Tag: US Army | Nancy Lou Henderson

First Letters from Basic, 1968

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 4 comments

Frank had boarded an airplane at Hobby Airport in Houston, Texas, in the afternoon of February 25, 1968, and my brother, Jimmy, was with him. The airplane took off and headed for Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where they would do their Army Basic Training. He wrote his first letter to me aboard that airplane. He was worried, nervous, and a little scared of what was to come at Fort Leonard Wood. February 25, 1968 Dear Nancy, This letter is coming to you from 33,000 feet in the air. I’m writing this at 6:15 P.M. from this sickening thing they call a jet. Let me tell you, it was and...

More Letters from Basic, 1968

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 8 comments

The next letters Frank wrote was after he had been in basic training for one week. I was so excited when the next two letters finally arrived. March 3, 1968 Dear Nancy, Last night had to be the loneliest night of my life. It was Saturday night, and everyone was sad because they were all thinking about how it was last Saturday night, and they were all wishing they were home. Darling, I missed you so much I almost died. I met some nice guys who have become some real buddies. This one who sleeps next to mine and Jimmy’s bunk has been going with his girl for three years, and we...

Letters 7 & 8 from Basic, 1968

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 4 comments

Marching In the Snow Frank had been gone for over two weeks when I got the next letter from him. Just when he was beginning to adjust to being away from home, Mother Nature gave him a new form of adjustment. March 13, 1968 Dear Nancy, Last night (Monday), it started snowing, well it started snowing while we were in the theater listening to some men talk, and it snowed all night and all day today until about 5:00 this afternoon, and it was so damn cold. We had to march about 1 mile to the theater and 1 mile back two times today, and the snow was about 6 to 8 inches deep,...

First Separation Hurts Deeply

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 2 comments

Frank and I arrived back to Van Vleck from our Honeymoon on May 13, 1968, which meant we needed to decide where we were going to stay. We decided to split the time he had left of his leave staying together at our folk’s homes. Frank would fly out for Fort Devens in Ayer, Massachusetts on May 18, 1968, but I would not be able to follow him there until June 1, 1968, the day after I graduated from High School. We spent every minute of those few days together, but it seemed like the minutes flew by too quickly then suddenly it was time to take Frank to the airport for him to fly away by...

Texas & The Plastic Fab. Co.

Posted by Nancy Lou Henderson in Love Letters | 4 comments

Frank and I were trying to save as much money as we could. Knowing in a couple of months when Frank’s school ended that it would be time for us to leave Ayer, Massachusetts We knew extra money would be needed to ship our things home. Frank could fly Military Standby free, but the extra money would also be needed to buy my Student Standby airline ticket. We were hoping to get to fly together when we left for home. One Friday afternoon, my best friend came over to our house and told us that there was a job opening at Union Products Inc., which was a Plastic Fabrication Company in...