From the WNIN Tri-State Public Media Center in Downtown Evansville.

I'm David James, and this is Two Main Street.

Okay, let's go back in time.

1967, the Vietnam War is raging, and brave American youth are fighting and dying over there, while anti-war protesters take to the streets back home; a turbulent time for a love story now being shared in a new book.

It's a collection of letters from Newburgh to ‘Nam and back; six months of correspondence between a high school graduate from Southern Indiana, eager to become a nurse, and a U.S. Marine from Pennsylvania in the thick of battle.

The letters display a sharp contrast in their daily lives: the Marine dealing with the stress of battle and lost comrades, and the nursing student cramming for tests on physiology and how to perform an enema!

Okay.

The pen pals go on to become man and wife, and their marriage is 50 years and counting.

Later on, we'll meet Nancy Market, who is now Nancy Young, and her husband, Bill Young.

Their romance is the subject of the latest book by Scott Saalman, titled ‘Vietnam War Love Story: The Love Letters of Bill and Nancy Young (1967)’.

So, Scott, welcome back to Two Main Street.

When you were last here, we talked about your book, ‘What Are You Going To Write About When I'm Gone?’, essays about your mother, who did lose her long and courageous battle against cancer.

We're going to talk about Patricia, and her legacy, later on.

So Scott, let’s start with how did you get involved with telling the love story of Bill and Nancy Young?

Oh, thanks, David.

I knew Bill for quite a while.

We had the same employer.

And one day, Bill told me---he was telling me how he had met Nancy.

I hadn't met Nancy yet.

And, and I remember it being pretty, pretty neat.

And Bill was just telling me and I soaked on it for a few months, and I had a column for the Dubois County Herald; I needed a Valentine’s Day story.

And I remembered Bill’s story, said, ‘This is pretty cool, but I want to hear the other side of the story.’ So I talked to Bill and said, ‘Hey, can I come over to your house and meet Nancy?

I want to hear both sides of this love story’---which was the greatest thing I'd ever heard.

And, uh, so they invited me over.

We had steaks, and uh, they told---I interview them, basically.

And uh, and so it started from there, just hearing their story and writing for a column.... the amazing thing was, after we were kind of done with the interview, Nancy went upstairs, came back down with these containers of all these---just this container, and she goes, ‘You might like this.’ And it was, it was every letter that she had written and he had written, somehow.

I don't know how they kept all these letters, and here they were!

And it was like, oh, it was--- What were they contained in?

You know---were they in the bags at that time?

I can't remember.

I keep thinking it was a big plastic container, or they were plastic bags, but I---- We’ll ask---we’ll ask Nancy.

Yeah, yeah.

We’ll find out.

I just---it was just a dream come true for a writer.

It’s like, you mean you have all these letters that we’re just basically had been talking about?

And, uh, yeah, so, that sparked the idea for the book then.

Mm hmm.

Now, these letters, from May to October of 1967.

Mm hmm.

How many letters are we talking about, Scott?

You know, people ask me that; I've never counted, but, you know, it's safe to assume of all the letters they written, there were, you know, at least----there were scores of letters.

I don't know how many are in this book, but they, they continued writing after the Vietnam saga, once Bill was back.

But I was really interested in just this time---Sure.---when he was in the jungle and, and uh, just that period that you mentioned, from May to October, for the book.

The process of vetting these letters... Mm hmm.

You had to read them?

Mm hmm.

Did you have help reading these?

I did, at one point---but you know what I needed real help in?

Was trying to read Bill's handwriting.

No, no slam there, Bill.

Uh, but that was the tough part.

But, yeah, transcribing them, you know, after we did the story, it went over real well.

People love the story.

And then---okay, it's like, ‘Well, I've done that, and I really want to at least get these in electronic form for them, because’---and the letters are still in pretty good shape, but you know how those things go, so.

So that was the task and the chore.

I wasn't really thinking about a book at that time, but it was really, ‘I want to get Nancy's letters, and we'll get all Bill's letters in electronic form for them and their family.’ And so yeah, sure, that---you know, as I'm going, you know, that was 2016.

Still, we're going on around 2017, is when I really got serious about it, and uh, had a lot of free time on my hands at that time.

But I met my future wife and, uh---Brynne?

Brynne, yeah, yeah.

And uh, so, few of our dates were, uh---a lot of our dates were on the weekends, at least.

She was doing Nancy's letters and I, I bit the bullet and said, ‘I'll do Bill’s, because these are tough.’ And uh, he wrote a long---and it was really heartfelt, but, you know, Bill wasn't exactly getting to work on a desk either when he was writing these things.

So, you know, different area---places where he's writing them.

So we got those, and it was really fun.

Just like you're sitting across from me now, Brynne was there, and we're just typing away---and we would pause, ‘Oh, look at this!’ You know.

Mm hmm.

(laughs) This is emotional.

Yeah.

Well, did that, uh, did reading those love letters affect your relationship with Brynne?

It definitely helped us, because, it was a good exercise where we're learning about---you know, we're, we're early in the stages--- Sure.---we're learning... this great love story’s unfolding between us through their letters.

And, uh, yeah, I get emotional about this.

I know.

For many reasons.

Mm hmm.

That's all right, that's all right.

Well, that's what this book is all about.

In fact, the foreword by Jim... McGarrah?

Is that right?

Yeah.

You know, McGarrah is a Vietnam War vet---Yeah, yeah.--- author and poet.

And he writes, ‘These letters are a lesson for those who remain romantics.

