The Voices of Service exhibit and the Dear Mollye collection were brought to the Fort Miles Museum in Cape Henlopen State Park through the Jewish Historical Society of Delaware. The collection offers a unique and intimate perspective on the impact of World War II on the Jewish-American community living in Wilmington.

The exhibit showcases the voices of some of the 528 Jewish men and women from Delaware who served in the U.S. military during World War II. 

It was documented through the letters that Mollye Sklut, then-secretary of the Wilmington Young Men’s Hebrew Association, exchanged with more than 350 service members in her community from 1941 to 1945. 

She used these letters as a way to connect with those overseas, sharing news about their hometowns and what was happening in the community while they were gone. She received more than 500 letters from service members who wrote about their wartime fears and challenges, along with their longings for home.

Sklut shared their correspondence in the local Y Recorder, a newsletter published by the YMHA, distributing the news locally and to those serving overseas.

The Dear Mollye collection highlights a historically significant yet mostly untold U.S. wartime story, how one Delaware woman connected her community with those at war through letters. 

The exhibit and collection will be on display at the Fort Miles Museum until Veterans Day in November.