U.S. Census Bureau Daily Feature for June 22

WASHINGTON, June 22, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Following is the daily "Profile America" feature from the U.S. Census Bureau:

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WEDNESDAY, JUNE 22: V-MAIL

Profile America — Wednesday, June 22nd.  One of the biggest advances in bolstering the morale of the nation's armed forces has been the ability to send and receive electronic mail from such remote areas as Afghanistan.  While today it's e-mail, in World War II, it was V-mail.  The idea was to microfilm regular letters being sent to GI's overseas, to save room for shipping war material.  At their destination they were blown back up to normal size.  The first V-mail was sent on this day in 1942. Today, even though Americans increasingly rely on e-mail, the postal service still delivers more than 177 billion cards, letters, catalogs and magazines  each year.  That works out to close to half a billion pieces of mail every day.  You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau, online at www.census.gov.

Sources:  Chase's Calendar of Events 2011, p. 332

Statistical Abstract of the United States 2011, t. 1126

Profile America is produced by the Public Information Office of the U.S. Census Bureau. These daily features are available as produced segments, ready to air, on a monthly CD or on the Internet at http://www.census.gov (look for "Multimedia Gallery" by the "Newsroom" button).  

SOURCE U.S. Census Bureau