In a message dated 9/22/2002 7:09:24 AM Pacific Daylight Time, Jolly@com writes:

Subj:    Dear Daddy   
Date:    9/22/2002 7:09:24 AM Pacific Daylight Time   
From:    Jolly
To:    poet@gratitude.org

    I have been humbled and awed by your writings on your web page.   
    Humbled because I was born and raised in this country that you love so much, and that I have taken it so much for granted.  Awed by the power of your words and your understanding of the true nature of the American ideal.
    I was a young Air Force helicopter pilot a long, long time ago in a place far away. I was stationed in northeast Thailand during the closing days of the war in Vietnam. It was such a sad, confusing time for both our countries.
    I flew Air Rescue support for the evacuations of our embassies in Phnom Penh and Saigon.  I remember vividly the long day of the Saigon evacuation, listening to the radio calls of my exhausted brothers flying the evacuation helicopters.  Some of them flew for 16 hours that day, but they didn't want to stop because there were so many people whose lives depended on getting onto a helicopter.  Too many people and too few helicopters and time running out.  I remember the news photo of the exhausted mother sitting at the embassy gate, crying so hard in despair.
    I can't begin to comprehend your journey to America and to marvel at the brightly burning promise of hope that kept you going.  I thank you for maintaining that vision of our country, and for reminding the rest of us through your writings how fortunate we are to be here, and how important it is to protect that burning promise.   
    I have searched everywhere for a copy of your book "Dear Daddy". None of the bigger book stores can even find it using the ISBN.  Please let me know where I could purchase a copy or two.  (I'd like to give one to my nephew to help him understand that our involvement in Vietnam was not the total disaster portrayed by the media, the politicians, and by many school history books. I want to show him why so many of us still believe in the burning promise of America.)
   Thank you, again.  Best wishes to you and to your family.

Respectfully,
Bob Blough
MI

September 24, 2002

Dear Pilot Bob Blough,

    May I take my hat off to you!  I am just so blessed by God's Grace that your loving words conveyed.
    My wife and I have just come back from Stanford University where we saw our 17-year-old daughter off to school.  I tried not to be sad.  But when we came home, seeing her pictures and mementos yet not her around, my wife and I could not hold back our tears of missing her.  I suddenly thought of countless American parents who saw their sons and daughters off to war in Vietnam; and they never saw their 58,000-plus children come home.  I put myself in perspective.
    Thank you for your care in writing me about Dear Daddy.  
    
    May God Bless you and America.

With Love and Gratitude,

Linh Duy Vo


P.S.  R.R. Bowker and Barnes & Noble have Dear Daddy in their database.