And in times of trouble, the knowledge you are not alone may save you.’ Mm hmm.

Prophetic words, especially from Jim, who, you know, went through rough stuff just like Bill did.

And if you read Jim's, you know, foreword or introduction... it's well worth the price of the book there, but just Jim, writing... he was amazed of the positive that came from the war.

Sure.

And you know, if you read, you know, in Jim's detail or before in other stories, he had a rough time.

And... especially coming back and dealing with it, and, he did not have the luxury of a Nancy Market cheering him on, while they’re, you know, dealing with what they were dealing in the jungle.

So, so, you know, Jim's introduction gets at that and, and just credit.

Bill, Bill got through it because he had something to go back to; and it's just fascinating that Bill and Nancy wrote all these months, never heard each other's voice.

Well, I saw some pictures, uh, but uh---so, the first time they meet, in Evansville, uh, in October, is the first time they've, they've met, you know?

And so, it was just interesting that they created this relationship, just by virtue of letter writing... and, and, learning---and they'll tell you more about it, obviously.

But uh, they did learn about each other through just these, this writing process.

And uh, which, you know, it wasn't texting back then.

So what's amazing to me is... how these letters got to each other quickly--- and I think the military obviously understood the value of letters.

So it---it didn't---they didn't have to wait too long for a letter, even though it was just, you know, handwritten and delivered, it just amazes me that they found Bill wherever he was at.

Sure.

And uh, but, it's the, uh, yeah.

Just that, I mean they were pouring their hearts out and especially Bill---what's interesting, Nancy is 18.

It's her last summer before college.

She wants to be a nurse, and she's going to go to Vincennes to study.

And, you know, Bill's over in the jungle.

He’s seeing people get killed.

Bill's killing people.

I mean, this is a job.

And uh, the difference between their---where they were at at each time.

Nancy's talking about this idyllic Newburgh summer in 1967---Incredible.

They really---Oh, I know.

And uh, so, what's the value?

Nancy's letters are just amazing because you learned about this young, young person who's just graduated from high school, and what it was like in ‘67, and the things you can imagine; all the fireworks, 4th of July at the river, and, and, just her friends and her family, and learning from an 18-year-old viewpoint what life was like then.

Yet she still had that... she wanted to support the troops, which a lot of people did back then, and, and, pen pal-ing was a way to do that.

So, you know, the important part about the story is; it was just by luck that she was writing to Bill.

She didn't know Bill.

Bill was from Pennsylvania.

And, uh, yeah.

It's just watching this love story develop from page one, to---in here there are 50-some years married!

We're talking to Scott Saalman about his latest book, ‘Vietnam War Love Story: The Love Letters of Bill and Nancy Young (1967)’; a snapshot of what life was like in 1967.

And of course, for Bill, Nancy's letters were the kind of the light at the end of the tunnel for him, to keep him going.

And being a writer yourself, you probably were enthralled by the language that they used.

Yeah.

The power of language in these letters.

Yeah, it's amazing how the letters are so, written so well.

And they paint pictures, too, very well.

Yeah.

You don't, you don't see those in text messages.

No, you don't.

And emails!

It's, it’s---An emotion in those letters too.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But the difference in, you know---people, after they hear about the book, go ‘Well I have letters from, from dad sending them to mom from World War II!’ And I say, ‘Well do you have mom's letters to dad?

Do you have’---so we got both sides, but what really makes it stand out is, they were so well-written.

They were.

And you could tell Bill was influenced by his... writers that he liked as a kid, or he learned in high school, and---Well, they quote poets in the---Oh, yes, yes, yes.

Yeah.

And yeah---Who does that anymore?

No, exactly!

And uh, so, I think that's the difference that stood out.

Plus what resulted, you know---the difference between these letters and those other letters from other people is, they just met through the letters and they weren’t married at the time.

And, and uh, by gosh, by October, they're already, uh---you can already hear wedding bells happening.

They hadn’t even met each other yet.

Well, you mentioned Jim McGarrah, the gentleman who wrote the foreword, and he also mentioned in that foreword that, uh... about life after the war zone.

Yeah.

He says there are 22 veteran suicides every day.

And tonight, some 67,000 veterans will sleep alone in the streets.

And that’s, that’s very powerful.

And I know, uh, Bill Young, I'm sure he'll tell us he's one of the lucky guys that uh, he had Nancy in his life.

And uh, he had a wonderful experience post-Vietnam.

Yeah, yeah.

And you referenced the suicides, the book does reference up front the Veterans Crisis Line, there's a number there.

And to, to get the help and so forth because, yeah, I mean, it's, it's a problem now.

I mean, it's, it's not just back then, our military people who are back from the recent wars---and it's a struggle.

I had some folks on who run the James Bethel Gresham Memorial Home in Garvin Park.

Right.

And that's a place for, for homeless veterans to get back on their feet.

And it's a great project right here in Evansville.

Now, I'm curious, were Bill and Nancy Young immediately on board with this project, letting the world know about their romance?

Well, the fact that they were open enough---I mean, the original story, which is, which is my introduction in here, they were open to do that.

You never know where the story's gonna go, you know, once it's published.

And so---and the fact that they were open to share those letters, you know, there were a lot of letters, and, I was really honored.

I had to be allowed to take some home with me because I needed it, because I included some of the letters in the original story.

So you've got the book now, and, uh, what's been the reaction from readers?

It's been, you know, so far, I mean... people who even known Bill and Nancy---and they'll tell you this---they were aware, but they didn't get to see the letters.

