Image: Fort Missoula Museum
Shortly after entering World War II, the United States military found that shipping and delivering immense volumes of mail to and from servicemen overseas would be a challenge, especially given the need to reserve cargo space for critical weapons and supplies.
The solution, based on the British Airgraph Service, was called Victory Mail — V-Mail for short.
The Eastman Kodak-designed service launched on June 15, 1942 and became the primary method of communication between soldiers on the front lines and family at home.
A V-mail letter would be written on a piece of standardized stationery, then photographed and transferred onto a roll of microfilm. Upon reaching its destination, the letter would be blown back up to a readable size and printed.
Each letter passed before censors before being photographed, and the process foiled the potential use of espionage tools such as invisible ink and microprinting.
Using the V-Mail process, 1,600 letters could be crammed onto a roll of film the size of a pack of cigarettes. 2,000 pounds of cargo became 20, and 37 mail bags became just one.
A courier delivers letters for filming and reproducing at the official photo mail station at the Pentagon.
Image: Library of Congress
Letters to be microfilmed for V-mail are registered, sorted and prepared for photographing.
Image: Library of Congress
Letters to members of the armed forces overseas are photographed and transferred to V-mail microfilm.
Image: Library of Congress
V-mail is inspected for flaws on an enlarging reader.
Image: Library of Congress
V-mail letters are printed onto paper using a continuous enlarger.
Image: Library of Congress
Paper reproductions from V-mail microfilm are developed, fixed, washed and dried on a continuous paper processing machine.
Image: Library of Congress
Paper reproductions of V-mail microfilm are inspected and then cut into individual letters by a "chopper."
Image: Library of Congress
Finished V-mail letters are sorted and prepared for forwarding to recipients.
Image: Library of Congress
A V-Mail letter.
Image: The War Letter Archive
Image: University of North Texas Digital Library
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