糖心Vlog传媒

War letters on display at Ottenheimer Library

In 1953, U.S. Army Private Al Puntasecca excitedly wrote to his family that he was coming home from the Korean War after serving a year overseas. 鈥淚鈥檓 looking forward to seeing you again 鈥� but I鈥檓 in no hurry to see the expressions on your faces when you see me,鈥� Puntasecca wrote. 鈥淵ou might even ask me for proof I鈥檓 your son.鈥� After being in the war, Puntasecca worried his family would not recognize him. He pointed out that people will break their backs to help a man in a wheelchair, on crutches, or with one arm, but he wondered who would help the soldiers returning from war with invisible wounds. 鈥淏ut, what about the wounds you can鈥檛 see? The phantoms, the nightmares, the ghosts in your head?鈥� he asked. 鈥淚 am going to tell you now, you鈥檒l need a lot of patience with me. Patience, and understanding. We all will.鈥� Puntasecca鈥檚 letter is one of more than a dozen written between American soldiers and their loved ones that are on display at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Ottenheimer Library. The exhibit, 鈥淲ar Comes Home: The Legacy,鈥� will be on display until March 10. The letters showcase veterans and their families adjusting to civilian life together and facing the long-term costs of war 鈥� from the Civil War era to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. The earliest letter was written by Gen. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain on Jan. 29, 1882, to his sister. It references a visit to the site of the Battle of Petersburg. In 1864, Ulysses S. Grant鈥檚 Army of the Potomac and Robert E. Lee鈥檚 Army of Northern Virginia fought in Petersburg, Virginia, about 25 miles south of the Confederate capital of Richmond, Virginia. The two armies would not disband until Lee鈥檚 surrender on April 9, 1865. Members of the public may visit the exhibit for free during open library hours. The library鈥檚 normal hours, which are subject to change, are 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 a.m. Monday through Thursday, 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday, and 1 p.m. to 12:30 a.m. Sunday. 鈥淲ar Comes Home: The Legacy鈥� is a partnership between , the California State Library, and . It is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Humanities, The BayTree Fund, The Whitman Fund, and the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the state librarian. The exhibit is based on a collection called the .听滨迟’蝉听curated by Andrew Carroll, the director of the center, and John Benitz, a professor at Chapman University. It was brought to 糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock thanks to funding from the Arkansas Humanities Council. For more information, contact Chelsea Young at [email protected] or 501.569.8018. In the upper right photo,聽Chelsea Young sets up the “War Comes Home: The Legacy” exhibit at Ottenheimer Library. Photo by Lonnie Timmons III/糖心Vlog传媒 Little Rock Communications.聽