The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love

Send us Fan Mail On December 18, 1971, two letters cross the world in opposite directions. Dick writes from Saigon after completing his first day of alert duty at Tan Son Nhut Air Base — describing central air conditioning, movie theaters, and a dysfunctional command structure. Sarah writes from San Antonio, eight months pregnant and in early labor, counting contractions, counting dollars, and lis...

Send us Fan Mail On December 17, 1971, only one letter arrives. With Dick now stationed at Tan Son Nhut Air Base in Saigon, the mail is unsettled once again — and this time, there is no letter from him at all. Sarah’s letter carries the full weight of that silence. Writing from San Antonio, she responds to lingering doubts, a doctor’s appointment that changes everything, and the reality of a pregn...

Send us Fan Mail On December 16, 1971, both Sarah and Dick write shorter letters — not because there is less to say, but because what matters most is already known. Dick writes from Vietnam after a day on alert, asking Sarah if she can feel the love radiating between them, reminding her that together — with their little one — they will have the world by the tail. In San Antonio, Sarah writes from...

Send us Fan Mail On December 15, 1971, Sarah writes from San Antonio — very pregnant, uncomfortable, sentimental, and deeply loved. This letter isn’t just about waiting for a baby or missing her husband. It’s about community. Friends stopping by. Meals shared. Errands run together. Love sent across the world. While Dick is still in Vietnam, Sarah is not alone — she’s surrounded by people who care...

Send us Fan Mail On December 14, 1971, both Sarah and Dick are standing on the edge of something — though neither quite knows what the next day will bring. In Vietnam, Dick spends the day out-processing, turning in equipment, and packing up his hooch as his detachment closes down. He’s exhausted, practical, and already looking ahead to the only packing that really matters — coming home. In San Ant...

Send us Fan Mail On December 13th, 1971, Sarah is deep into late pregnancy. She sprains her ankle getting out of the car, finishes her Christmas shopping, and settles in for the evening with help from friends as she prepares for the home stretch before giving birth. Meanwhile, Dick is on alert duty at Biên Hòa, where the crash phone rings nonstop. With his move to Tân Sơn Nhứt Air Base just days a...

Send us Fan Mail On Sarah’s 32nd birthday, she wakes to roses, a long-awaited phone call from Vietnam, and the familiar circle of friends who keep her steady as she waits for her baby to arrive. Across the world, Dick writes from a lonely room in Vietnam as his unit prepares to move from Biên Hòa to Tân Sơn Nhứt — a shift layered with tension he never lets spill onto the page. These two letters, w...

Send us Fan Mail On December 11th, 1971 — the night before Sarah’s 32nd birthday — she receives a bouquet of perfect rosebuds sent from Vietnam while Dick is in the middle of relocating to a new air base. In this warm, witty, deeply human letter, Sarah fights off a cold, tends to her late-pregnancy routines, prepares her hospital bag, and surrounds herself with the flowers she loves. Her voice is...

Send us Fan Mail On December 10, 1971, Sarah and Dick write from opposite sides of the world as everything begins to feel imminent. Sarah comes home from the doctor with news that labor may come sooner than expected. Dick responds with one of the longest and most declarative letters of the war — rooted in love, fidelity, and certainty. Together, these letters show a marriage grounded in character,...

Send us Fan Mail On December 9, 1971, Sarah writes from San Antonio on a cold, rainy Thursday — eight months pregnant, alone, watching quiz shows, dealing with a broken television, and passing the time with friends and cookies. It’s an ordinary day made extraordinary by love. This letter moves between morning and night, loneliness and laughter, discomfort and devotion — a quiet reminder of how mar...

Send us Fan Mail On December 8, 1971, the day after Sarah opens up about sleepless nights and crowded worries, the tone shifts. She’s still tired, still lonely — but steadier. Humor returns. Desire is loud again. Christmas preparations continue. Dick writes from Vietnam with his own quiet routine, thinking about gifts, the mail, and the life they’re building toward. These letters show how love doe...

Send us Fan Mail On December 7, 1971, Sarah writes from San Antonio and, for the first time, puts words to a feeling she can’t quite name — sleeplessness, worry, and a mind that won’t slow down as Christmas, pregnancy, and separation pile up around her. Dick writes from Vietnam the same day, steady and loving, focused on the future and the home they will soon make together. These two letters meet...