And I think---and you’ll ask Nancy, probably, but a lot of people thought Nancy was crazy.

‘You're falling in love with this guy you don't know over there, and you're getting ready to go to college!’ And, uh, from family and friends---everyone, you know, is like, ‘Are you nuts?’ And, and then when they---and I get this from Nancy and plus some of the comments I've seen---’Oh, I get it.

I'm reading these letters.’ And uh, so, so it's an awakening for people who they've known most all their lives, who have never had been privy to these letters.

Now getting---I mean, they knew Bill's a great guy now, but how did Nancy fall in love at that time?

And they see these letters, and it's like, I think everybody wants to marry Bill now.

So watch out, Nancy.

Well, I mean, they both come across as really incredible people---Oh, yeah---in these letters, I mean, I feel like I know them now after reading.

Well, that's part of it.

That's what people say, too.

And that's, and uh, you know... there is that, you know, the bad stuff that Bill went through, and the violence, the, the stuff is running through his mind.

And then, the more happy--- I mean there's so many, so much emotion through these letters... and, I don't think you could have made it up.

And, so, this--- I think the value of that was, it was hard to believe, but it's true.

Yeah.

Tell us about the cover of the book here, let’s, um... Hey, hey, hey!

Oh, well, you know I knew I had to get, had to get Nancy on the front in her bathing suit.

That's one of the first pictures that Bill saw of Nancy, I believe, and you see why he just fell in love with her.

And I finally just realized there's a dog in the picture.

Well, is she in the---is she in the snow here?

Yeah, she's in the snow, I believe---In her bathing suit.---I believe her mom took pictures, uh, for that.

So she's in her bathing suit in the snow, very fun, you know, 18-year-old girl.

And uh, and having---that was her life.

And then, and then the next picture is Bill and one of his buddies---I believe that's Angel---in their military guard... in Vietnam.

And, the contrast was what I was hoping.

And Delaney designed this, but---what it was like for Nancy, that carefree-ness, and there's serious stuff here in this other picture, so, I'm hoping that the cover itself---It’s pretty bare of a cover, but I think those two pictures speak a lot.

And then we have the back cover.

There's their wedding photo!

Big, big, you know---so, the result, you know of, you know, Bill gets back and uh, you know, within a couple of years they’re married and um... and that's them, newlyweds, and then the final picture in the book is of them, fairly recent, of what they look like now.

And they've had---they have some family since then and um, it's a, it's a great---I bill it as, it's the greatest love story never told until now.

And there's the Bill and Nancy now.

And we’re gonna meet them in just a moment.

Yeah, yeah.

And they are just so dynamite; I’ve become such good friends with them, even without this book.

They're great people.

Well, Scott, we're going to put you in the... in time out for a little bit---Okay---and we’re gonna bring Bill and Nancy Young in here, we're going to talk about, um, well; their personal reactions to all this---Their story.---Bill's description of the incessant rain in Vietnam, and the dangers he faced every day on Firebase.

Also, Nancy's prowess at skinning a squirrel!

That's also mentioned in the letters... and uh, life after those letters written back in 1967.

Yeah.

A marriage 53 years and counting.

That's... it is an incredible love story.

Scott, we're going to talk to you in a minute.

Thanks a lot.

This is Two Main Street.

I'm David James.

My guests are Nancy and Bill Young.

Their love letters are featured in a new book by Scott Saalman; a Vietnam love story, from Newburgh to ‘Nam.

Now in the foreword, Jim McGarrah says, “Read these letters, and become a better human being for doing it.” So how does that make you feel, Nancy Young?

Oh, overwhelmed.

Oh, sure.

Overwhelmed.

I wasn't thinking of that when I was writing the letters.

Sure.

You know, if it can be something helpful for people, it makes me happy.

Mm hmm.

We shared a lot of ourselves.

I mean, it was real, that's for sure.

I loved how you brought up skinning the squirrel with Scott.

My uncle taught me how to do that.

Well, how do you skin a squirrel?

I'm curious.

Well---Not that I want to do it right now, but there may be an occasion someday.

I don't think I want to go into that, David.

Okay, alright.

Did you---what was the purpose of---were you gonna eat the squirrel?

Is that it?

My uncle had hunted, and he lived in rural Illinois.

He was one of my heroes that I loved.

And he said, “Come out here, I'm going to teach you how to skin a squirrel.” Like, why would I ever need to learn that?

But, yeah; so he showed me how to do it, and I helped him with it, and Bill was impressed that this girl learned how to skin a squirrel.

Well, how old were you when you learned this, this task?

Oh, I was, I was probably 17 and a half, 18.

Okay.

Yeah.

Alright.

So, did you always want to be a nurse?

Always.

Always.

From fourth grade on, that's what I wanted to do.

Okay.

Yes.

Alright.

So, Bill, what's your reaction to this gentleman saying ‘reading this book will make you a better person’?

Mm hmm.

I think I'm still absorbing it.

I had not read these letters ‘til, what, just a few weeks ago when we got our copy of the book.

Really?

So, in all those---I just, I can’t explain why I hadn’t.

Mm hmm.

So when I read them---I sat down one evening, read it all the way through.

It was pretty much a roller coaster, in a lot of ways.

‘Cause I, I wasn't sure what I had written and how I had written it.

Sure.

And so, when I read what Jim said, I thought, ’Well, I guess I better read this just, to revisit this whole journey.’ So uh, that's what we did.

