Smithsonian Magazine - 11.2019

prologue

Photographs by

Greg Powers

By

April White

14 SMITHSONIAN.COM | November 2019

NDREW CARROLL is never far away from

the slim black portfolio he calls “the foot-

ball.” Inside are more than two dozen

original letters, creased and faded, bul-

let-torn and tear-stained, spanning 225

years of American war history, from the

early days of the Revolution to 9/11. Each

page is sheathed in a protective plastic

sleeve, and for added security, there are

the handcuff s. Carroll locks the case to his wrist when he trav-

els, which he does almost constantly. By his own count, he

was on the road almost 200 days last year, using this remark-

able sampling of letters to convince anyone who will listen

The News

From Over

There

Inside an unprecedented

eff ort to fi nd and preserve a

million letters from U.S. service

members during wartime

A

VETERANS

U.S. Army Pvt.

John McGrath

survived the bullet

that scarred this

letter he penned

during the libera-

tion of Italy.