Joseph Francis Kemmer was born in Westchester County, New York in 1921. He and his family lived in Mamaroneck and Larchmont, New York. At Lehigh he graduated with the Class of 1942. During his time at Lehigh, he was active in the Brown and White as Editorial Manager, The Epitome as art editor, Mustard and Cheese, Student Concerts-Lectures Series, Pi Delta Epsilon and Lambda Chi Alpha. He joined the Army in February 1943. After orientation at Camp Upton on Long Island, New York, he was sent to Miami Beach for basic training (February 1943 to September 1943) then was transferred to Maxwell Air Field in Alabama (September 1943 to November 1944) and eventually ended his career in the U.S. Army Air Forces. In Miami Beach he joined the staff of the “Take Off” a special services supplement to the “Miami Beach Daily Tropics,” a local newspaper. The editor of the “Take Off” was also a Lehigh graduate, a former classmate of his who also had worked on Lehigh’s Brown and White. All the staff of the “Take Off” were professional journalists except for Joe. At Maxwell Field, Mr. Kemmer did clerical work for the publications unit. Mr. Kemmer’s letters describe the living conditions and daily schedule at these posts, the people he met in the course of interviewing and writing for the “Take Off” (including one of America’s first abstract expressionists Max Schnitzler (1903-1999) and a man (Steve Melgrim) who was the prototype for a character in “What Makes Sammy Run” by Budd Schulberg), encounters with other Lehigh graduates who were also posted to Miami, observations about politics, race relations, and the interactions between Southerners and Northerners. He also states his thoughts on his preference to remain with other enlisted men rather than apply for OCS and on the field of public relations in general with specific advice for Reynolds Aluminum, where his father worked as a metallurgist. He had a older sister Gretchen to whom he addressed some of his correspondence.