World War II love letters arrive 70 years late
Better (very) late than never.
Nearly 70 years after they were first sealed with a kiss, two love letters were finally delivered to Dorothy Bartos Carlberg in her Chicago-area assisted-living facility.
The letters, penned in 1945 as World War II was winding down, were recently delivered to an old address where Carlberg (then Bartos) used to live years ago. The home's present occupants tracked down Carlberg and delivered the letters so she could see them for herself.
Who was the Casanova behind the pen? Admirer and Navy man Al Fragakis wrote them from San Diego. One of the letters mentioned a poignant regret. Fragakis wrote, "You were the last girl I've been out with and I'm sort of disgusted with myself for not even trying to kiss you."
The two never saw each other again and one can't help but wonder if things might have been different had the letters arrived.
When asked if she remembers Fragakis, Carlberg said, "He was a really nice guy. Not fast … my dad was very strict, but he liked boys in the military. He thought they were decent," the Chicago Tribune reports.
Carlberg, it turns out, liked boys in the military, too. She ended up marrying an Army man, and they stayed together until his death in 2012, according to Fox News.
They had six kids, one of whom, Sandy Jacobson, remarked, "She had a whole other life that we weren't aware of."
Follow Mike Krumboltz on Twitter (@mikekrumboltz).
