1943 letter describes Persia as seen by American G.I.

Imagine opening an old envelope and catching a glimpse of history.

Grand Coulee man Fred Long received a few items that belonged to his brother, Robert "Bobby" Long, after he passed away recently, including an unsigned letter titled "This is Persia, The Way a G.I. Soldier See's It," dated November 13, 1943 from "Iran Persia."

Fred Long knew right away it wasn't his brother's handwriting, but since Robert Long, along with his other brother Harry, had served in Persia at that time, Fred Long reasoned it must have come from someone Robert Long knew over there.

The letter is missing a few pages, including the last pages, and so the identity of the author remains a mystery.

The letter starts "Dear Mom," but Long wonders if that was simply a literary device the author used.

"Dear Mom," the letter starts, " I am sending you a perfect description of Iran. Where gossip is cheap and rumors aren't rationed. I greet you with a great big Hi-de-Ho!"

Describing Iran, the author writes "A land that is as old as civilization, a land where the Bible began and a land that today is the land that no one wants, or shall I say, only oil people want."

Long read pieces of the letter aloud during an interview, and when coming to the point about "oil people," said, "I think he had a finger on it there."

The letter is written in cursive handwriting, and some language used may seem a bit dated to modern ears in regards to describing another culture.

"The natives hear (sic) are the filthiest, most ignorant, most poverty stricken, most diseased people I have ever seen. These cities are villages of mud and straw huts, in plastering a house the smell is worse than any barnyard smell on a hot monday. ... One man's latrine is another's drinking fountain."

The writer describes widespread health problems, including typhus, cholera, starvation, and chancroids, "the principal diseases," and reports that "a person at 30 years of age here looks like a grey haired man of 60 or 70 back home. Childrens' deaths are tremendous and it is a case of survival of the filthiest."

The letter goes on to describe prostitution, the bugs and sandflies of the region, women carrying baskets on their heads, and much more.

But the author also acknowledges that despite "indescribable filth and ignorance" the area "gave birth 3000 years ago to a great civilization, it gave the world the ancient prophets of the Bible."

"You will see a bit of history that I daily contact, the garden of Eden is close by near Bosro in Iraq, I have seen Daniels Tomb, ... Alexander the Great's Palace in Sheeshon."

Describing the region, the author writes that "the desert is about sea level, but you can see the distant mountains that climb as high as 20,000 feet where the snow never melts. The camel caravans continuously wind across the endless desert lands. Native bands on different pilgrimages go to and fro, shiftless as the sands, the donkeys so heavily loaded they collapse from there burden. That's Persia. Now the daily temperature is about 135 degrees in the open sun and about 110 in the shade. We wear shorts in the day but due to our natural enemies, sandflies, mosquitoes and flies, since the two legged ones are now rounded up in north africa, I reckon we'll go through the whole affair with out seeing our 2 legged enemies as all are completely dressed at night even to gloves. We sleep under nets and sweat enough to float a ship. We eat salt tablets by the score and drink water and juices by the gallon (chlorine and all)."

The letter then takes a turn towards humility, and American patriotism:

"And yet with it all, it has given all of us a certain sense that we are doing a big job. It's teaching us simplicity, it's shown all of us how great America is. It's shown us how small each of us are, how unimportant and yet how very important each of us is to the rest of the nations, one cannot help but ..." the letter trails off.

Long said he saw a bit of a piece of history in the letter and wanted to share it with The Star.

You never know what's going to be in an old envelope.