V MAIL Part 1

V- mail pictures of children under one year of age or sons or daughters that were born after the serviceman left the country may now be sent.

Photographs must be limited in size to not more than 1/3 of the correspondence space on the V-mail form and must appear on the upper left portion of the space. V- mail pictures of children must be of children under one year of age or sons or daughters that where born after the father left the country. It may include the person holding the child.



V, or Victory mail, was a valuable tool for the military during World War II. The process, which originated in England, was the microfilming of specially designed letter sheets. Instead of using valuable cargo space to ship whole letters overseas, microfilmed copies were sent in their stead and then "blown up" at an overseas destination before being delivered to military personnel. V-mail ensured that thousands of tons of shipping space could be reserved for war materials. The 37 mail bags required to carry 150,000 one-page letters could be replaced by a single mail sack. The weight of that same amount of mail was reduced dramatically from 2,575 pounds to a mere 45. The blue-striped cardboard containers held V-mail letter forms. The system of microfilming letters was based on the use of special V-mail letter-sheets, which were a combination of letter and envelope. The letter-sheets were constructed and gummed so as to fold into a uniform and distinctively marked envelope. The user wrote the message in the limited space provided, added the name and address of the recipient, folded the form, affixed postage, if necessary, and mailed the letter. V-mail correspondence was then reduced to thumb-nail size on microfilm. The rolls of film were sent to prescribed destinations for developing at a receiving station near the addressee. Finally, individual facsimiles of the letter-sheets were reproduced about one-quarter the original size and the miniature mail was then delivered to the addressee.


If it sounds odd to you that pictures may now be sent, think about this. All the letters were microfilmed. NOW MAY BE SENT refers to the technology and scanning equipment which would scan a photograph.


Stay tuned for part II.

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