My Brother Paul read many letters that I wrote to him while he was stationed with The Screaming Eagles 101st Airborne Division during the Korean War. He informed me that two of his friends did not receive letters and asked me to write to them.
At the McKay Street living Room desk I began my personal letter campaign to support our troops. From then on, those two young men received many envelopes during their mail calls.
When Sgt. Furgason was serving with the Marine Corps during the Vietnam War, his children were daytime writers while I took up my pen at the kitchen table after they were asleep.
Remembering my Korean War endeavors, I understood the need for personal communication.The nightly sessions often found me falling asleep at that table before all the pages were completed. Mornings saw me finishing my home front essays and tucking mine and the childrens’ notes inside an envelope before the postman arrived to speed our greetings along the way to a far away jungle.
When the Furgason children moved from home and resided in distant areas, letters became Sunday happenings. Carbon sheets were a means to tell all four where I had been and what I had done during the previous week. In later years I would reread about my escapades by finding some of those letters saved from Duyn’s college dorm days.
Facebook has changed my lifestyle. I no longer have or need a McKay Street desk or old kitchen table. Thanks to the internet, those I hold dear can trace my whereabouts and meanderings in real time instead of waiting for an envelope delivery but the U. S. Post Office suffered a financial loss due to a decline in stamp purchases.