Newspaper - Dear John

Dear John, the words that seem to strike fear in everyone who opens mail. For those named john it is just an unfortunate tie to the worse letter you could ever receive. Dear John letters have been the subject of heartbreak, anger, and even jokes for almost a century. They possibly originated during WWII. however, its more likely “dear John” letters have existed since the dawn of writing but weren’t given a proper designation until WWII when unfortunate GI’s serving all over the globe began receiving envelopes that for lack of a better term, contained a breakup letter. These poor guys were off fighting in a war while they were barely out of high school only to receive bad news from home in the form of their girl finding another, deciding to be a nun or just deciding they were done with men for the time being. Heart break often led t anger and violent outburst within a platoon. Commanding officers would often take pity on the guys. Although this is a terrible thing to have happen while away serving the country it was by no means the only hearts that were broken. There did exist the “Dear Jane” letter. The terror of war, the idea of a foreign beauty or the righteous desire to find oneself before involving another are just some of the reasons that the “Dear Jane” Letter was employed. Some came from their guys who found another while others came from the U.S. Government informing them their love was not coming home.

Milton Bracker, a correspondent in North Africa wrote an article for the New York Times magazine mentioning Dear John clubs that were popping up across the world. Guys who had things in common. Brush-off clubs was also a popular name for these heartbroken men.

There are no telling how many “dear Jane’s ended up in the dead letter office of the postal service, nor is there any way of knowing how many men came home to married girlfriends because their ”Dear John’s” ended up at the bottom of the ocean.

The true is the tradition of writing to end a relationship during war has continued on. Men and women received letter, then calls, emails, facetime. The world has changed and the technology has made issues of the heart faster but the message is the same, John’s and Jane’s are still receiving brush-off letters.

Nicolas sparks wrote a book that was later turned into a move called “Dear John.” check out Susan L. Carruthers’ book Dear John: Love and Loyalty in wartime America that covers the subject extensively.