March 2014 Auction Ends Thursday, March 27th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 3/27/2014
WWII Iwo Jima hero Rene Gagnon autograph letter signed as a Private First Class in the U.S. Marine Corps, datelined 11 June 1943 from training camp on Parris Island, South Carolina. Gagnon was one of the six WWII soldiers elevated to icon status after appearing in the famous photograph ''Raising The Flag on Iwo Jima.'' Letter is addressed to his love back home, Pauline Harnois, and discusses his day to day routine at training camp. Written in ink, letter reads in part: ''Darling Kiddo...as I told you in my previous letter we were to have our sixteen day inspection today, well we did and most of us passed with flying colors, well anyways I did...As for the jokes on the other side of the Marine Hymn. I don't know anything about them...guard duty is not like being in the guard house at all, it's being a guard at some post and telling the other recruits when they can sit down to eat...sometimes we have to walk back and forth in front of the barracks to make sure that no one runs over the hill at night...If someone should try to sneak out or in, well we yell halt three times then fire to kill, I guess it sounds brutal but it's the only way some people understand...As long as we are safe. That's the thing that matters most. If I was just here learning to use a rifle and bayonet just for the fun of going over there and killing that wouldn't make much sense...When you get home you can still take a hot bath and go to bed without fear of being blown out of your bed. Well these are the things that I'm fighting for, to make sure you're safe at all times...'' Signed ''Rene''. Letter runs 10pp. on five sheets. Measures 7.25'' x 10.5''. Expected toning and two horizontal folds from mailing. Very good.
Rene Gagnon 1943 Autograph Letter Signed -- ''...If I was just here learning to use a rifle...just for the fun of going over there and killing that wouldn't make much sense...''
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