Family Military History

Our family’s military correspondence began with my oldest brother, Richard, whom we call Rick. Mom wrote to him while he was in Vietnam. At some point, she bought a cassette recorder, and they began exchanging recorded voice letters. The advantage was that everyone could say something.

Rick would record a tape and send it back. Generally, we recorded over a previous taped letter so we would not have to buy more cassette tapes. Mom continued the practice when I joined the Marine Corps. Recording over earlier letters is the reason only two tape recordings survived.

Listen to the surviving voice letters and read their transcripts →

Click any portrait to view the larger image. Service roles are listed beneath each photograph.