Banner
Banner
Banner

Banner

Object number2016.154.4
Datec. 1942
MediumSilk(?); Fabric; Paint
Credit LineGift of Tina Calabro
DescriptionBanner is constructed of two nearly square blue silk fabric pieces with yellow trim around perimeter. One blue square has painted yellow text above and below a yellow painted image of the Great Seal of the United States; text contains a poem. Undecorated blue square is unstitched along bottom edge.DimensionsHeight x Width x Depth: 17.75 × 16.25 × 0.75 in. (45.1 × 41.3 × 1.9 cm)
InscriptionsOne blue field has painted yellow text above and below the Seal symbol:
Above: "U.S. ARMY";
Below: "Sweetheart / I thought that you would like to know / That someone's thoughts go where you go / That someone never can forget / The hours we spent since first we met / That life is richer, sweeter far, / For such a sweetheart as you are, / And now my constant prayer will be / That God may keep you safe for me. / CAMP PHILLIPS, KANSAS".
Historical NotesThis U.S. Army sweetheart banner was sent to Josephine Matullo by her future husband Bruno Calabro. In 1942, Bruno was drafted to serve in the military; he attended basic training at Camp Phillips, where he acquired a sweetheart banner with a love poem that he sent to Josephine. They corresponded throughout his time abroad (spent mainly in Czechoslovakia), and when he returned in December of 1945, he proposed marriage to Josephine. They married in the Italian Catholic church, Immaculate Conception, in Washington, Pa., on February 21, 1946. Josephine and Bruno were born and raised in Washington, Pa., by Italian immigrant parents. Though Bruno went to public school at Trinity High School and Josephine went to Catholic school at Immaculate Conception, they were members of the same tight-knit Italian enclave and were childhood sweethearts.
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