Tacloban, Leyte, P.I.,
21 December, 1944

Major General Spencer B. Akin
Chief Signal Officer,
GHQ, SWPA.

This letter is to express my praise and appreciation of the work done by men under your command in the G.H.Q. Photo Laboratory and in the field. I recently spent some time with the 1st Cavalry Division, and with me was a photographer named T/5 Kingsley R Fall. He worked hard getting pictures to illustrate an article I was trying to get for the Saturday Evening Post, and showed a great deal of intelligence and picture knowledge.

Back at the laboratory Captain Harold C. Herman rushed development of these pictures and sped them on their way to the Pentagon Building.  I saw the prints and they were fine.  I hope they help explain to the American public something of the rigors of this campaign and thereby add to the due renown of our troops.  I am writing this because I believe that flowers for the living are better than wreaths for the dead.

Sincerely yours,

/s/ ALLEN RAYMOND

Saturday Evening Post War Correspondent
S.W.P.