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Lost letter sheds light on WWII experience

For years, Johanna Arnoldy wondered about her brother’s wartime service. But she could never get any answers.

“When he came back, he wouldn’t talk about it. He said he had lost too many friends,” she said.

All the Wabasha woman knew was that her brother, Arden Gullickson, was drafted and served in the Army on Iwo Jima during World War II. Then came an unexpected discovery made just in time for this year’s Veterans Day — a forgotten letter.

“I am writing this letter in a foxhole, and it won’t be very nice, as the wind is blowing and it’s dusty,” he wrote. “I haven’t had much sleep the last week or washed, but I am going to get tonight off to sleep.”

The letter is addressed to his parents and written April 1945 from “somewhere in the Pacific.”

“I never knew this letter existed,” his sister said.
Read entire article at http://www.armytimes.com