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“A Suntanned Dong and a Blurry Page” — May 17, 1971
Manage episode 483374809 series 3662438
In this May 17, 1971 letter from Vietnam, Dick Allgood writes with such raw emotion that at one point he has to pause—his tears making the page too blurry to see. He’s just missed reaching Sarah by phone again, after multiple failed attempts to call her across the world. Now he has to wait another week, unless he gets lucky and makes it onto the elusive commercial call list.
This letter is full of longing. He aches to know she still feels him near, that she still loves him after 21 days apart. He reflects on their apartment, on breakfast cooked in the nude, on the “wonderful loving things” that made their world whole. And then, as only Dick could, he ends the letter with a smile and a tease—suggesting he might get a suntanned dong while sunbathing on the roof in bikini underpants, just for her.
As their daughter, reading this one was hard. My dad—my Pops—was strong and steady, but in these pages I see how deeply sensitive and devoted he was. He always kept this part of himself close. I knew he loved her deeply because I lived in the warmth of that love. But I never knew these letters existed. And I never knew he could write like this.
This project reminds me of how much of their story I’m still uncovering. I don’t have all of my mother’s letters to him—he references some I’ve never seen, likely lost to time or circumstance. But every one of his letters that she received, she saved. And every letter from her that he received in Vietnam? He kept them safe and brought them home. He must’ve carried them back with him when he left. A whole box of love, preserved across oceans and decades, for me to find.
This isn’t just a love story. It’s a record of longing, laughter, missed connections, and love that refused to fade.
And we are just getting started.
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.
Support the show:
Recurring support through Buzzsprout: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2489476/support
Join our Patreon community: https://www.patreon.com/TheAllgoodsLove
Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com
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