah Sundin is an author who specializes in World War II-era romance.  I'll freely admit that, when I even have time to read, "romance" is not on my list of genres.  That being said, I do follow her blog, where she posts about events and other interesting facts from WWII.  That is where I saw her post about Victory Mail or V-Mail, the U.S. military's solution to the logistical problem of millions of letters from military personnel to the folks back home.  V-mail was written on pre-printed forms, and then photographed onto microfilm, which was transported to the recipient's overseas theater of operations.  Once there, the V-Mail was reprinted from the microfilm back onto paper at one quarter the size, and then delivered to the recipient.  Never mandatory, it was apparently successful, and the military saved room for around five million tons of cargo using this system. 

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