Send us Fan Mail It’s Sunday, December 5th, 1971 — one week after Sarah and Dick said goodbye in San Antonio. He’s back in Vietnam, stuck on alert, and she’s eight months pregnant, moving through a cold, quiet December day with friends, errands, and longing. Today’s letters show how deeply they miss each other — and include a small moment that surprised me when I first read it: Sarah asks about th...

Send us Fan Mail On December 6th, 1971, Dick writes from Vietnam with quiet hope — sharing that he’ll be home no later than March 23, 1972, finally giving their family a clear countdown. Sarah, meanwhile, writes a ten-page letter from San Antonio overflowing with Christmas shopping, BX mishaps, pregnancy chaos, gossip, and love. She also receives their new china and crystal — pieces I still have t...

Send us Fan Mail On December 4, 1971, Sarah and Dick write from two very different emotional spaces — she, deeply pregnant and exhausted, needing reassurance; he, energized by dreaming ahead to their life after Vietnam. In these two letters, we see a young couple planning their future: money in the bank, a baby on the way, business opportunities waiting in Miami, and even the names picked out for...

Send us Fan Mail On December 3, 1971, just days after their Thanksgiving reunion, Sarah and Dick wake up in two different worlds again — she in San Antonio, pregnant and hurting; he in Vietnam, back on alert and lonelier than he lets on. Their three letters from this single day show the softest parts of their love: the ache of separation, the humor that keeps them afloat, and the feeling that they...

Send us Fan Mail After two weeks together for Thanksgiving, Dick returns to Vietnam on November 28, 1971. Sarah is eight months pregnant and back in their San Antonio apartment — learning once again how to sleep alone, eat alone, and fill a day without the man she loves beside her. These two letters, written just days apart, show the emotional whiplash of reunion followed by separation: from the f...

Send us Fan Mail On December 2, 1971 — the first day of the final month of pregnancy — Dick writes from Vietnam and Sarah writes from San Antonio. The countdown home has finally begun, but the pain of saying goodbye is still sharp. These letters show what love looks like when hope and grief live together — hurting from the separation while holding on fiercely to the life waiting for them. Support...

Send us Fan Mail It’s November 18, 1971. Dick is on the airplane flying home from Vietnam — the same familiar flight path he once flew in a C-141, now taking him back to his wife. Sarah is in San Antonio, almost eight months pregnant, tidying the apartment and stocking food so they won’t need to leave the house once he arrives. There are no letters today because they won’t need envelopes tonight....

Send us Fan Mail On November 14, 1971, Dick writes what will be his final letter before flying home for R&R. In just four days, he’ll be back in San Antonio, holding Sarah for the first time in six months. This is the last letter until November 28, after Thanksgiving and their long-awaited time together. Right now, everything is building toward reunion Support the show The Allgoods: Vietnam Th...

Send us Fan Mail On November 13, 1971, Sarah finally gets a flood of letters after days of silence — four all at once — and the relief pours through every word she writes. She opens up about her fears around her pregnant body, her longing for Dick to see her grow, and her dreams of having “two kids within two years.” She’s imagining a bigger family and a life that feels just within reach. Dick, wr...

Send us Fan Mail On November 12, 1971, Sarah and Dick are only a week away from being reunited, but the days feel impossibly long. Sarah is achy from stepping on a bee the day before, tired, pregnant, and trying to keep her spirits up as she waits for one precious letter after another. She hasn’t received a love letter from Dick since Monday, and the silence only makes the days feel heavier. Dick,...

Send us Fan Mail On November 11, 1971, Sarah and Dick were just one week away from their long-awaited reunion. The love, humor, and anticipation in their letters capture everything that made them who they were — steadfast, playful, and endlessly connected, even from half a world apart. That year, Veterans Day wasn’t actually observed on November 11; it had been shifted to a Monday in late October...

Send us Fan Mail On November 9, 1971, Sarah and Dick are both counting down the days—just over a week until his flight home from Vietnam for a much-needed two-week leave. She’s tired and seepy, planning baked potatoes and thinking ahead to the holidays. He’s flying missions, dreaming of her, and thrilled that his parents will spend Thanksgiving in San Antonio the following week. Between them, thes...

Send us Fan Mail On November 10, 1971, Sarah and Dick write from opposite ends of exhaustion. He’s shaken by the discovery that one of his own firemen has been using heroin — a revelation that went against everything he believed in. She’s sore from overdoing it, sewing and painting and pushing herself too hard, but she’s also bubbling with excitement, counting the days until he walks through the d...