This bit of ephemera fell out of the back of an old cigarette card album belonging to a US soldier from the ETO. From what I gather, this facsimile letter was provided to every US Army serviceman who left the U.S. for deployment in either the Pacific or Europe/Med. The text reads
To Members of the United States Army Expeditionary Forces:
You are a soldier of the United States Army.
You have embarked for distant places where the war is being fought.
Upon the outcome depends the freedom of your lives: the freedom of the lives of those you love – your fellow citizens – your people.
Never were the enemies of freedom more tyrannical, more arrogant, more brutal.
Yours is a God-fearing, proud, courageous people, which, throughout its history, has put its freedom under God before all other purposes.
We who stay at home have our duties to perform – duties owed in many parts to you. You will be supported by the whole force and power of this Nation. The victory you will will be a victory of all the people – common to them all.
You bear with you the hope, the confidence, the gratitude and the prayers of your family, your fellow citizens, and your President —
Franklin D. Roosevelt
