About a year ago, a man in Mesa, Ariz. emailed The Washington Post saying he had hundreds of letters written by a single family during World War II. When reporter Dan Lamothe began reading them, he couldn’t put the letters down.

1941: The calm

Hundreds of letters, written between brothers fighting in the Pacific during World War II. Almost one a day, for every day of the war. In this podcast, you’ll hear the story of these brothers — the Eyde brothers — and of World War II, as told through their letters, in their own words. Bringing the letters to life are modern U.S. military veterans. At key moments in the story, we’ll talk to them about how these letters compare to their own experiences — what’s universal about war and what’s changed. And why everyone who picks up these letters feels like the Eyde brothers become a part of their family.