Episodes
February 18, 1972: Big Bird and 32 Days
Send us Fan Mail February 18, 1972. Thirty-two days. From Vietnam, Dick counts alerts, confirms his job with Bill Cobbs, and dreams about boarding the “big bird” home. In San Antonio, Sarah manages bloodwork, BX purchases, baby gear, birthday gatherings, and her very real sexual frustration. The mo…
February 19, 1972: Four More Weekends
Send us Fan Mail February 19, 1972. Four more weekends. From Vietnam, Dick writes after an average alert day. He’s tired of the job. He’s ready for it to be over. He’s thinking about taxes, blenders, and the last weekends of separation. In San Antonio, Sarah spends a slow Saturday with a sleepy, pe…
February 17, 1972: Nine Alerts and Thirty-Three Days
Send a text February 17, 1972. Three letters. One day. From Vietnam, Dick counts down in alert tours — nine remaining. Later that evening, he writes again, tired of slow mail and ready for the day when there are no more letters to write. In San Antonio, Sarah counts down differently — thirty-three …
February 15, 1972: Planning Daddy’s Homecoming
Send a text February 15, 1972. The day after Valentine’s Day. From alert duty in Bien Hoa, Dick writes about studying, planning Miami, and counting the days. From San Antonio, Sarah manages formula changes, vaporizers, laundry, dieting, and a newborn adjusting to the world. An ordinary Tuesday. And…
February 16, 1972: Thirty-Four Days
Send a text February 16, 1972. Thirty-four days remain. From Vietnam, Dick reassures Sarah about loyalty, counts down the days, and looks ahead to Miami and a new life for their family. In San Antonio, Sarah juggles visitors, strict dieting, exhaustion, and a growing concern about their newborn’s w…
February 13–14, 1972: Will You Be My Valentine?
Send a text February 13 and 14, 1972. Valentine’s Day arrives in the final stretch of waiting. Phone calls are planned. Diets are started. Slim-masters are rented. Bank checks are accounted for down to the penny. In these letters, Sarah writes from San Antonio about sore arms, baby formula, flowers…
February 10–12, 1972: In the 30s Now
Send a text February 10, 11, and 12, 1972. They’re “in the 30s now.” The countdown is no longer abstract. It’s measurable. Weekends are counted. Phone calls are planned. Flight dates are fixed. In these letters, Dick writes from Vietnam about briefings, poolside gin and tonics, and the simple ache …
February 7–9, 1972: The Days Are Numbered
Send a text February 7, 8, and 9, 1972. As the countdown tightens, the letters grow more specific. Dates appear. Flights are assigned. The distance becomes measurable. In this episode, three days are grouped together — not to rush the story, but to stay with it. First, Sarah writes from San Antonio…
February 4–6, 1972: Three Days at a Time
Send a text February 4, 5, and 6, 1972. As February moves forward, the pace of the letters increases. Rather than rush through them or skip days, this episode brings together three days at a time — allowing the story to continue with integrity and momentum. First, Sarah writes from San Antonio — na…
February 2, 1972: Another Day Closer
Send a text February 2, 1972. Dick writes from Vietnam after coming off alert, filling an ordinary day with meals, letters, and plans for R&R. Sarah writes from San Antonio, home with their newborn daughter, marking time through feeding schedules, soap operas, exhaustion, humor, and longing. Tw…
February 3, 1972: Off to a Growing Start
Send a text February 3, 1972. Sarah writes from San Antonio with news for Dick — measurements, milestones, visitors, routines, and the early realization that their daughter is already growing fast. Dick writes from Vietnam after a day on alert, sharing small pieces of base life, gossip from home, a…
February 1, 1972: The Last Full Month
Send a text February 1, 1972. The first day of the last full month. Dick is still in Vietnam, flying rescue helicopters. Sarah is home in San Antonio with a newborn daughter. Only one letter today — from Sarah — written in the middle of early motherhood, desire, friendship, worry, and the ordinary …
January 31, 1972: Ten Months In, Another One Knocked Off
Send a text January 31, 1972. The last day of the month. These are the final letters of January. Dick writes from Vietnam after receiving a stack of delayed mail, marking another month off his calendar. Sarah writes from home with a three-week-old baby, marking the same day through routine, weather…
January 30, 1972: Counting Time, Holding On
Send us a text January 30, 1972. Two letters written on a Sunday at the end of a long month. Sarah writes from home with a three-week-old baby, moving through loneliness, humor, exhaustion, money, and desire — marking time as January slips away. Dick writes from Vietnam, filling the hours, watching…
January 28, 1972: A Baby at Home, a Father Far Away
Send us a text January 28, 1972. Two letters written on the same day. Sarah writes from home, immersed in newborn care, errands, budgeting, and tentative steps back into the world — all with a baby in her arms. Dick writes from Vietnam, missing mail, passing time with friends, and thinking about th…
January 29, 1972: Love, Money, and Looking Ahead
Send us a text January 29, 1972. Two letters, written from opposite sides of the world. Sarah writes from home with a newborn, counting the days until her husband returns, talking candidly about exhaustion, intimacy, birth control, and the physical realities of becoming a family. Dick writes from V…
January 27, 1972: Loving From Afar, Loving at Home
Send us a text Three letters written on the same day. Dick writes from Vietnam, thinking about his wife and a baby girl he has yet to meet. Sarah writes twice — once in the early morning hours after a feeding, and again at night, exhausted and full of love — narrating newborn life in real time. Tog…
January 25–26, 1972: “56 Days and Open Arms”
Send us a text By late January 1972, Dick is still in Vietnam — now stationed in Saigon at Tân Sơn Nhất — writing home as both a husband and a father. His daughter has been born, but he has yet to hold her. These two letters, written on January 25 and 26, capture the tenderness, longing, humor, and…
January 25–26, 1972: “The World’s Greatest Baby”
Send us a text By late January 1972, Sarah is home alone with a newborn daughter, writing daily to her husband still in Vietnam. These letters from January 25 and 26 capture the texture of early motherhood — exhaustion, humor, vigilance, intimacy, and joy — as Sarah builds a life for their child wh…
January 22–24, 1972: Learning Motherhood in Real Time
Send us a text In these letters from January 22 through 24, 1972, Sarah Allgood writes from San Antonio as a brand-new mother, learning in real time how to care for her newborn daughter while waiting for her husband to come home from Vietnam. These are not polished reflections — they are raw, funny…
January 22–24, 1972: The Homestretch
Send us a text As Dick Allgood moves into the final stretch of his deployment, his letters begin to shorten and compress — full of longing, routine, and quiet anticipation. Across three days in January 1972, we hear a man counting the days, holding his family together from a war zone, and slowly be…
January 21, 1972: Holding a Family Across a War
Send us a text On January 21, 1972, Sarah and Dick Allgood write to each other from two different worlds — one from home with their newborn daughter, and one from Vietnam, counting down the days until he can finally return. These are no longer letters between two people imagining a family. They are…
January 18–20, 1972: Counting the Days-Dick
Send us a text In the days after his wife is alone with their newborn for the first time, Dick writes three letters from Vietnam — affectionate, practical, protective, and steadily counting the days until he comes home. Read together, these letters show a man already turning his life back toward hi…
January 18–20, 1972: The First Few Days Alone
Send us a text In the days after her mother leaves and she is alone with her newborn for the first time, Sarah writes three letters to Dick — tender, anxious, practical, funny, and deeply in love. Read together, these letters capture a young mother learning how to manage on her own: grief at separa…