Posts Tagged "Phu Bai Vietnam 1971"

Waiting on an Address

Posted by in Vietnam Letters | 6 comments

Waiting on an Address

Frank deployed from Okinawa to Vietnam on January 15, 1971.  I would not receive the last letter he wrote from Okinawa until after he had been deployed for five days. One of the letters I had written to him dated January 11, 1971, was returned to me. Because I wrote him a letter every day,  I  know somewhere out there in “lost letter land” there are still other letters that he never received and which were never returned to me  The problem we faced was that mail took five days or more to arrive in Okinawa from the states. The following letter is the first letter I received from...

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I Love You, Frank

Posted by in Vietnam Letters | 4 comments

I Love You, Frank

Finally, we were in communication with each other.   Of course, it would be a slow process, but it was the best we had. I would not know Frank received my letters until sometime after the 15th of February, but we kept writing.  We both had so many questions about what was going on with each other. Frank wrote a letter many days before Valentine’s Day, asking his folks to buy flowers and candy for me.  Days before Valentine’s Day, I had mailed his Valentine’s Card and sent a box full of things for him to munch on.  Because we knew how long the mail took to reach each other,...

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Guard Duty and Cookies

Posted by in Vietnam Letters | 4 comments

Guard Duty and Cookies

Frank was finally receiving my letters and boxes. Finally, he could begin to realize that there was no need to worry about who would always own my heart and soul. Loneliness through separation from the person you truly love added to being in a war with so much uncertainty of what the next day may bring can cause a person to think of the worst of what could happen instead of the truth that they know inside them. My biggest worry was for Frank’s health and safety.  I was so terrified of something happening to him and him not returning to me alive.  Loving Frank with all of my heart and...

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Ups and Downs and Poetry

Posted by in Vietnam Letters | 4 comments

Ups and Downs and Poetry

Frank had decided to quit smoking on March 1, 1971, while he was in Vietnam. There is a movie called “Cold Turkey” from 1969.  It is about a town whose citizens all decided to quit smoking and the emotions that they went through.  If you haven’t watched it, you will want to do that.  It is really funny. Thinking, if you are twenty-one years old, have been married for nearly three years, have been separated from your wife for two months who you are used to being intimate with, are suffering from loneliness with off and on depression, and you are in Vietnam during a war, it...

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Helping Me Get Up

Posted by in Vietnam Letters | 10 comments

Helping Me Get Up

Frank wanted me to tell him all of my feelings, upsets, and worries.   It would be hard for us to hold back sharing those things with each other because we only confided in each other. We knew that sharing these things would upset each other because we were not in a position to help each other.  Sometimes we were strong enough to hold back our upsets and emotions when writing to each other but many times we failed. On March 1, 1971, I failed miserably wallering in self-pity while writing a letter to Frank but he loved me so much that he would not let me sink into depression and self-pity. ...

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