“Even Near Memorial Day, I Choose Joy” — May 26, 1971 (7:30 AM)
Send us a text It’s the last week of May 1971, and Memorial Day is approaching. Sarah is writing from their apartment near Lackland Air Force Base — the one she and Dick once shared before he left for Vietnam. She writes with her usual mix of tenderness, humor, and deep emotional clarity. There’s longing in this letter — but also intention. Sarah had an intuitive spirit. She often sensed things before they happened. And even when she had a hunch that a call might not come, she kept hoping...
It’s the last week of May 1971, and Memorial Day is approaching. Sarah is writing from their apartment near Lackland Air Force Base — the one she and Dick once shared before he left for Vietnam.
She writes with her usual mix of tenderness, humor, and deep emotional clarity. There’s longing in this letter — but also intention. Sarah had an intuitive spirit. She often sensed things before they happened.
And even when she had a hunch that a call might not come, she kept hoping. Because she believed in the power of positive thought. She believed joy was something you could choose, even when the world was uncertain, even when war hung in the background of every day.
She stayed home, afraid to miss him — because in 1971, there were no cell phones, no email, no backup plan. If he called and she wasn’t there, that moment was gone.
So she waited. She reread his letters. She dreamed of him. And through it all, she chose love over fear. Joy over dread.
“Even near Memorial Day, I choose joy,” she writes — and asks him, gently and powerfully, to do the same.
The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.
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