And---so I don't forget it--- one of the reasons that, you know, Scott had mentioned they were in a little lunch box, or lunch bags.

All... our older daughter---or no, Katie.

Katie.

Our middle.

Our middle daughters---Yes.---had, years before, they---all those letters had been, for decades, in a green laundry bag; just all together.

So, Katie had taken it upon herself to get them all organized.

So by the time we shared this with Scott, they at least were somewhat organized.

But I guess I've just been totally amazed, even as we sit here and talk about it, that, that it's... people are interested in such a thing.

So, Nancy, you saved all these letters.

I saved all my letters.

Yes.

I was up at Vincennes at the time, in first year of nursing.

And, yes, every time I got a letter, I put it in a shoebox that I had under my bed and, and kept them all these years.

Unlike Bill, I would get his letters out and read them occasionally.

So, it wasn't quite as much of a surprise for me as it was for him.

I--and I might be speaking out of place here, but I think he was a little afraid to read them, because of bringing back so much of the war for him.

Yeah, that was very much the case.

Well, yeah, every letter, I mean, I'm sure you're reliving that moment in your life, the good and the bad and the frightening.

I guess that would be my take on that.

I just find it interesting---I was afraid maybe; you know, when you're young and you're gung ho, ‘cause, when I was there, there was no draft and it was still kind of John Wayne and apple pie.

And...

I was afraid of maybe being a gung ho young kid at the time.

I would have thought I needed to impress her somehow by talking more about this.

I was...

I was relieved to see it has rule, yeah.

There are references to things, but...

I think I was scared that maybe... it would just take me to a place I didn't want to go, you know?

Let's learn more about Nancy and Bill.

Now, Nancy, you grew up in Evansville.

In Evansville.

I was born and raised in Evansville, and went to Memorial High School, graduated in 1967.

Um... always wanted to be a nurse.

Any more medical people in your family?

Actually, no.

Really?

No, but we didn't have that many choices at that time either, David.

You know, you could be a teacher, a secretary, a nurse.

Well, that's true.

You know, that was about it.

That was the trio there.

I always wanted to be a nurse.

My mom and dad lived in Evansville for a long time, over on Florida Street, East Side.

And then we moved to Newburgh.

I went one year to Rex Mundi when I was a freshman, and then, when we moved to Newburgh, we were in Memorial district.

So then I started going to Memorial High School, and did my last three years there.

So, when I was a senior, I was working at St Mary's.

It was St Mary's at the time, I was a candy striper there and, um, met a guy, Don, was a friend, and he said, ‘I'm going to join the Marine Corps and I'm going to go to Vietnam.

Will you write to me?’ And I said, ‘Sure, yeah.’ You know, I thought it was a patriotic thing to do.

Sure.

So, that's how it started.

I wanted to raise his morale a little bit.

So I said, ‘Mom, let's go out and take these pictures, in the snow, in my bathing suit.’ And she goes, ‘What?’ I said, ‘Yeah, great.’ I said, ‘Bring the dog, let's do the dog thing.

And I gotta have a beach ball.’ And she goes, ‘You're kind of crazy.’ And I said, ‘Yes, I know.’ So she took the pictures.

Okay.

And I had sent a couple to Don.

Mm.

Um... and Bill can tell you the rest, I guess, how he saw the picture.

So you were kind of like a USO I guess---I guess!---in a way.

I guess!

Helped the troops.

Yes, helped the troops morale.

Yeah.

Now, Bill, where did you grow up?

I came from a little place in the middle of Pennsylvania called Lock Haven.

And actually, it was the home of Piper, Piper aircraft.

Okay.

And some of the grandsons were both in my graduating class, but... graduated in June, ‘65.

And then I went down to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, on a manager training program for Woolworth's.

They had just built this, uh, a scale version of their Woolworth's store in something called a shopping mall, which was still a big thing.

It was a big thing in those days.

So, I went down there to go in that program and, I'm not sure what it was that caught my eye, but somewhere around in January of ‘66, I took the train---something made, I, something deci--- I decided, well, I'm going to go enlist.

Again, it was so ‘John Wayne, apple pie’ in those days.

So I took the train over to Johnstown, Pennsylvania, signed up for the Corps, and I went to a boot camp.

And---Where’d you go to boot camp?---look at that.

Parris Island.

Oh, boy.

Wonderful.

Yeah, yes.

Yeah.

It looks---you know, we went back not too many years later to, to see a son-in-law graduate, and it was so much smaller than I remember it being, you know?

And they picked the most...place for a bootcamp.

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

It had a lot of, a lot of scenery to it.

But anyways, graduated in April of ‘66 and was at Camp Lejeune for just a couple months, and then, um... volunteered to go to ’Nam.

So I got in ‘Nam in September, of ’66.

What was it like when you got off the plane there, in ‘Nam?

One of the first things I think people would tell you is the smell.

There's a... we've landed in Da Nang, and there's a hot, humid, stagnant smell.

And this was in Da Nang.

Of course, that was a big military base, so there was a lot of aircraft, so we had fuel or all that stuff; and we got in late in the afternoon, if I remember, and they, they put us in these Quonset huts.

And the next morning the got us up about five and put us in trucks and they took us to our units.

I just remember it being a four or five hour drive, or whatever it was, and I joined my unit, and it was the second Battalion, seventh Marines, Gulf Company.

What’d you see on the drive?

A lot, a lot of buffalo.

Really?

Yeah.

A lot of... you'd be going in areas where there's a lot of jungle on each side, then you might break out into rice paddies.

And it was really hot.

