Envelope with message hidden beneath 6 cent airmail stamp showing "Passed by Naval Censor"
Click on envelope to read first page of letter from Leonard to his wife, Faye, and their little baby, Greg.
It was during this time, in the later part of WWII, that Lynch killed a Japanese sniper. Lynch was driving a jeep across an island, carrying a vital message, when he was fired upon by a sniper. The sniper was perched in a lofty tree-top position. The shot ripped past Lynch's head causing him to surve off the bumpy road, slaming on the breaks to bring the jeep to an abrupt hault. Then Lynch dove for cover behind the jeep and with one well placed shot from his .45 ACP Government Model 1911A1 pistol, he nailed the sniper, shooting him squarely between the eyes. The sniper tumbled out of the tree, plumeting to the ground. Carefully Lynch walked over and inspected the dead sniper for identification and documents. All that he found was a picture of the dead sniper with what appeared to be his wife and children. Though shocked that the sniper had appearently fired his last bullet (unless others were afixed to the tree), Lynch was happy he was still alive and the sniper was dead. Lynch later told his wife about this most "awful experience of his life" which occurred while he was driving down a "road out of hell to no where." Actually it was somewhere in the Phillipeans in the Luzon area north of Manila.
Lynch's duty upon the SS James K. Kelly included censoring mail sent home from merchant marines and soldiers. Lynch also sent numerous letter home to his wife and their new born child. It was possible to know where these letters were sent from as Lynch used a code to relate this information to his wife. This was quite revealing, as most letters sent from service men and merchant marines aboard the Liberty Ships could not reveal where they were stationed.
The code Lynch used was simple but effective. When Lynch wanted to tell his wife something normally not allowed by the censors, he would write a message under a 6 cent airmail stamp. Then when sending a letter with a hidden message, he would number each page with a Roman Numeral at the top center of the pages. Because these stamps were affixed to an opaque security type envelope, it was not possible to see the hidden message, so these were not detected by army or navy security officers who did not know to look for the messages. Hence Lynch was able to relate secret messages to his wife in order to let her know his station and that he was safe amid the terrible conflicts she would hear about listening to the radio or reading new reports.
Some of the messages hidden under the postage stamps on Lynch's first transport mission read:
"Deployed with ship that protects a convoy. Its the James K. Kelly" postmarked Dec. 9, 1945
"We are about 40 miles up the bay from SF" postmarked Dec. 17, 1945
"Expect to leave 1/16/45 for Guam. Don't worry all OK I love you" postmarked Jan 16, 1945
"The date is right we crossed dateline today" postmarked Jan. 17, 1945 written 1 Jan. 1945
"Landed at Ewine for today. May be here a month don't worry OK." Postmarked Jan 13, 1945.
"Don't worry Guam + Tinian (from) Eniwe until its clear." Postmarked Jan 16, 1945.
"Arrived Guam today. May be 3 weeks. Unload part here." Postmarked Jan. 22, 1945.
"On the way to Tinian. Get there 6 Feb. 1945." Postmarked Feb. 11, 1945.
"Will sail on (illegible) for home. See you March (illegible)" Postmarked Feb. 17, 1945. Eeither the ink was faded in steaming off stamps or someone marked out dates after letters were received so that this information was assured of remaining confidential.
It is interesting that Lynch was serving on the Liberty Ships which were directly responsible for securing those islands and providing troops with supplies and munitions that were essential in the march toward Japan. As everyone knows this campaign culminated with the dropping of the Atomic bombs on Hiroshima Aug. 6, 1945 and on Nagasaki Aug. 9, 1945.
For more information about the Liberty Ships you may visit these sites:
Learning and the Liberty Ships
Last of the Liberty Ships: The SS Jeremiah O'Brien by Herbert Adams The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is very much like the Liberty Ship Leonard P. Lynch served upon. The SS Jeremiah O'Brien is berthed in San Fransisco, the port out of which L. P. Lynch sailed.
Project Liberty Ship: SS John W. Brown Only surviving Liberty Ship of east coast moored at Pier One, Clinton Street, Boston, MA.