Scope and Contents
The Windsor News Letter for Men and Women in the Service was a monthly publication created for the men and women of Windsor, Connecticut, serving in the armed forces during World War II. The paper was sponsored by the local Exchange Club and edited by J Jeremiah (Jerry) Hallas. The first issue was produced in August 1943; within six months it was being mailed to 700 subscribers in nearly every state and on battlefronts around the world.
The conversational tone of the newsletter reported local news such as high school sports, the tobacco harvest, accidents, weddings, and new babies. But more significantly, the paper told the far-flung servicemen and women where their classmates and neighbors were stationed. It passed on news about promotions and commissions, Purple Heart awards and casualties, and who was home on furlough.
The first editions consisted of several mimeographed sheets. In August 1944, editor Jerry Hallas began to print the News Letter on one sheet of newsprint and include it with his regular Windsor News-Weekly newspaper. By this time more than 5,000 copies were being distributed locally and around the world. The last issue of the News Letter for service personnel was written after V-J Day in August 1945. It described the many ways the Windsor community celebrated the end of the war.
Windsor Historical Society volunteers have prepared an index to the nearly 900 names in the seven mimeographed News Letter issues which are held in the Society’s collection. These issues, Numbers 2-5 and Numbers 7-9, were published between September 1943 and April 1944. There is an alphabetical index of names included in the newsletters available.
The Society’s collection also contains copies of eleven issues of the printed News Letter. These editions, issues Number Fourteen thru Twenty-Five, were published between September 1944 and August 1945. These copies have been commercially digitized and have had OCR software applied so that the complete text of these papers can be electronically searched.