It was making nights like we've had the last couple of nights with our humidity look like, like uh, like it was an air conditioning, it was just terrible weather.

And we got into the camp, and it started to rain, and we found out that they had just lost quite a few guys a week before.

So part of it---because there was like eight or nine of us that were being taken out that night---so we were part of a replacement effort.

Okay.

Replacing troops.

And so we got there, and the first night it was pouring rain, and I was a machine gunner and the, uh, the.... the picture on the book is my best friend, Angel Gutierrez.

We went there together and uh, we had to go out on patrol that night.

So the very first night there, we’re out in the---Threw you right into it.

Right into it.

And of course, we... as it happened, we were on an ambush that night and there were some Viet Cong that walked into the ambush.

They were basically carrying grain and things like that.

And they---one of them was a payroll master.

So they walked into the ambush---that first night was kind of a baptism by fire.

Oh sure.

You didn’t really get to think about it, you were just right in it.

Yeah.

It was the first night.

So it was, it was.... well, here we are.

So then, you know, by the time, you know, months passed, we had a lot of, you know, different incidents going on.

I do remember being on an ambush with some Vietnamese Marines on Christmas Eve, and it was a clear night and the moon was bright.

And off in the distance I'm thinking I'm hearing---there was supposed to be a truce, but uh, that was on paper.

And I remember hearing what I thought, ‘This sounds like Silent Night.’ And as I'm listening---because that, my...and I realized that I'm hearing Silent Night, and then I hear the little sound of a drone-type of engine, and it turned out to be a Piper Cub.

That was going over the rice paddies playing Christmas music for, for the troops, you know.

And I thought, here I am, you know, and I think I know where that plane was.

(...) So there's, you know---so coming up to more what we're just talking about is, in March of ‘67, we had, uh...

The picture that's on the book, is a picture was taken about two days before we knew we were going to be taken to this area down towards below Chu Lai.

And it was an area where there'd been a lot of, a lot of activities.

And so, we got down there, we were down there for a week or so, and then we did walk into an ambush and took quite a few casualties, and uh, actually retreated back, or moved back, into an area where some army troops were.

They uh---and we camp with them for a while while we got some basic resupplies.

But about a week later, we walked into another incident and that's when they pulled us out and took us up to, back up to Da Nang to get replacements.

We're talking to Bill and Nancy Young.

They're the subject of this book, Vietnam Love Story, the love letters that they wrote back and forth in 1967.

Of course, here's Bill in the thick of it in Vietnam.

And he finally gets these letters from a girl, a recent high school graduate in Evansville, Indiana, who wants to be a nurse.

And I under---I think you were expecting a letter from Debbie, but uh, but you got a letter from Nancy.

How did that happen, Nancy?

Okay.

Well, like I said, I was writing to Don, this friend, and he said, you know, ‘My corporal would like to have somebody to write to.’ And I said, ‘Okay, well, I'll see if one of the girls in class would like to write to someone.’ So, Debbie said she would.

This girl that was in my homeroom class at Memorial.

And, I guess maybe three days later, she said, ‘Oh, I changed my mind because I'm going steady with this guy now and I don't want to write, write to anybody else.’ And so I thought, ‘Well, okay---well, I'll just write to both of them.’ And so that's what I did.

I wrote to both of them.

But first, Bill... tell, tell David about what happened in the foxhole there.

Well, there was---the back story was, when they took us back over Da Nang, they put us in this old French fort on a big hill outside of Da Nang.

And at that time the VC were shooting a lot of rockets over this mountain range into Da Nang; and so we were regrouping, and so we had all these new guys coming in.

So about the only thing you could do was to try to help them.

And they knew that the history of what had been going on with our unit.

And so when you're out on this hilltop, you had what they used to call listening posts, where you had four guys, maybe 50 yards out from your perimeter---but also it was a lot of wild pigs in that area.

So what we were having trouble with is guys opening up on any kind of a sound they heard---Sure.---because the new guys were scared.

So what I would do is, I was the platoon leader for the weapons platoon, so I would go around and try to talk to these guys.

So, but the only thing you really talk about maybe was women.

So, I think that, I think Dan was trying to, you know, connect with the old one of the few veterans.

We were---there's only about 22, 22 or 23 of us that were still the veterans.

So he wanted to impress me.

‘Well, would you like---I'm writing this girl, would you like to write this girl?’ Well, when you look at this picture, it'd be pretty hard to say---well, I think it might of took me 2 or 3 seconds to say, ‘I could, I could handle writing.’ Sure, yeah, yeah, why not?

Yeah, we're on board here.

So I actually saw the record---Yeah.---I'm sorry, the picture; and then that was how it kind of started, by just trying to work with new guys.

Yeah.

Not to, to get through nights when they were scared.

The letters are really neat because they contrast your, really, almost idyllic life here in Evansville and in Vincennes.

Here you are, a young lady, you're going to school, \your whole life ahead of you.

Your future, and you're excited about school and this new career.

And here's poor Bill over there---Yeah.---I mean, it's raining, it's miserable.

He's, he's... he's wondering about what's going to happen next.

He's losing buddies.

It's a contrast in life 10,000 miles apart.

It's really an incredible read on that.

And I always wanted to raise his spirits, so I would, I would talk about the silly things that we did, you know---You go down the river you say.

Yes, we spent a lot of time at the river, yes.

In Newburgh and in Vincennes.

It was just a calm place to go, and there were times I wrote letters from, sitting there, at the river.

