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Article Excerpt
Byline: Stephanie Barrow The Register-Guard
I was a 16-year-old high school sophomore in a small town in southern Idaho when I saw a notice on a school bulletin board explaining how to write to a soldier in Vietnam.
It was September 1966. The Vietnam War had seemed distant and unrelated to my life, but it was getting bigger and closer to me every day. By the end of the year, American forces in Vietnam would reach 385,000, plus 60,000 sailors stationed offshore. More than 6,000 Americans would be killed that year, another 30,000 wounded. Most of my friends knew someone who was serving there.
We talked about the war every day in school. Classmates got their draft notices. I don't remember wondering yet whether the war was necessary, but I do remember being very afraid that my own brother, who was in the Air Force in
England, might be sent there and might not make it home. I missed him dreadfully.
When I told my father I wanted to write to a soldier, he had a quick response: "No-way-in-hell" was a 16-year-old daughter of his going to write to some soldier she didn't even know.
He changed his mind only after I came up with the idea of adopting the soldier as my big brother.
My first letter made its way to James R. Hawk, a 20-year-old artilleryman in the 3rd Marine Division. He was from Detroit, Mich. He wrote back to me on Christmas Eve 1966.
"First of all, even though you will get this letter late, I want to wish you and your family a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
"Also thank you very much for the wonderful letter that you wrote me. I'm very pleased to be your big brother even though I don't live in Idaho.
"Stephanie, I live in Detroit Michigan, but there weren't any men from Idaho so I got your letter. And I'm very glad I did because it's the sweetest letter I've gotten since I've been in Vietnam."
"Stephanie, when...
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More articles from The Register-Guard (Eugene, OR)
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Eugene soccer team wins right to defend title.(Sports)(A paperwork err..., May 31, 2004
COMMUNITY SPORTS PAGE.(Sports), May 31, 2004
KIDS LIFT VOICES IN OPERA.(Schools)(With the help of "Opera Dude," stu..., May 31, 2004
FACES AND PLACES by The Register-Guard.(Schools), May 31, 2004
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