Vietnam Mailbag

Nancy E. Lynch and Rick Lovekin spoke Friday at the Delmar Public library.  Their talk was called "Vietnam Mailbag."   Nancy had a column in the Wilmington News Journal during the Vietnam war in which Delaware military people stationed in Vietnam could write the newspaper and express their opinion. From these hundreds of letter she produced a book called Vietnam mailbag.  Her discussion is based on those letters.

Rick Lovekin was a Huey Helicopter gunner in Vietnam and he shared his outlook on being in Vietnam.  Various show and tell material was displayed. 

Anyone will find her presentation interesting, it is even more so if you are of the age to have lived thru that time period.  The civil unrest in the United States at that time made a number of military people say they preferred to be in Vietnam instead of the United States. 

Nancy will speak again on the 18th of November at the Laurel Public Library.  this time her presentation will be on preserving war time letters.  Both programs are thru a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum.

Journalist Nancy E. Lynch, author of the award-winning social history, Vietnam Mailbag, Voices From the War: 1968-1972, will speak on “Preserving War Letters, Touchstones of Time” at 2 p.m. Nov. 18 at the Laurel Public Library.

         Sponsored by the Lower Delmarva Genealogical Society and the Laurel Public library and underwritten by a grant from the Delaware Humanities Forum, Lynch’s talk will be at the library at 101 E. 4^th St., Laurel, Del.

         Lynch will discuss the relevance today of selected correspondence from her book, based on nearly 1,000 letters she received from Delaware troops in Vietnam as a columnist with The News Journal in Wilmington, Del..

         War letters, first-hand accounts from the front lines, provide a unique window on that conflict and constitute primary source material. Preserving these priceless letters as social history for future generations is critical she believes.

          After Lynch’s book was published in 2008, she faced the dilemma of how to preserve her letters from Vietnam, believed to be the largest collection of war correspondence ever addressed to one reporter.

         Learn how—and how not—to safeguard letters from any war as well as old family missives, even farm journals, in Lynch’s informative and interactive program. She will provide a handout of resources for the proper disposition of these valuable social records.

         Lynch has written seven books and remains a freelance writer.  A University of Delaware graduate, she lives in Bethel, Del.