Yeah, and I don't know, he seemed to enjoy them.

So the more I could write, the better I thought I could make him feel.

Mm.

You know.

And you guys had this, this correspondence---you would ‘mahana’ and ‘ricky tick’.

What's that all about, ‘mahana’?

Bill, or Nancy, you want to tackle that one?

Or can we talk about---Yeah.

Oh, oh yes.

Okay.

Yeah.

Alright.

I didn't know if it was something---What he, what he explained to me; and he had forgotten, I think, because he hadn't read the letters for 54 years.

You know, ‘mahana’ was, something that was...so good it was indescribable.

Okay.

That's, that's the word.

And I don't know if it was an Asian word or...someone told me that it was Hawaiian, which is possible.

And Ricky Tick, I think just meant ‘pretty quick’.

Yeah.

Yeah.

One of the guys on our unit was from Hawaii.

Okay.

And uh, I think that's where the ‘mahana’ came from.

Okay.

So that was, that was your goal, to be in ‘mahana’?

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

And she was your ‘mahana’.

She was, she was that.

Definitely.

So, obviously you're looking forward to these letters from Nancy.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

How, how did the mail get to you?

Did it, was it pretty quick, or?

Well, it would usually come in batches.

Because at that time, the rule was, you didn't ever want to keep more than a third of your, your force in your camp---and all we really had was tents that were left over from the North Korean War, or the, I'm sorry, the Korean War.

So the tents were, they were just tents.

I mean, and um, a lot of the C-rations we had were still left over from Korea.

And some of the---even, even some of the grenades that we had, uh, would uh---and that changed as we were there long.

But...so, you always kept two-thirds of your force out of the camp, and that was usually in what they called ‘search and destroys’.

Or they could be long-range patrols, where you might be gone three or four days.

So, when you were out on the uh, the search and destroy, usually it would be pretty rare that you---you know, you didn't get mail every day.

You got ammo and you got food.

But um, so occasionally, if you were out on a 30-day search and destroy, you might get mail twice.

If you were in camp, but always out on patrols, you might get it every two or three days.

So kind of like a batch----You might get a batch of letters.

They would be a batch, yes.

Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah.

And they always knew what, what letters I had because you can still smell the perfume on those letters to this day.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So I saw one of the letters; September 24th, 1967.

Seems like a proposal, of sorts, in that letter.

Nancy, is that how you read that?

That's exactly how I read it.

That, that's exactly how I read it.

And when I brought that up to him, I have brought that up to him through the years several times.

You've mentioned it in your conversation.

He didn't say will you marry me!

Yes, but there was the hint.

Yes, I thought so too, David.

Yes, I thought so too.

So I got that letter out and tried to show it to him a couple of times.

So do you remember this are because his handwriting really was bad.

I said, maybe I just misread it, but I don't think so.

So he had to look over that several times.

Did you show it to your mom?

I don't think so.

Oh, I don't think I did.

Well, how did you how did she how did your family react to this budding romance?

They didn't really know.

Oh, they didn't really know because I was up at school.

See?

Okay.

I was at Vincennes, I wasn't at home.

Okay.

And so the letters were coming to VU.

Yes, letters were coming to VU.

Right, right.

My roommate Mimi, she knew.

Okay.

We had gone to high school together, Memorial, and nursing together, Vincennes.

So she was aware.

But my my parents, I didn't really say too much about it.

I mean, they knew I was writing to someone, but they didn't know that it had gotten very serious very quickly.

Sure.

Yes.

Okay.

So then this these is more serious.

The letters get more serious.

You agree to meet when Bill gets gets some leave and then the waiting game begins.

Bill, for you to get out of ‘Nam.

Yeah, that had to be frustrating.

It was.

When is this going to happen.

I mean he supposedly you know you were going to get out on the on the 13 months later to the date but it's so much depended on how the strength of your units and whether or not they could really let everybody go at one time.

So you never you had this date that you thought you should get your orders, but you never knew for sure.

And I'm sure if you've talked to any Privates, they probably had what we called a short timer's calendar, which sometimes could be very creative and what you would do is you’d color in a little date each day till you got down to 52 days and the other guys used cards, but I had a short timer’s calendar, so I kept it faithfully.

But you never really knew that was going to be.

And I did have one break in there between where I- Went to Okinawa, right?

Yeah.

They sent me to a Vietnamese language school and I don't know how that happened.

I just came in for a patrol one day and they said, You're going to go learn Vietnamese.

And that was the first class they'd had in Okinawa.

And it was with like we had 13 Green Berets and I was the only Marine.

So we had a lot of inter-service fun between ourselves, you know, and we learned enough to be functional.

You know, I can tell you stories about how I wasn't too functional when I got back and I had to do some of my first interpretations.

But but but the way it- we came in from a bad situation and a recon patrol had been ambushed and it was they were using them as bait.

And so when we went out to try to get them back, we walked into a situation and then airpower came in and we were able to get out of that situation.

We came back into camp and as I was coming back into Camp, Angel, who's my great friend, was just, I could see him coming in from a patrol that he had been on, but I got off.

They brought us back in trucks and as soon as I got off the trucks, I had this guy come up and said, You had 20 minutes to get yourself- your backpack, your orders are in.

So I had just enough time to get some stuff from my bag and get on a truck.

At about that time, Angel was coming inside the fence, barbed wire fence, I was leaving in the truck so I had a chance to do was just kind of wave to Angel saying, well, I hope to see you again.

And then we flew into San Francisco, if I remember correctly, and I called you to say, okay, I'd like to come meet you.

