Vietnam Letters

By Karol Nielsen

PROMPT — What is Love?

My father was in ROTC at the University of Nebraska where he was a chemical engineering student. After graduating, he became a commissioned officer in the army and was stationed at Fort Sill. My father, mother, and brother moved to Lawton, Oklahoma. Six months after I was born my father was sent to Vietnam. My mother and father wrote letters to each other almost every day while he was in Vietnam. But my mother’s letters were not arriving for weeks and weeks, so she wrote to her Senator, Congressman, and the President to complain. Six weeks into my father’s tour, he was out on patrol in the Central Highlands when a helicopter landed in a clearing. A captain got off the helicopter and yelled, “Is there a Lieutenant Nielsen here?” My father said, “Yes.” The captain handed my father a big bundle of mail and said, “Tell your wife you got her letters and don’t write the President again!” Then he got in the helicopter and flew away.

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Karol Nielsen is the author three memoirs, including Walking A&P: A Vietnam War Memoir, and three poetry chapbooks. Her first memoir was shortlisted for the William Saroyan International Prize for Writing. Her full-length poetry collection was a finalist for the Colorado Prize for Poetry. Her poem “This New Manhattan” was a finalist for the Ruth Stone Poetry Prize. Karol writes from NYC.