Letter from Jack Fogarty to Mary MacDonald

April 5, 1945

Corporal Jack Fogarty enclosed this April 5th, 1945 two-page letter in an illustrated envelope for his pen pal Mary MacDonald. The letter describes the watercolor on the cover (Museum ID 2012.2006.32.1), which depicted the Good Friday Procession in the Philippines: “The drawing on this envelope is supposed to give you an idea of the Good Friday procession that was held in this town. The people lined up on either sides of the street. The women all wore their black veils, shawls, or if they didn’t have any, a handkerchief, and the majority of them had a rosary in their hands. In between the two columns one man carried a large wooden cross and behind him was, as pictured, a bier on which was a figure with a head of Christ carved out of some dark wood. It was a very crudely cared head and had a wig flowing from it of black hair. Behind the procession came a band of four of five pieces that played a funeral dirge. They walked through part of the town and then came back to the little shack that serves as a church.”