After watching "War Letters" on PBS' The American Experience, Faith DeVeaux wrote in. Her letter was posted on the show's website
One day, in 1996, my mother casually mentioned that she had saved all of the letters she exchanged with my father when he fought in Vietnam. I was stunned! He had never spoken about his tour of duty there (he served in 1969-1970 as an Army chaplain).
I have since written a fictional novel which revolves around those letters, called "When Duty Calls." My two favorite letters are: the one to my older brother when he was a little boy, especially when he says (on 24 April 1969), "Everything is going well for me. I am safe and I don't think I will be hurt so you and Mommy try not to worry, O.K?" and: on 19 May 1969 which begins, "Today is Ho Chi Minh's birthday so everyone has been very apprehensive that we might be attacked."
I have donated copies of "When Duty Calls" to VA Hospitals across the country, and to The Legacy Project. Reading the letters has given me a newfound respect for my parents.
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