And so you set up a meeting?

That was on Friday night.

Yeah, it was on Friday, Friday night.

And he was coming in Saturday morning into Evansville.

And my dad said, You're not going to go by yourself.

You know, you've never met this man.

Sure.

And of course, my dad had been in the Second World War, so he kind of knew what soldiers were like, I think.

Yeah.

And he's finally getting home and, yes.

So I said, no, I'm going by myself.

And I did.

And I'm still kind of amazed that he let me.

But I did.

Yeah.

And I said, Well, how will I know you?

And he goes, I'll be the guy in the Marine Corps uniform with the playboy under his arm.

Yeah.

Playboy magazine magazine.

The Playboy magazine.

Exactly.

Well, that was rather bold.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Of course, that could have been a lot of soldiers.

It could have been a lot of soldiers.

Yes.

But that was the only I was the only military guy in the plane.

Okay.

All right.

That made it easy, you know?

Yeah, we flew in there.

So that first meeting, did you guys kiss?

You betcha.

And I think I initiated that.

He was kind of dumbfounded, I think.

Yeah, I remember putting my arms around him and being up on tiptoes and yeah, yeah.

So then I know you took him to your campus to show him around where you were a nursing student?

Well, at first we went back to Newburgh, to my mom and dad's, and he spent the night there.

That was Saturday night.

I took him around Newburgh.

Okay, there you go.

We got to go see the river.

Beautiful Newburgh, historic Newburgh.

Yes, it’s beautiful.

And then he rode the bus back to school with me on Sunday because I had to be back up at school Sunday night.

By 10:30 PM, we had curfew.

The girls had curfew at that time.

Wow.

I know.

And the boys didn't.

Of course.

Yeah, of course.

Yeah.

So he rode up on the bus with me and I, you referred to this a little bit earlier, but yes, I started dating this guy up at school just for something to do.

You know, it wasn't ever serious on my end at all.

But I did tell Bill about it.

I think I told you when we were going around Newburgh that afternoon.

I think so, yeah.

And so he was aware.

So we get up to Vincennes, to the bus station, and there he is sitting there waiting for me at the bus station.

Classic.

Oh yeah.

And I didn't know.

Awkward!

It was very awkward.

It was very awkward.

And Bill said to me, I'm not going to get off the bus.

I, you know, I don't want to cause you to be upset or anything.

What a gentleman!

Yes, exactly.

That says a lot about Bill right there.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

That made I mean, I was in love with him already, but it made even a further impression at that point.

This guy’s for real.

This guy's for real.

And what he said was, if you want me to come back, I will.

But he was going to New York to visit his sister because he came straight from Nam to Evansville.

Yeah.

You know?

He wanted to see his family.

Yes.

So he he said, if you want me to come back, you call me.

And that was a Sunday.

Monday afternoon, I called him and I said, I want you to come back.

Okay.

All right.

So you get out of the Marine Corps.

When did you get out of the Marine Corps?

I got out on December 23rd of 1968.

Okay.

And I came back in October.

I was in the JU maybe, maybe two months.

And then the battalion, I was part of the Marines Guard, the base at Guantanamo, and they usually just send down individual replacements.

So they made a decision they were going to send down a full unit and make that their their duty station.

So as luck would have it, I was assigned to the 8th Marines.

And the 8th Marines were the ones that they decided to go and move the whole battalion down to Cuba.

To Cuba.

So in January, I'm on a boat for three days and they're going down seasick, I might add, going down to Cuba.

And so I was in Cuba in the leeward side, and the wayward side.

And on the one side is where the the the bunkers is.

And so you sit on one side in bunkers and about 400 yards away is all the Cubans and the Cuban soldiers.

They're sitting in bunkers and you just watch each other with telescopes.

Oh, my God.

And there's a minefield in between.

But anyways, I was there from January till late until late May I think.

It was my very, very best friend growing up, kind of a foster brother.

I joined the 101st and he was he was killed in Vietnam in March.

So the Red Cross.

But they were having struggles with getting his remains back.

And so in March, he was he was Bobby was killed.

And but the Red Cross got ahold of me and down in Cuba, and they arranged for me to come home to be for his funeral when we finally got his remains home.

And so since at that time, I was a short timer, I was due to get out in February of 1969, but I actually got an early release of 20 days to go out and go to be a policeman in Baltimore because the police forces were all looking for.

Sure.

Veterans.

Yeah.

So we got married on the 21st of December and we drove immediately down.

1969?

Eight.

Then, immediately drove down to Fort Camp Lejeune and get out of the quarry.

And that was our honeymoon.

That was our honeymoon.

And so where were you married?

We got married in Newburgh.

In Newburgh.

Okay.

Yeah, your honeymoon is at Camp Lejeune.

Yeah.

We're getting out of the quarry.

With his first sergeant, I might add.

Yes, we stayed at their house.

Yeah, we did.

Okay.

Yeah.

It was very romantic.

The plan then was I had 30 days to report to Baltimore, so we were back in Vincennes, we were back at Vincennes in January of 1969 and it didn't happen.

Okay.

All right.

So you guys are married and you have a family.

Tell us about your family.

Yeah, we have three children.

Christie is the oldest.

And then Kate's, as she calls herself, the middle child.

And and Eric is our baby.

And our baby is going to be 42, I think this month.

We have three grandchildren.

Natalie is 20 years old and is pre-med at Purdue and then Will lives with his daddy in Brussels, Kentucky.

