World War II Radio Heroes: Letters of Compassion
Encyclopedia
World War II Radio Heroes: Letters of Compassion is a book by psychologist
Lisa Spahr, co-authored with Austin Camacho, that recounts her personal investigation of the activities of shortwave radio listeners
who notified families of captured U.S. military personnel of their status as prisoners of war
during World War II
. It documents Spahr's search to locate and thank the listeners who wrote letters to her great-grandmother reporting details of her grandfather's capture and internment in a German
prison camp in 1943.
and was being held by the Germans as a prisoner of war. The letters often included personal reassurances from the writer, such as "don't worry" and "he's in good health", and some passed along requests for items from home, such as toothbrushes and underwear. Subsequent investigation showed they were written by shortwave radio listeners who'd tuned in to Axis
propaganda
broadcasts that disseminated details of recently-captured prisoners. Inspired by the apparent compassion of the writers and the unique service they felt compelled to provide to families of war prisoners, she undertook to try and locate and thank any she could find who were still living. An internet
search of names and addresses contained on the letters resulted in a number of possible leads. Spahr sent letters of gratitude to approximately 75 of these and received about a dozen responses. She was able to make subsequent contact with several of the individuals, a few of whom she developed close friendships with.
, and other Axis powers countries. A number of shortwave listeners copied the prisoner names and addresses and notified families by mail or telephone, and the practice became known as “Prisoner of War relay” or “POW monitoring". Although the Allied
government provided similar services, the families usually heard from shortwave listeners first, sometimes as many as 100 at a time.
Many wartime listeners were ordinary citizens who discovered they were able access the shortwave bands
; a feature included on many premium consumer radios
of the era. Times and radio frequencies
of the news from Rome
, Berlin
and Tokyo
were published daily on the radio page of The New York Times
. Others were dedicated shortwave listeners or DXers
who maintained an ongoing interest in long-distance radio listening as a hobby. Still others were licensed amateur radio
operators who were, as a group, banned from transmitting due to wartime restrictions, but often kept their listening gear in operation.
Some of the reports they provided were casual. Spahr documents a letter from Edward D. Rapier of New Orleans, Louisiana
who wrote that he accidentally tuned into a German broadcast and heard about Robert Spahr’s status. Others appeared more urgent. Mrs. Earl Seigle of Tyler, Texas
sent a letter to Martha Spahr by airmail special delivery. Seigle noted the radio announcer's reading of a message from Robert Spahr: “I arrived safe in Germany as a prisoner. I will write later.” Others like Irwin F. Bender of Oberlin, Pennsylvania
asked for the donation of a postage stamp so that he might continue to provide other families the same service. Sometimes letters got misrouted, and Martha Spahr once received news of a soldier named James C. Caraway. Many listeners like Herman Winkler of New York City
were so dedicated to their practice they created letter templates to speed up the process.
Some of these belonged to clubs such as “SWAM”, the Short-Wave Amateur Monitors Club, a group of listeners organized by Mrs. Ruby Yant of Lima, Ohio
. Yant assigned each member a specific night of the week to monitor so that no messages would be missed. A copy of a SWAM newsletter containing a membership list, and a SWAM postcard invitation to membership, both reproduced in the book, indicate that the group was formed in 1943 and had around 50 members in 1944. Some of the SWAM monitors approached their job with enthusiasm. Although not typical, at least two SWAM members were responsible for sending 3,000 letters each. Another, according to Spahr, sent over 5,000.
One SWAM member, Flavius Jankauskas of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was only 16 years old when he sent his letter to Spahr's family. The next year he joined the war effort by enlisting in the United States Merchant Marine
. On meeting Jankauskas, Spahr reports that he remains a ham radio enthusiast holding the callsign K3JA, and still listens to shortwave broadcasts as a hobby. They developed a close friendship, culminating with Jankauskas presenting the shortwave radio receiver that he used during the war to Spahr as a gift.
. Fike sent a letter to Martha Spahr on May 9, 1943. Shortly after, the FBI investigated Fike's shortwave radio listening and accused him of being a German spy. His name was eventually cleared before his death in 1988. Listening to enemy broadcasters was widely viewed with suspicion by the government, and Spahr cites a 1943 American Legion
Magazine article which sought to discourage reliance on news contained in enemy broadcasts, saying that the POW broadcasts were seen as merely bait in the Axis propaganda war, intended to weaken the morale and the “will to fight” of relatives and friends of missing men.
