Author releases book of grandparents' World War II love letters

Fifteen years ago, Matthew Tessnear's mother handed him an old sewing bag full of love letters written between his grandparents during World War II.

He took them back with him to Eastern North Carolina where he was working at the time and on his day off, he sat on the beach and read them one by one.

He said he cried as he read them because they allowed him an intimate glimpse into his grandparents' lives. He saw their handwriting and got a glimpse into their world and a view of them young and just beginning their love story set during World War II.

Tessnear, who is from the small community of Alexis in Gaston County, now calls Kings Mountain, home.

Tessnear said his grandmother, Lois McCombs Tessnear, died before he was born and his grandfather, Harry Tessnear, died when his now 39-year-old grandson was barely 6 years old.

"It was like meeting her for the first time. Meeting them for the first time," he said in a phone interview last Thursday.

Recently, Tessnear compiled the letters into his self-published book, “Wherever You May Be: The World War II Letters of a Soldier and his Sweetheart.”

In a news release, Tessnear said World War II changed the lives of most people on Earth at the time.

"The war led to death and destruction for millions who faced dangerous conditions almost unimaginable today," he said in the release. "But the time period also resulted in new life through the numerous romances that blossomed as brave service members exchanged letters with their sweethearts back home."

The book, which is available now from Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing, details Harry and Lois McCombs Tessnear's exchanges during Harry's time in the U.S. Army.

Tessnear said his grandfather served in both Europe and the Pacific and the letters span the years from 1944 and 1946. He said his grandmother was around 18 and grandfather 20 when they began communicating. At the time, they were strangers who became penpals and got to know each other through those letters, fall in love and eventually, marry.

The couple were both from the Mooresboro area and eventually settled on Lois McComb Tessnear's family farm following the war.

“I fell in love with the letters and with my grandparents’ story from the start,” Tessnear said. “I’ve always been interested in studying war through the lens of the human experience and its impacts on the homefront. These letters took that interest deeper as I realized my own connection to World War II. It’s such a gift knowing what my grandmother and grandfather were thinking, feeling and seeing in the 1940s.”

Tessnear said the letters in the book reveal day-to-day life and the feelings of an American soldier, as well as what people were doing and thinking in Cleveland and Rutherford counties in western North Carolina during the war. It also weaves in a few cultural references to the time period and Tessnear included a section of photographs to help readers connect faces with the names mentioned in the passages.

“For me, these letters are so full of history and life,” Tessnear said. “I have long been interested in genealogy, learning about my ancestors and preserving their surviving artifacts. I also knew that I wanted to put these priceless documents into print and I just needed the right time and opportunity. I am thrilled to finally be sharing them with others to read and treasure.”

He said the letters begin before the couple are married and Harry Tessnear addresses his future bride as Lois McCombs. The two were married in July of 1945 and Tessnear said his grandfather began addressing the letters to his "darling wife."

"In this book, I realized my grandparents told each other multiple times that they’d stay together and love each other ‘wherever you may be,'" he said. "I knew that had to be the title, and it really brings everything in this beautiful story together.”

Tessnear lives in Kings Mountain with his wife, Molly, and is also the author of the mental health memoir "Eating me Alive: How Food, Faith and Family Helped me Fight Fear and Find Hope," and a children's book, "The Monkey and the Bear."

This article originally appeared on The Shelby Star: Gaston County author releases book of grandparents' love letters