A Gay Soldier's Love Letter From WWII

Check out this amazing letter Brian Keith wrote to another soldier named Dave one year after falling in love with him overseas in 1943. Keith recalls the time the two shared while stationed together in North Africa. He writes about their chance encounter during World War II, waking up in his arms and the tears that flowed when they separated, and expresses regret that Dave never made it home after the war. The letter was reprinted in September of 1961 by ONE Magazine and the original is supposedly preserved in the Library of Congress.

http%3A//thegailygrind.com/2013/03/02/lgbt-history-a-love-letter-from-wwii-sleep-well-my-love/



• Gosh, I feel like a huge cynic . . . but it just doesn't have the ring of truth to it. It's as if it's written for others to see and think, "Oh, what a beautiful love letter." It reads like novel instead of a letter written from one person's point of knowledge to another person who experienced the same events. There just seems to be too much exposition. I guess I'm just a 43 yr old cynic. I mean, ain't no body writin' me love letters.

• R1, you DO understand that the writer knew the "recipient" was dead, right?

• People don't write love letters anymore. The letter reads so fake because people don't write like that anymore. If you read President Lyndon Johnson's letter to his then girlfriend, you would be shocked that it was he who wrote the letters. Complete opposite of how he is perceived.

• It was written to his dead lover, and this is 1943, so the writing style much different from today. It made me cry actually, I lost a lover before. I can feel his pain

• R3 you do realize this letter was written in 1943?

• Gee--where have I read this before....

  http://www.datalounge.com/cgi-bin/iowa/ajax.html%23page:showThread%2C12527966%2C1

• I searched the thread and didn't find it.

• I wanna find myself a military husband.

• Shed a tear ;)

• Did anyone ever find a picture of the two guys in the letter or any more info on the guy who wrote the letter?

• I want to know what happened to them.

• R10 The letter would ring a bit hollow if they were both ugly, right.

• LOL at R12 's comment

• Pic of soldier, he's hot.

  http://www.briankeith.com/images/brian_marine.jpg

• Id do him

• R14 How do you know thats him?

• No guy would do that nowadays. He'd just pick up some trick on Grindr, become infatuated, and forget about the previous guy.

• It's a joke. The pic is Brian Keith, but the actor (i.e., Family Affair). Thought you would all recognize him.

• I wrote this in the other thread but the name Brian Keith is an unusual one and Brian Keith the actor was in WW2 so I wonder if it was him?

• Lmao, R18 I completely agree. Something has been lost in today's society with texting, and grindr. Love letter's were an an art form. Oh well

• Out of curiosity, who here has written a love letter? And was it handwritten or emailed etc

• Ive hand written so many, and one break up letter too

• Who cares if it's real...

• I'm going to sit right down and write myself a letter . . .

  R22

• Lets bring back letters haha

• The actor Brian Keith was a marine. Are marines GIs (as mentioned in the letter)? Are they stationed together?

• It says on that website that the picture is from, that he married and had a kid. Does that sound like our guy?

• So romantic!

• Brian Keith (the actor)'s real name was Robert Keith.

• Actually, actor Brian Keith's real name was Robert Keith Richey Jr. Plus, he was married 3x and had 7 children. So it most definitely was not him.

• Good investigating guys!

• If the guy was already dead, who did he mail it to?

• And he died in a tragic baking accident.

• I always wanted to fuck and spank Brian Keith--showed a nice ass in Parent Trap.

  Anonymous

• LMao at R32

• sweet and sad

• nothing worse than loosing someone you love prematurly

• I agree with R1; it reads stagey and saccharine.

• I remember reading a letter similar to this one from WWI

• R38 What seems stagey about it?

• The letter writer describes scenes in detail that he wouldn't have to use with someone who was also there (i.e., his partner). He seems to be writing for an audience versus his lover. It creates a disingenuous tone, IMHO.

  R38

• I think he is writing it as a sort of self diary, bc his partner is already dead. And who knows, maybe he was writing the letter so one day we can be discussing it on this website. lmao

• Such a heartwarming story. THnx for sharing

• Beautiful!

• [quote] it reads stagey and saccharine How thoughtless of this GI not to strictly conform the style of his personal letter to the exactly standards of some nobody queen seven decades later.

• EXACTING standards

• That's Brian Keith the actor. He was hot.

• Well, let's see... -The Library of Congress website has no record of holding a letter by Brian Keith. (And one would wonder why they would "preserve" a personal letter by a non-famous person, which would more fittingly be a part of an LGBT library.) -The Ancestry website doesn't show any other Keith Brian in the military or draft records, except for the actor. -Presumably the writer died before the letter was published in the magazine. There is record on the Ancestry site of a Keith E Brian kicking it in 1960 in Dekalb County, Ill, but no details about being in the military or age, etc.

• It's a toss up between: "Curtains made from barrage balloons, spotlights made from the cocoa cans" or "Drinks at 'Coq d'or, dinner at 'Auberge', a ring and a promise given' that factually proves dear Mr. Keith was Miss Keith in the army issued sheets.

  I%20love%20dramatic%20bottoms

• I felt like I was reading a travel brochure, sign me up!

• R49 couldn't be more right. "A promise given" deserves a MARY!

  Sissy%20Goforth%20

• Sweet. Absurdly fake. But sweet.