By 1943, government officials were reportedly “increasingly concerned” over citizen
POW monitoring. A New York Times article stated the activity was “playing directly into the hands of the country’s enemies” by building up an audience for the propaganda broadcasts. It went on to say that since there was no assurance of the information’s accuracy, the shortwave listeners might cause "needless disappointment and heartache.” The American Red Cross reported that hundreds of families had received “false casualty reports,” and that enemy news of prisoners should be ignored. It quoted the FBI as saying “The spreading of such reports indicated a substantial force of enemy representatives strategically placed throughout the country, working under enemy orders to undermine American morale.”
Psychologist
Psychologist is a professional or academic title used by individuals who are either:* Clinical professionals who work with patients in a variety of therapeutic contexts .* Scientists conducting psychological research or teaching psychology in a college...
Lisa Spahr, co-authored with Austin Camacho, that recounts her personal investigation of the activities of shortwave radio listeners
Shortwave listening
Shortwave listening is the hobby of listening to shortwave radio broadcasts located on frequencies between 1700 kHz and 30 MHz. Listeners range from casual users seeking international news and entertainment programming to hobbyists immersed in the technical aspects of radio reception and DXing...
who notified families of captured U.S. military personnel of their status as prisoners of war
Prisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
during World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. It documents Spahr's search to locate and thank the listeners who wrote letters to her great-grandmother reporting details of her grandfather's capture and internment in a German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
prison camp in 1943.
Discovery
Spahr's discovery of what she first took to be a box of love letters in trunk belonging to her late grandfather inspired her to investigate who wrote them and why. She found more than 70 letters written to her great-grandmother Martha in 1943 by individuals in different parts of U.S. Each one advised Martha that her son Robert had been captured during the Tunisia CampaignTunisia Campaign
The Tunisia Campaign was a series of battles that took place in Tunisia during the North African Campaign of the Second World War, between Axis and Allied forces. The Allies consisted of British Imperial Forces, including Polish and Greek contingents, with American and French corps...
and was being held by the Germans as a prisoner of war. The letters often included personal reassurances from the writer, such as "don't worry" and "he's in good health", and some passed along requests for items from home, such as toothbrushes and underwear. Subsequent investigation showed they were written by shortwave radio listeners who'd tuned in to Axis
Axis Powers
The Axis powers , also known as the Axis alliance, Axis nations, Axis countries, or just the Axis, was an alignment of great powers during the mid-20th century that fought World War II against the Allies. It began in 1936 with treaties of friendship between Germany and Italy and between Germany and...
propaganda
Propaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
broadcasts that disseminated details of recently-captured prisoners. Inspired by the apparent compassion of the writers and the unique service they felt compelled to provide to families of war prisoners, she undertook to try and locate and thank any she could find who were still living. An internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
search of names and addresses contained on the letters resulted in a number of possible leads. Spahr sent letters of gratitude to approximately 75 of these and received about a dozen responses. She was able to make subsequent contact with several of the individuals, a few of whom she developed close friendships with.
Listeners
During World War II, short messages from prisoners of war were often read by studio announcers at stations in Germany, JapanJapan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, and other Axis powers countries. A number of shortwave listeners copied the prisoner names and addresses and notified families by mail or telephone, and the practice became known as “Prisoner of War relay” or “POW monitoring". Although the Allied
Allies of World War II
The Allies of World War II were the countries that opposed the Axis powers during the Second World War . Former Axis states contributing to the Allied victory are not considered Allied states...
government provided similar services, the families usually heard from shortwave listeners first, sometimes as many as 100 at a time.
Many wartime listeners were ordinary citizens who discovered they were able access the shortwave bands
Shortwave bands
Shortwave bands are frequency allocations for use within the shortwave radio spectrum . They are the primary medium for applications such as maritime communications, international broadcasting and worldwide amateur radio activity because they take advantage of ionospheric skip propagation to send...
; a feature included on many premium consumer radios
Receiver (radio)
A radio receiver converts signals from a radio antenna to a usable form. It uses electronic filters to separate a wanted radio frequency signal from all other signals, the electronic amplifier increases the level suitable for further processing, and finally recovers the desired information through...
of the era. Times and radio frequencies
Frequency
Frequency is the number of occurrences of a repeating event per unit time. It is also referred to as temporal frequency.The period is the duration of one cycle in a repeating event, so the period is the reciprocal of the frequency...
of the news from Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Berlin
Berlin
Berlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
and Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
were published daily on the radio page of The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
. Others were dedicated shortwave listeners or DXers
DXing
DXing is the hobby of tuning in and identifying distant radio or television signals, or making two way radio contact with distant stations in amateur radio, citizens' band radio or other two way radio communications. Many DXers also attempt to receive written verifications of reception from the...
who maintained an ongoing interest in long-distance radio listening as a hobby. Still others were licensed amateur radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
operators who were, as a group, banned from transmitting due to wartime restrictions, but often kept their listening gear in operation.
