Letters to Home in Forty Fort

In June 1942, Irwin Sagenkahn was eighteen years old and about to begin his life as a student at Penn State College. In May 1943, he had temporarily abandoned his education in favor of enlisting in the United States Army. The next few years saw him serving in the American Armed forces in France, the Philippine Islands and Japan. After he was discharged from the Army, he was able to return to school graduating in June 1948. Over the course of these six years, his parents saved an astounding 402 of his letters. Those letters are presented here and lovingly and painstakingly paint a picture of the life of a young man who served in one of the greatest conflicts the world has ever seen. The letters are accompanied by notes as part of the letters explaining such things as the relationship between the author and people mentioned in the letters, notes about his unit's role in the invasion of Japan, and notes that finally bring to light subjects that were censored by wartime restrictions. The result is a sense of authenticity, giving readers an intimate look into Irwin Sagenkahn's early life.

Author was born on December 10, 1923 at the Wilkes Barre General Hospital. He was a Certified Public Accountant and retired on July 1, 2013. He resided in the same homestead for 90 years. Prior to starting his own CPA practice in 1973, he was employed by Harry Minkoff, CPA and Laventhol and Horwath, CPA's. He was a member of the Pennsylvania Institute of CPA's and for a number of years, the American Institute of CPA's. He graduated from Forty Fort High School in 1941, Wyoming Seminary Dean School of Business in 1942 and The Pennsylvania State College in June 1948. At that time he joined his father in Sagenkahn's Paint and Hardware, Forty Fort until he changed occupations and entered the accounting professional in 1966. He volunteered on December 1, 1942 for the United States Army in World War II and served in the Corps of Engineers in the European Theatre of Operations in France, the Pacific Theatre of Operations in the Philippine Islands and in the Army of Occupation in Japan. Upon graduating from Penn State in June 1948, he received a commission as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Army Air Force Reserves. An avid genealogist since 1990, he has met cousins in Moscow, Russia; Riga, Latvia; South Africa and found cousins in England and Australia. He has written some articles that were published in various genealogical journals about his success in finding cousins literally all over the world. He is the author of the novel "Coal Dust is White" published in August 2012. The author also served on the final Forty Fort School Board before the jointure. For many years, he was the secretary of the Penn State Club of Wyoming Valley and served at one time as Treasurer of Boy Scouts Troop #123, Forty Fort. He also served on the advisory board of the Wilkes Barre campus of Penn State University in the 1970's. He married Sally Lee Schonfeld in March 1953. He has three children; Samuel j. Sagenkahn, Beth Warren and Lee Ellen Brown. He presently resides at Lions Gate, a retirement community in Voorhees, NJ.