Email.
Everyone uses it, everyone has one. Everyone knows how to use it. Yet,
this technology is still surprisingly new. It wasn't that long ago that email flat out
did not exist. If you were born prior to 1990, you did not have this sort of
tech that we now take for granted. It's allowed connection with business, friends, and family,
almost anywhere in the world, even during the height of a war. That last point is where we
will be focusing today. Prior to cellular devices and internet, snail mail was our world wide web,
yet, especially during war time, trying to get these physical objects to family and friends was
a logistical nightmare, especially overseas. With over 300 million soldiers deployed,
Something had to be done, and the end result was something called V-Mail.
Now, V-Mail may sound like some knock-off nugget that you'd see on Dankpods channel.
But it was actually a staple of new technology that could have ultimately became a staple of
communication technology. But, what ultimately was this V-Mail? V-Mail, known as Victory Mail,
was implemented by the United States military from 1942 to 1945 because of the problem with shipping,
and it makes sense. If you're going to be sending supply vessels over to the European
or especially the Pacific theater, then you want to have as little space and weight used
while still being able to offer the services, and a metric ton, well thousands of metric tons
were sent via the military mail system. An unprecedented amount of mail was moved about
during the war with Army post offices, fleet post offices and US post offices flooded with mail,
and each year, the amount that was being sent only increased more and more For example:
In 1945, 2.5 billion with a B pieces of mail went through the Army Postal Service and another 15
million pieces through naval, air-force, and other non army postal services.
To bring mail service to those serving worldwide, the military postal system required a global
network, and to do this, the Americans would look to the British for innovation.
In the 1930's, the British Kodak Company created the Airgraph. Now what is an
airgraph? Essentially, it turned all of this, into this. The process ultimately was rather
simple. Their would be particular forms that one would use and write their message on,
where they would be photographed onto micro-film via a quick processing photo machine.
These negative reels would then get sent via boat or airplane to sorting offices in
designated cities where they would go through a five step process. Firstly, the film was enlarged
onto rolls of photographic paper to make the message actually legible, these rolls of paper
would then go through developing tanks to actually develop the film from their original negatives,
thirdly, a host of individuals would manually check each developed roll of film to see if their
were any major defects, before sending them off to be separated into their own individual messages.
These individual messages would then be sent like regular mail to their
destination. Imagine it akin to scanning and printing a copy in more modern times.
Though it was proposed in the early 30's, the process was deemed far too complicated
and something the public wouldn't agree too. But motions were sent forward to implement
the process as war escalated, as the massive reduction of weight far outweighed the costs,
and by wars end, roughly a tenth of all mail being sent to troops abroad was via
this airgraph system. But then that begs the question, why did it end so suddenly?
While Airgraphs/V-Mail had some advantages, it also had a number of downsides associated
with it that didn't make it practical for civilian use. Firstly, it required
a pretty good amount of machinery to get up and running that wasn't cheap. Quick photo machines,
massive photographic rolls that were continually turned through huge development tanks, a team of
individuals to make sure that their weren't any major defects, then another group dedicated to
cutting out individual messages and sending them off to their destination. That's a pretty huge
work force that would need to multiplied all throughout the world. Plus, their were issues
with the format itself that prevented it from seeing wide-scale use outside of the military.
Firstly, their were particular forms required to be able to use the service in the first place,
while airgraph forms were widely available at most post offices free of charge,
least in the UK, it was a pretty big burden to the citizens. Technically, anyone could create
their own forms as long as they complied with the size and format of the real ones,
but the ability to print said forms at home was extremely rare for general consumers. You also
had the problem where only a few hundred words could be written onto the form, it couldn't be
damaged nor could you send any attachments due to the photographing process, they had to be
handed in at a post office instead of the regular mail carrier, etc. Barriers to entry that made it
not as convenient to folks. Another factor on top of it, was that of public perception.
See, unlike regular mail that was sealed and conversations were largely private between
the writer and receiver, V-mail did not have that same luxury.
V-Mail had to be handed in at a post office unsealed, and then handled first by censors,
then by sorters and other processing personnel, and it was kind of expected that everyone who
handled the forms would read them, so private details of one's life would be
known. Their was an option to get around some of this during war-time, but it cost extra money to
have it sent off and how much it actually reduced the eyeballs on the message was un-certain. Add
on top of everything else that the manpower and machinery required to
process these was just simply too much of a burden compared to the regular mail services,
and with the massive demobilization following WW2, its purpose kind of went out the window,
with all V-mail services being stopped by July of 1945 when the production of
the forms was halted. Though the service was still offered until March of '46.
Now you may ask, why do we care about some weird footnote of snail mail history? It's
because for many people during WW2. This was the way that they communicated with loved ones on the
field or back at home. The tales and horrors of war, combined with the written memories of
their past life was told via this method. V-Mail was the last words of many individuals, and for
that reason alone, it's a footnote that should be remembered.