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Historian Bill Miller brings WWI to life American soldier Oscar F. Collings was killed in France during World War I, and the U.S. Army repatriated his remains home, where he was buried in 1921 in Jacksonville's Historic Cemetery. Photo by Bill Miller Friday Jan 6, 2017 at 12:01 AM Vickie Aldous Mail Tribune @VickieAldous With the Lusitania ocean liner about to sink after being hit by a German torpedo, Rogue Valley resident Dorothy Conner had no choice but to jump. She plunged deep into the ocean, was entangled in ropes and debris, but was pulled, unconscious, to safety.  Letters about her ordeal appeared in the Mail Tribune. During World War I, it was common for newspapers across the country to print letters from soldiers and others affected by the events of the harrowing war. Local historian and author Bill Miller will bring those letters to life with stories, photographs and early motion pictures during a free history lecture from noon to 1 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 11, at the Ashland library, 410 Siskiyou Blvd. "Writing the Great War: Southern Oregon Letters and Stories from WWI" is part of the Windows in Time monthly history lecture series sponsored by the Southern Oregon Historical Society and Jackson County Library Services. Although the historical society has laid off staff after voters rejected a funding levy on the November 2016 ballot, Windows in Time is continuing with the help of volunteers. At the time the Lusitania was sunk, Conner — a member of the Rogue Valley's upper class — was traveling to Europe to work as a nurse in the war effort. She was accompanied by her brother-in-law, Dr. Howard Fisher. "She was totally bored with the trip across the ocean," Miller says. "Then they realized they had been hit by a torpedo. Water was coming up on the ship. Her brother-in-law was running below to get life belts. They jumped in the last minute or two." The May 1915 attack caused the deaths of 1,198 passengers and crew members, including 128 Americans. It was one of the factors that eventually led the United States to join the war almost two years later. Miller says he wants to bring stories from WWI to audience members as the centennial approaches for America's entry into the war: April 6, 1917. A former history columnist for the Mail Tribune and historian for the Southern Oregon Historical Society, Miller is the author of "To Live and Die a WASP: 38 Women Pilots Who Died in WWII," "Eugene Ely: Daredevil Aviator" and "Silent City on the Hill," about Jacksonville's historic cemetery. Miller says he may eventually turn his research on Southern Oregon war letters into a new book.  During the war, newspapers sometimes devoted up to two full pages to letters penned by those involved. The Mail Tribune invited locals to have letters written by their sons and daughters published in the newspaper. "Most of them said, 'I'm alive,' or 'Don't worry,' or 'Sorry I didn't write sooner, but I couldn't,' " Miller says. Soldiers looked forward to packages from home, and were especially excited about cigarettes, he says. When they wrote back, their letters were often cryptic. "They very seldom talked about details of battles," Miller says. "Usually they were not allowed to tell where they were — and they often didn't know where they were. Every single letter coming in and out was censored. They didn't want to let anything out that would let Germany know where they were or where they were going." Many stories ended in tragedy, with loved ones killed in the war and buried far from home. Families could choose to leave the bodies overseas, or the United States government would repatriate the remains back to American soil for burial. When relatives didn't hear from their loved ones stationed far away, they often feared the worst. Miller says an Eagle Point mother was distraught after not hearing from her soldier son for a year. Desperate, she wrote a letter to his best friend, asking him if he knew where her son might be.  "It turned out, he was stationed in Hawaii," Miller says. After getting a scolding from the best friend, the son dutifully wrote to his mother, telling her he was safe and apologizing for his long silence. Miller says he has searched for intimate letters between husbands and wives and boyfriends and girlfriends, but people seemed to have used discretion and kept those letters to themselves, rather than handing them over to newspapers for publication. "I've tried to look for love letters, but I haven't found any," he says.