Sally Reason

Love Letters from India: A WWII Journal Sally Reason

When news of World War II broke out on December 7, 1942, Walter Cheers was on the golf course. He immediately enlisted and eventually served as an airbase commander in India, flying supplies over the "hump" to British troops in Burma. Love Letters from India is a collection of the letters he wrote home to his wife, Frances, during the war. Following the death of her parents, Walter's daughter, Sally Cheers Reason, began cataloguing and transcribing the letters he wrote to her mother. It was a project that lasted many years and one that gave her a rare glimpse into the passionate relationship her parents shared. Walter was a rather introverted person who rarely discussed his feelings or showed physical affection. His letters not only gave Sally a view of the war through his eyes, but by following her father into law and later transcribing his love letters, Sally discovered a side of him she had rarely glimpsed during his lifetime.