“They also serve who only stand and wait.”In my case during the Vietnam War, the words translated to “sit and write”.
Most nights, after a day of corralling the four Furgason children, I sat at the kitchen table in Okolona and wrote letters about the happenings of the day so that over in Vietnam, Sgt. Furgason would receive word of what his offspring were doing while he was off in the jungles of a faraway land. And most nights, I would fall asleep during those letters, waking up at dawn and sitting at the table with a letter half finished.
I wrote those letters every night because I recalled how much receiving a letter meant during a Korean mail call. My brother Paul enlisted me to write letters for two of his buddies who were not receiving any mail. So during Korea, I sat at the desk on McKay Street and wrote letters so that Brother Paul and his two buddies knew about stateside happenings.
Sgt. Furgason heard about three-year-old Duyn who was the darling of the nurses at the clinic because he said “Ho! Ho! Ho! Instead of ”Ouch!” when he received his weekly allergy shot.
Duion began first grade in a half-day session because there were so many children his age at Okolona Grade School.
Geralyn would line her dolls up for a party on the top bunk.
The nuns in Texarkana, Texas did a good job with D.J. He had completed his times tables with them. Since the children here were only on their Times 3 Tables, D.J. Was given extra seat work until his classmates caught up to his level,
We went shopping for an artificial Christmas Tree that year because we planned to keep it decorated until Sgt. Furgason came home. I am not sure if the Furgason children remember the trip to Fort Knox Post Exchange to buy that tree. I hope they do.
The Christmas Tree stood in the corner of the room until a February homecoming brought an end to the nightly letters at the Okolona kitchen table.
Prayer Cloud had hovered over Sgt. Furgason all of his days in Vietnam. His Unit had always left an area right before any major attack and we welcomed him home just before Tet.