At the time, the public wasn't getting a lot of anti war media but it was building.
The 1st sergeant handed out 2 letters at random and told us ...”Reply and be thoughtful.”
My two kids had the same last name, Green, so I assumed they were related, somehow (they weren't).
The letter from the little girl was as one would expect ...thanking me for fighting for my country, wish you could be home, etc.
The boy wrote the same type of letter...but added the following:
“I wish that I could take your place so you could be home ...”
With a P.S. ... “Can you send me a machine gun?”
Any way...I sent the young girl, Denise, a dress ... And the boy, a silk jacket that had a tiger embroidered on the back.
Some weeks later, I am told to report to the commanding officer ...
Turns out the teacher spoke to the Des Moines paper and there was a front page article about the letter project and my letters back to the kids.
Those were the days.
Note: Bill and I have never met, except in an e-mail group. He posted this story and I asked permission to share since so many of us remember the VietNam years. He served as a helicopter gunner in the Mekong Delta from 1966-68 when he was 19.
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