Some of the reports they provided were casual. Spahr documents a letter from Edward D. Rapier of New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
who wrote that he accidentally tuned into a German broadcast and heard about Robert Spahr’s status. Others appeared more urgent. Mrs. Earl Seigle of Tyler, Texas
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
sent a letter to Martha Spahr by airmail special delivery. Seigle noted the radio announcer's reading of a message from Robert Spahr: “I arrived safe in Germany as a prisoner. I will write later.” Others like Irwin F. Bender of Oberlin, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
asked for the donation of a postage stamp so that he might continue to provide other families the same service. Sometimes letters got misrouted, and Martha Spahr once received news of a soldier named James C. Caraway. Many listeners like Herman Winkler of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
were so dedicated to their practice they created letter templates to speed up the process.
Some of these belonged to clubs such as “SWAM”, the Short-Wave Amateur Monitors Club, a group of listeners organized by Mrs. Ruby Yant of Lima, Ohio
Lima, Ohio
Lima is a city in and the county seat of Allen County, Ohio, United States. The municipality is located in northwestern Ohio along Interstate 75 approximately north of Dayton and south-southwest of Toledo....
. Yant assigned each member a specific night of the week to monitor so that no messages would be missed. A copy of a SWAM newsletter containing a membership list, and a SWAM postcard invitation to membership, both reproduced in the book, indicate that the group was formed in 1943 and had around 50 members in 1944. Some of the SWAM monitors approached their job with enthusiasm. Although not typical, at least two SWAM members were responsible for sending 3,000 letters each. Another, according to Spahr, sent over 5,000.
One SWAM member, Flavius Jankauskas of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was only 16 years old when he sent his letter to Spahr's family. The next year he joined the war effort by enlisting in the United States Merchant Marine
United States Merchant Marine
The United States Merchant Marine refers to the fleet of U.S. civilian-owned merchant vessels, operated by either the government or the private sector, that engage in commerce or transportation of goods and services in and out of the navigable waters of the United States. The Merchant Marine is...
. On meeting Jankauskas, Spahr reports that he remains a ham radio enthusiast holding the callsign K3JA, and still listens to shortwave broadcasts as a hobby. They developed a close friendship, culminating with Jankauskas presenting the shortwave radio receiver that he used during the war to Spahr as a gift.
Controversy
The practice of monitoring POW broadcasts sometimes provoked the U.S. government to react strongly against individual listeners. Spahr documents a number of cases, among them, John R. Fike, of Omaha, NebraskaOmaha, Nebraska
Omaha is the largest city in the state of Nebraska, United States, and is the county seat of Douglas County. It is located in the Midwestern United States on the Missouri River, about 20 miles north of the mouth of the Platte River...
. Fike sent a letter to Martha Spahr on May 9, 1943. Shortly after, the FBI investigated Fike's shortwave radio listening and accused him of being a German spy. His name was eventually cleared before his death in 1988. Listening to enemy broadcasters was widely viewed with suspicion by the government, and Spahr cites a 1943 American Legion
American Legion
The American Legion is a mutual-aid organization of veterans of the United States armed forces chartered by the United States Congress. It was founded to benefit those veterans who served during a wartime period as defined by Congress...
Magazine article which sought to discourage reliance on news contained in enemy broadcasts, saying that the POW broadcasts were seen as merely bait in the Axis propaganda war, intended to weaken the morale and the “will to fight” of relatives and friends of missing men.
By 1943, government officials were reportedly “increasingly concerned” over citizen
POW monitoring. A New York Times article stated the activity was “playing directly into the hands of the country’s enemies” by building up an audience for the propaganda broadcasts. It went on to say that since there was no assurance of the information’s accuracy, the shortwave listeners might cause "needless disappointment and heartache.” The American Red Cross reported that hundreds of families had received “false casualty reports,” and that enemy news of prisoners should be ignored. It quoted the FBI as saying “The spreading of such reports indicated a substantial force of enemy representatives strategically placed throughout the country, working under enemy orders to undermine American morale.”