Partisan Balis Vaičėnas' Spring Letter

Dear Sister Virginia,

On this paper I am writing my sincere greetings to you and all your loved ones, already quite far from you. We have spent all the journeys that have taken place up to this time happily. When we came here, God demanded another sacrifice from us: on Sunday morning, October 23 of this year, He called one of our foursome - Šarkiuks - to Himself. Before that, he felt well, cheerful and healthy. He suddenly fell ill at night and, having reached the morning, died. He was buried by his friends in a coffin on Lithuanian soil, performing his last service. Although we always regret the sand-filled youth at the filled grave, we are only comforted by the fact that he died the way all people die, among friends and next to his brother, who buried him according to Christian custom, that his body was not pierced by a bullet and not kicked by a cruel executioner. Due to the care of the partisans, a Holy Mass was held in one of the Lithuanian churches. Now we can only pray to the Lord to shelter his weary soul.

I am sending you some letters. I hope you will deliver them quickly. If you do not consider it too dangerous, deliver the letter to Mrs. Kl. (where both of your brothers served) and if you receive anything for me, try to deliver it quickly. On her envelope I will write: “To the neighbors Kl.” Also deliver the letter to Jonuks (the one who always brought honey and apples). On his envelope I will write: “To Skudutis”. You probably already know what Revenge is.

You are already a liaison in our Sąjūdis. I am sending you an excerpt from the order, keep it as a document. If you haven't sorted out all that business that we left unsettled the other day, then sort it out quickly and let me know. After all, it is my only asset that I want to preserve.

As much as possible, keep the conspiracy, be careful. I'm afraid that frost will creep into your midst again. As you can see, our fight for freedom is coming to a decisive end and maybe our troubles will finally end somehow.

I will end by wishing that God will protect you all always.