Allied Home Front
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Mainland USA During WWII

Victory Mail

The War Department's Microfilm V-Mail System
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Officially called the Army Micro Photographic Mail Service
The War Department created the V-Mail system to reduce the space of letters to and from Europe. Almost 2,000 letters could be placed on a single roll of film a little larger than a pack of cigarettes.
  • Letters were written on military stationary of a predetermined size, which served as both letter and envelope.
  • Censors would read the letters before they were filmed and blacked out any sensitive information.
  • Those original letters were then photographed onto microfilm by a machine. Lipstick imprints on a letter, known as the "scarlet scourge," could jam up the machines.
  • That film is was flown over the seas.
  • Once received at their destination, clerks would print the letter
  • The photo prints were one quarter the size of the original letter

In June 1943, 12 million letters were v-mailed. V-mail went by air so it sped up the delivery to a week from USA to Europe. Regular mail went by sea and could take months and was expensive. In 1945, over 2.5 billion pieces went through military postal services.

Updated July 2024
Posted November 2023

WWII V-Mail
V-Mail
Letters Home, Sort of
One of the enduring images of WWII is that of V-Mail, short for Victory Mail. Service members far from home were anxious to hear from friends, family, and sweethearts, and their loved ones knew a letter in return meant the writer was safe for the time being. But these letters were not actually what was placed in yearning hands. Instead, the War Department created the V-Mail system to reduce the space that letters would have taken, and to use that space for badly needed supplies and troops.

In 1945, over 2.5 billion pieces went through military postal services. V-Mail was officially the Army Micro Photographic Mail Service, and all letters were written on military stationary of a predetermined size, which served as both letter and envelope.

WWII V-Mail The original letters were then photographed onto microfilm, and the film is what was transported over the seas.
President Franklin D. Roosevelt received the first two V-Mails on June 12, 1942. The papers were printed by the Government Printing Office, which gave out two sheets per person per day. Additional sheets could be bought from authorized sellers. Writers had to use a typewriter, dark ink, or heavy lead pencil in order for the words to be dark enough to be captured on the film. All V-Mail was sent through postal centers in New York, San Francisco, or Chicago.

Censors would read the letters before they were filmed and blacked out any sensitive information. The Kodak Recordak machines that were used could film 40 letters per minute, and each roll of microfilm could contain 1600 letters. The films were sent by air mail, and once received at their destination, clerks would print versions of the letter onto photographic paper. The photo prints were one quarter the size of the original letter, which led to complaints the words were too small. Lipstick imprints on a letter, known as the "scarlet scourge," could jam up the machines.

V-mail

WIKIPEDIAV-mail
Short for Victory Mail
It was a hybrid mail process used by the United States during the Second World War as the primary and secure method to correspond with soldiers stationed abroad. To reduce the cost of transferring an original letter through the military postal system, a V-mail letter would be censored, copied to film, and printed back to paper upon arrival at its destination.

V-mail correspondence was on small letter sheets, 7 by 9 1/8 inch, that would go through mail censors before being photographed and transported as thumbnail-sized image in negative microfilm. Upon arrival to their destination, the negatives would be printed. The final print was 60% of the original document's size, creating a sheet 4 1/4 by 5 1/4 inch. Explanation of V-Mail System in Display aboard USS Alabama (BB 60), Mobile, Alabama

According to the National Postal Museum, "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." This saved considerable weight and bulk in a time in which both were hard to manage in a combat zone.

In addition to postal censorship, V-mail also deterred espionage communications by foiling the use of invisible ink, microdots, and microprinting, none of which would be reproduced in a photocopy.

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