Last Letters

An exploration, with comments and explanations four decades later, of letters I wrote to my now bride of four-and-one-half decades, during my tour as a Marine first lieutenant, assigned to the State Departmentas Military Assistance Command Vietnam (MACV) in the northernmost province, Quang Tri, from May 1965 to May 1966. The book speaks to problems experienced by deployed armed forces personnel and their spouses left stateside that have to deal with their own anxieties, frustrations and anger. Then, just as now, nurturing and maintaining a marriage or close personal relationship is an extremely difficult task during separations of time and distance. My bride of forty-five years and I may not have handled all the inevitable issues that arose correctly, but we managed to make it through the year-long ordeal, albeit imperfectly, by faith and understanding.