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
#29. Independence Day, 1944
Roast turkey for lunch during basic training at Buckley Field, Colorado
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#28. The pluses and minuses of the Army Specialized Training Program
Promoted as a boon to soldier advancement, the program stumbled just as Dad entered Cornell University in March 1944.
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#27. Victory Gardening in Queens, New York
A father reports to his soldier son about efforts to dig for victory in 1944, when vegetable seeds were considered a Home Front weapon of war.
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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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