As Darrow Beaton was dying from lung cancer in 2008, the World War II veteran mailed his eldest daughter four boxes of family photos.
Hidden away under those photos were hundreds of love letters, some nine pages long, single spaced on a typewriter. They were on onionskin and fancy hotel stationery. There were postcards and telegrams — all written between December 1941 and November 1945.
Beaton, a private man, had never revealed any details about his past.
The tender letters tell the story of a young Beaton and the love of his life, Elinor Landgrebe Beaton.
(READ the story, w/ photos, from the Arizona Star or WATCH the video at the Daily Mail — It starts by itself at the bottom of page)