Bowling Green soldiers serving in Iraq and Afghanistan took the opportunity to write home – whether electronically or with a pen – and share a glimpse of what they were going through to their family and friends.

Those letters and others are found in the archives of the Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University.

Jerome W. Taylor of Bowling Green writes of a special Easter Sunday morning in 1991 in Iraq.

He came over in Desert Storm, a battle with Saddam Hussein that was over much faster than was originally anticipated and one that received considerable television coverage, though he doesn’t mention any cameras present at the Easter service.

“You know that it’s a great day to be a soldier,” he writes. “To see the whole world beaming with pride – celebrations of patriotism everywhere. It makes me feel good to have served during this time. This is one experience that I will always cherish and remember.”

Taylor explains that his camp overlooks a field artillery battalion.

“It was here that our battalion built a church for Easter Sunrise Service,” Taylor writes. “They took an Iraq flagpole and made a cross,” he says, noting sand was used to make the walls of the church and sandbags provided the seats and the podium.

And the roof?

“The roof was the blue sky and it was clear as a bell on that day,” Taylor writes.

Taylor said the soldiers entered the church equipped with their weapons, gas masks and helmets, took their seats on the sandbags and faced east.

“As the service started, the sun started to rise,” Taylor writes. “The view was so majestic, with the sun, the cross, the mosaic icons and the chaplain. When you serve your country with men like this, you know it’s a great day to be a soldier.”

Taylor also, like many military men, blows off some steam in a letter in 1990.

“We are still over here in Iraq. The snakes, scorpions and mosquitos have taken the place of the Iraq troops and are invading every day. Some of the mosquitos are bigger than our American eagles. I am cold, hot, hungry, tired, sore from mosquitos, sand fleas, all in one way. Some climate. But I deserve it …” he writes in April 1990.

By March 6, 1991, he offers a more specific report about Iraq.

“I am in Iraq. The war is over. We are waiting for a move order to start our trip back home. We are about 40 miles from the Euphrates River and about 30 miles from the Iraq city of Al Barah. We heard a report yesterday that some of the Elite Republican Guard were trying to put down a revolt of the regular Army and city folks because they were wanting Saddam out. We had a report that they used poison gas on their regular army and troops.

“We spent one night in between an ammo bunker and a compound that housed about 5,000 of the Elite Republican Guard,” he wrote, adding that mines had been cleared. “All we had to do was watch our step.”

Taylor said Desert Storm troops entered Iraq on Feb. 25, 1991, “and for all practical purposes the war was almost over.

“We traveled with those big guns over 200 miles toward our objective. We got into position. There wasn’t much left for the artillery to do. So we went into a covered position. I finally got a desert uniform,” Taylor wrote.

Christopher Davis of Bowling Green and of the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, gave his family a glimpse into his life in Afghanistan during his deployment there which lasted from Sept. 21, 2001, to April 24, 2002. The Afghanistan-Kandahar Airport was controlled by the 26th Marines detachment.

Davis communicates through emails, typing so quickly that he doesn’t use punctuation or capital letters to distinguish his sentences.

He does, on one occasion, send a piece of cardboard to his folks during Christmas.

That message is separated by punctuation.

“Hi, Sorry about the material but its writing surface,” Davis writes. “Its my postcard from Aphganastan (sic) but thought I’d write and tell you Merry Christmas and all that good stuff. Hope everyone has a good one but don’t worry about me. I’m still here and see you in a few. Tell everybody that I’m okay …”

In another message, this one an email, Davis notes on March 2, 2002, “…just got off work rough day but I had fun we threw 50 pound boxes all day i’m sore but it was fun throwing them at each other and see who would actually get hurt first …”

“We are still over here in Iraq. The snakes, scorpions and mosquitos have taken the place of the Iraq troops and are invading every day. … I am cold, hot, hungry, tired, sore from mosquitos, sand fleas, all in one way. Some climate. But I deserve it …”