“Sorry I missed you yesterday. I was busy. Say I’ve been told it’s a good idea to number yours and mine letters so that if one gets lost in the mail we’ll know it. I’ll call this #1. …”

That began the first letter Lieutenant Barry C. Kellenbenz wrote to his wife Karen while serving in Vietnam on January 18, 1969.

“Want to know how we live here – well … if you have time you build a hooch [thatched hut]of ponchos, put your air mattress on the ground and wrap up in your poncho liner (like a thick quilt – pretty warm), put plastic on one end to keep the rain out. And you might carry a light nylon hammock or you wrap up in your poncho liner and poncho and just lie down on the ground…”