Letters Penned By Sailor From Pacific Theater in WWII Reunited With Daughter

OAK LAWN, IL — A treasure trove of letters found by an Oak Lawn Community High School next to a dumpster eight years ago have been returned to a family member during an emotional exchange.

Sailor Leonard Andersen and Airman Albert Binsfield, penned the letters while serving in the Navy and Army Air Corps during World War II. An OLCHS student discovered a box of letters in 2017 discarded by a dumpster. The student thought they looked important, so she brought them to school to show her history teacher, Phil McGee, and the Social Studies Department Chair, Kristin Kuchyt.

“This was an extraordinary discovery by one of our students, and it was especially meaningful to hear what they meant to Leonard Andersen’s daughter, Marge Harrington,” Kuchyt said. “When teaching about World War II, we emphasize not only the experiences of soldiers, but also how families on the home front navigated their daily lives during the war. These letters offer a powerful window into the realities faced by an American family during wartime.”

After receiving the letters, McGee and Kuchyt shared them with the Oak Lawn Public Library’s Local History Room. The letters were scanned and chronicled for the library’s World War II local archives. The library returned the letters to Kuchyt, who has held onto them all these years.

Harrington eventually found the scanned letters via a Google search.,

“After a genealogy inquiry from a family member, late one night, I did a simple Google search on the matter,” Harrington said. “Before my eyes was a library listing that referenced a letter sent by my uncle [Binsfield] to his mother. In the bit of online information supplied, it noted my uncle’s plane was shot down during World War II, and that he survived. I knew this about my uncle, but was surprised to see this online. I contacted the library to inquire what they had and how they obtained it. They referred me to a local teacher, Kristin Kuchyt, whom I contacted, and a few days later, we spoke by phone.”

The letters contained correspondence between Harrington’s parents, soldier Leonard Andersen, and his wife, Marian. There were also letters between her uncle, and his family.
These letters were written from the Pacific Theater and captured the story of the war from far and near.

“Finding out about these letters was initially quite puzzling, especially how the letters got out of the possession of our family,” Harrington said. “After my conversation with Kristin, I was excited that I was going to get the letters back and be able to read them and share them with family.”

Harrington was asked about her plans for the letters.

“Our family considers the letters a priceless treasure, and they will be kept safe and secure,” she said. I plan to scan all the letters so each of my siblings will have an electronic copy for themselves.”

~ Contributed by Patrick DiFilippo, OLCHS Staff Writer