December 2012 Auction Ends Tuesday, December 18th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 12/18/2012
Incredible group of 42 Rene Gagnon autograph letters signed, plus one signed Christmas card, and 43 mailing envelopes signed. Lot also includes two V-mails (''Victory Mails,'' a form of communication used during WWII), one of which is from Gagnon at Iwo Jima, 24 February 1945, the day after the iconic photo, ''Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima'' was taken. Gagnon was one of the six WWII soldiers who appeared in the famous photograph ''Raising The Flag on Iwo Jima'' that inspired the Marine Corp War Memorial in Arlington, Virginia. Letter lot spans his time at war in the Marines beginning with combat training in Camp Pendleton, CA in May of 1944 through his deployment to an undisclosed location in the Central Pacific, and finally Tsingtao, All letters were sent by the young Marine to his sweetheart Pauline Harnois. The excerpts to follow are uncorrected for his frequent minor punctuation and spelling errors. V-Mail from Iwo Jima the day after the photo, dated 24 February 1945 reads in full: ''Dearest Darling / Well here's to let you know I'm allright, and hope to hear the same from you. Now I can tell you why I didn't write; we were in action on Iwo Jima, you've probably read about it in the papers, as it was a pretty tough battle; Outside of being muddy, dirty and need a shave pretty bad as we've been here quite a while. I'm allright, so I guess you'll forgive me for not writing. I'll be glad to get mail from you as its been quite a while since I last heard from you. I got your pictures with the evening gown aboard ship, so I put them in my helmet, and carried them with me, I still got them and there not banged up to much. You still look beautiful darling. Love as ever, Rene / P.S. Tell your dad I'll send him a Jap rifle for a souvenir.'' V-mail was a system used in WWII to facilitate censorship of mail, conserve significantly on costs of shipping bulky letters and prevent the use of invisible ink. The soldiers' letters were photocopied to a thumbnail size film negative. The negatives themselves were the only materials that travelled and were printed back onto a sheet of special paper once they arrived near their ultimate destination. Excerpts from the body of the lot reveal a loss of naivete about the war, though he still is hopeful. They read: ''...nobody's getting furlough from here...darling I'm an aerial gunner, that is a machine gunner on a plane...it's kinda hard to take pictures around planes, you know, spies and all that...The first time I realized it was the 4th of July is when I put the date on this letter...it's funny how people don't realize there is a war going on. Yet a lot of them have son's in the war but they still like war because there getting high wages...there isn't going to be any furlough...there are some guys on the Islands that have been fighting for 2 years already and their waiting for help, it wouldn't be fair to them to run out on them now, that they've got the war practically won for us...You know I still believe in miracles and right now I'm hoping for one...I can't see no sense in going out and getting killed for some country if they don't even let me go home once more and see the only one I'm fighting for...I guess I shouldn't be talking like that, but I'm just tired of the whole filthy mess. Were not fighting to keep the country free anymore, the only reason the war is going on is so the rich can get richer...a fella just doesn't give a damn anymore who wins the war...Nothing matters except you...Things have changed since I was on guard...Im just one of those guys only a mother could love...'' On shipping out: ''...Dont ask me where were going, because your guess is as good as mine...'' In September he arrives in the Central Pacific and writes: ''...get one thing straight I'm not on any picnic here myself, because if I had my way I' be back in good old N.H. These Pacific Island are not what you think they are, full of dancing hula girls and all the rest of that tropical romance bunk. There just plain hot as heck in the daytime and at night it always rains...it's been raining, every day for the past two weeks, last week we went out in the field all week and all we had was pup tents, when I woke up each morning I have an indoor swimming pool...a guy gets tired of writing love letters and not getting any answer...I've tried writing you a mushy letter, then I thought that they were going to censor it, so I couldn't get sentimental like I used to...I hope you didn't forget the reason I joined up in this outfit when I did...Its about time somebody mentioned that someone was asking about me...'' After the war ended Rene and Pauline married and from Tsingtao China on 20 Feb 1946 he changes his addresses on the letters form ''Darling Kiddo'' to ''Dearest Darling Wife'' and writes: ''...I was glad to hear that your leaving for the West Coast, I promise you wont have to wait to long for me there...tell [my mother] to ship my blues to you by air express right away because we want to have a wedding picture taken before I get this uniform off...'' Each letter is signed ''Rene'' and a good many are signed additionally ''R. A. Gagnon''. Most are written on Marine Corp stationery, with a few appearing on plain or plain ruled stationery. They measure approximately 7.25'' x 10.5''. All but the V-mails are accompanied by the original envelopes filled out in Gagnon's hand and signed by him, though three have tears affecting signature. Creasing and toning to letters are minor, else near fine. A climactic lot of letters bearing witness to Gagnon at Iwo Jima and the rest of his combat service in WWII. For all images, please visit http://photobucket.com/gagnon40355
Lot of 42 Rene Gagnon Autograph Letters Signed & V-Mails While Fighting in the South Pacific -- ''...we were in action on Iwo Jima, you've probably read about it in the papers, as it was a pretty...
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