About This Collection

Lt. Adolph J. "Dolph" Bennett and Ensign Jean Carton Bennett married on March 26, 1944, in what would be the midst of the greatest conflict in human history. Less than a year later, in January 1945, Dolph shipped overseas to join the fight in Europe.

Over the next sixteen months, Dolph wrote to Jean almost daily — sometimes multiple times a day. These letters chronicle his journey from Fort Meade through the Atlantic crossing, his time in Scotland and England, his arrival in war-torn France, his entry into combat in Germany, his wounding on March 17, 1945, his recovery, and ultimately his long wait to come home during the occupation.

The letters are remarkable not only as a love story but as eyewitness testimony to history: the death of Roosevelt, the fall of Berlin, V-E Day, the discovery of the concentration camps, and Dolph's own visit to Hitler's bunker exactly one year after the dictator's suicide.

These letters were preserved by the Bennett family for nearly 80 years. In 2025, Dolph's grandson undertook the project of transcribing all 146 letters, creating a searchable digital archive that preserves not just the words but the context in which they were written.

Each letter has been carefully transcribed from the original handwritten pages, with editorial notes added to explain military terminology, identify people mentioned, and provide historical context for events referenced.

The original scans are presented alongside the transcriptions, allowing readers to see Dolph's handwriting and experience the letters as Jean would have received them.