World War II-dated ALS, one page, 6 x 7, personal letterhead, May 15 (no year, circa 1943). Handwritten letter to Samuel Lash, in full: “The war department told me that Joe is safely arrived in New Caledonia, based in Noumea but his duties take him here & there & so far I can’t find out just what he is doing. He was well on arrival which must have been about ten days ago.” Roosevelt adds a San Francisco military post office address to the lower left corner. In very good to fine condition, with light toning and creasing, and some discoloration along the top and bottom from old mounting remnants on the back.
The recipient of the letter, Mr. Samuel Lash, was the father of Mrs. Roosevelt's very close friend, Joseph P. Lash, whom she had met on a train in 1939. In the offered letter, Roosevelt advises Mr. Lash that his son, who had joined the U.S. Army Air Force as a sergeant in the spring of 1943, was now stationed in the city of Noumea, on the Pacific island of New Caledonia. Lash would then be transferred to Guadalcanal and serve as a weatherman.
During Mrs. Roosevelt's American Red Cross Tour of the Pacific in August-September 1943, she requested a stopover at Guadalcanal, to meet the troops, visit the wounded, and see her dear friend, Joseph. Her wish was granted by a somewhat reluctant Admiral Halsey, who was dealing with repeated Japanese air raids on the island. Roosevelt toured Guadalcanal in mid-September. Lash served as her personal driver and confidant. Joseph Lash remained close to Eleanor Roosevelt until her passing in late 1962. In 1971, Lash won a Pulitzer prize for his biography of Eleanor and Franklin Roosevelt.
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