August 2013 Auction Ends Thursday, August 29th, 5pm Pacific
This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 8/29/2013
Iwo Jima hero Rene Gagnon autograph letter signed during WWII. He writes to his girl Pauline Harnois from Parris Island, South Carolina about the harsh realities of war, dated 9 July 1943. In part, ''...gives you a funny feeling to know that in my hands I hold two means of killing a person; either stabbing him with the bayonet or shooting him with my rifle...I know that inside of six months I'll be using my rifle and bayonet to kill, and kill until there's no more Japs to threaten the girl I love back home. No I won't be fighting to cram my religion into them, nor to make them obey my order, no that's not what we're fighting for, we're fighting for the right to go back to the mills...to marry the girl I want and not have to share her with German or Jap that happens to want a girl for a night. Those are the things I'm fighting for, and until those things have become a reality and not a dream, I'll keep fighting. I guess when I was only a kid I never realize that I one day would actually kill a man, as a matter of fact none of us really like the idea of killing, but if that's the only language the Axis understand then that's what it will have to be...Rene.'' 4pp. on 2 sheets measure 6.75'' x 10.5'' on embossed U.S. Marine letterhead. Accompanied by mailing envelope, handwritten and signed by Private Gagnon. Minor staining on edges, else near fine.
WWII Hero Rene Gagnon 1943 Autograph Letter Signed -- ''...in my hands I hold two means of killing a person...inside of six months I'll be using my rifle and bayonet to kill...''
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