By David L. Bristow
Here is the story of one of the many Nebraskans who served in World War II. William Green wrote to his mother in Lincoln on February 13, 1945:
“Dear Mom,
“The way your letters sound, it looks like you’re not getting any mail from me. I’ve written quite often and they should eventually catch up to you… Don’t for Pete’s sake worry about me being a casualty. That’s the last thing I thought you’d do. Maybe I’ll do what some people do, and not write the truth so you won’t worry. Some fellows do that and maybe they’re right. I can assure you that I’m not a casualty and probably won’t be….”
Green was right about the slowness of communication. On March 14 his family received the telegram that no parent wants to receive:
By then Green had been dead two weeks, having succumbed to wounds received while fighting on the Siegfried Line, the bunker-studded defensive line on Germany’s western border. Green was posthumously awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He was 19 years old.
Worldwide, tens of millions of families were grieving in those years and for decades after. Green’s parents kept his letters, photographs, scouting uniforms, and other effects. He had been a promising artist in addition to studying vertebrate paleontology at the University of Nebraska before he entered military service.
The family eventually donated the collection to the Nebraska State Historical Society; Green’s letters are digitized and can be read online as part of “The War: Nebraska Stories” at nebraskastudies.org. While it is impossible to collect more than a representative sample from the thousands of Nebraskans who served, the stories and objects of individuals such as Bill Green help personalize the overwhelming scope and vast numbers of World War II.
A version of this story appeared in the March 2020 issue of NEBRASKAland magazine.