Letters From War Wednesday: World War I – AJ and Ella Winebrenner.

Hump day, and time again for Letters From War Wednesday.  This note from World War I, dated December 8, 1917, comes from the grieving parents, AJ and Ella, of Virgil Winebrenner, killed by an enemy bullet in the trenches of

Virgil Winebrenner - 1st Infantry Division

France.  The letter was addressed to the community and printed in a local newspaper.

“We are deeply bowed in sorrow over the loss of our younger soldier boy Virgil.  Yet we have an unbounded degree of comfort in the knowledge that our son has given his life for his country and flag.  We have two other sons, Benjamin, 25 years of age, and Jesse, 23 years old, in the national army at Camp Shelby, Miss., and we feel justly proud that we are the parents of three strong, red-blooded sons willing to fight for their country and home, and to know that one of them did honor to his flag, his parents and himself in making a sacrifice—the greatest and most supreme possible to be made by man, a sacrifice for us also.”