The collection contains letters belonging to August "Auggie" Lourenco, a Portuguese-American from Newark, New Jersey, who served in the United States Army during World War II. Most letters are addressed to his girlfriend-then-wife, Anna "Ann" Lourenco (née Ertman), a second-generation Polish immigrant. Lourenco joined the United States Army in 1943 and completed his basic training at Camp Gordon, Georgia and Nashville, Tennessee, before being sent to Yuma, Arizona for additional training. Lourenco was then stationed across Europe, most often in Germany but also in France and Belgium. Most of Lourenco's work in the Army consisted of truck driving.

Many letters sent from August to Anna during his time in Europe are in the form of Victory Mail, or V-Mail. Several letters exchanged between August and Anna feature lipstick stains. These instances are noted in the individual folder's notes.

Other letters are from August Lourenco's relative, Gaspar Jose Lourenco, writing to August and Anna from his home in Arcos de Valdevez, Minho, a now former province of Portugal. Several of these letters are written partially in Portuguese.