Laura Cameron on Substack
The Letter-Opener
Stories from the letters — the history, the humor, and the human detail behind Your Loving Son, Ronie
Every letter has
a story behind it
The Letter-Opener is Laura Cameron’s free Substack newsletter — a place to share the stories that didn’t quite fit in the book’s appendices. Each issue takes one thread from Ronie’s letters and pulls it: a bit of 1940s slang, a radio show in-joke, a moment of Home Front ingenuity, an unfamiliar place explained.
Published regularly, it’s free to read and free to subscribe. No algorithm, no advertising — just letters, history and the occasional latrine-dash cartoon.
Latest from
The Letter-Opener
#40. Saucy advice versus serious rules
Maybe “just salute everyone” is a reasonable solution when confronted with Army rules in the Second World War!
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#39. Messages crammed on a penny postcard
So much to say, so little space and time to say it. The colorful postcards from Cornell give way to sober, wartime b&w cards from Dad's first stop: Fort ...
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#38. Graduating from a 3-month wartime college whirlwind
My father’s time in the A.S.T.P. draws to a close. He enjoys a last Sunday up in the air over Ithaca, New York, then heads home for a long-dreamed-of f...
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Issue art: birthday buttons
Ronie’s bugling practice
The latrine dash — Army humor at its finest
Keep Punching — Home Front propaganda
Join the Letter-Opener
Every issue is free. No algorithm decides what you see — it arrives in your inbox on publication day, and you can read it at your own pace, like a letter.
Subscribers also get early notice of events, book club visits, and new discoveries from the archive.
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