And he will be going into the seventh grade and Axel is going into the third grade and he lives in Richland.

So they don't live very far from us at all.

That's good.

Yeah.

Cause you guys live in Spencer County?

We do.

Okay.

We live in between Hatfield and Rockport out in the sticks.

Definitely in the sticks, yes.

So did you become a nurse?

Oh, I most certainly did, yes.

Tell us about your nursing career.

Oh, my.

How long do you have, David?

Oh, you’ve got about, a few more minutes here.

Oh, let's see.

Well, I've probably been a nurse now for about 54, 55 years, I guess you could say.

Still?

I still take care of a young man a couple times a month.

He's a quadriplegic, wonderful young man that is always up and is an inspiration to me.

Sure.

So I'm doing that.

The last thing I did, I've done a whole lot of different things, but the last thing I did and the thing I'm most proud of is my 12 years with hospice.

So I did hospice in Spencer County, very small hospice.

There were just three nurses and one of the girls, my boss was the administrator and so there were two of us that did patient care and that was it.

I mean, it was just us two and we did all the care for our patients.

Well, that's a very compassionate.

You have to be very compassionate to do that.

Yes.

Definitely.

And deal with the family.

It was a privilege.

It was a privilege to be with these people.

Yes.

And I, I had some memory care expert on my show one time.

And and my mother, she suffered from dementia and alzheimer’s.

And I said, suffer.

But she says, no, they really don't suffer.

They don't.

They don't.

They're in their own little world and everything’s just- it’s the family that suffers, really.

That's exactly right.

Because you’re so helpless.

That's exactly right.

We had one lady in particular that I will never forget, and my friend and I would take turns going to take care of her.

And on Fridays we called it Spa Day because we washed and rolled her hair and and styled it for her and painted her nails and put lipstick on and perfume.

And she had dementia also.

And we had to walk in back of her, as I remember, to get her to the living room.

And so there was a a full length mirror there.

She was so cute.

And she looked in the mirror and she goes, Who is that woman?

Right.

But I mean, she was a very happy person.

Sure.

Yeah.

And so you're you're right.

It's not the patient that suffers with dementia.

It's at least not in the advanced.

Sure.

Stages.

So, Bill, what career did you get into eventually?

Well, you weren't a cop in Baltimore.

No, I wasn’t.

I ended up actually working with the Pinkertons for a short while, while I was going to co- One day, I'm in the office in Evansville and I look out and I see this business college across the street, and decided well, I'll go check it out.

And I went over there and I was just going to take a night class and all of a sudden I was enrolled, I was in a finance class, I graduated with an associate degree from there.

And then I went on to Brescia and got my finance degree.

And I was privileged to serve with a company that this guy and I both worked with Kimball International for just, just a little bit short of 40 years.

So that journey was absolutely marvelous.

Got to work in four different countries, got to work with numerous different units in Kimball, usually in finance or H.R.

In fact, the last, probably the last eight to ten years was mostly working with the bank in China and then at the end actually working with some of our business offices in Vietnam, which was a strange.

Oh, that is.

Strange rabble.

But I was so blessed, you know.

What a circle!

And then, you know, I was able to- up in the counties, it’s just been a marvel.

Moving into Spencer County and a small rural environment, was the perfect thing for us and our property is up in an area that reminds me of, where it was, where I came from, back home.

Sure.

Up in a ridge with woods.

And I had a chance to get involved with a lot of nonprofits.

I was able to, honored to help work with a nonprofit, to help bring doctors into the county and food banks and things like that.

So through the years and that's how I think I got closer with Scott because of his efforts with, you know, we'll read for food.

And so I'm just blessed in so many ways.

I can't even count them.

Well, you guys are a wonderful couple.

It's been a privilege for me to meet you and and learn about your story.

Reading those love letters is is a great experience and sharing them with the world and, you know, we need that right now.

Everybody needs to read something like this.

So thanks a lot for being my guest.

I appreciate it.

Thank you, David.

I appreciate you.

Welcome back to Two Main Street.

I'm David James.

We've been talking to Bill and Nancy Young, married 50 years plus about their love letters from 1967, a Vietnam love story.

Scott Saalman, he edited the book along with his daughter Delaney, and so my last, your last appearance here, we talked about your mom and she was struggling with cancer then.

And you wrote this collection of essays.

What are you going to write about when I'm gone?

And so now she's gone and you're still writing.

Still writing about her a lot.

Yeah.

Really?

I mean, she's left quite a legacy.

And when did she pass?

It was last fall.

Last fall, it was almost, she was given five years and it was almost exactly five years in between that time she had been given some other death sentences and she it was a war and she kept winning the battles.

But she knew.

By the time the five years got here.

Yeah, we knew, it was all she wrote.

But she was a fighter.

Oh, definitely.

Definitely.

So was there a celebration of her life?

Well, you know, the funeral was rough.

I wrote quite a few stories after some time, a bad thing that happened to me at the funeral home.

I introduced my wife to the funeral home director and unfortunately I called her my ex-wife’s name.

And so and my wife was like, your mom just did that on purpose.

So, so so it was, it was, it was it was.

I got some mileage out of that, but I think that was Mom's last laugh.

But you know, we just recently the will read and sing for food show that was defunct since 2018.

Our last show we did do another show a couple, two or three weeks ago, and that was in honor of mom.

And it raised money for the Anderson Woods summer camp in Perry County as well as the next like Astor Theater.

So is a kind of a split, you know, charity thing there.

But it was in memory of mom.

And, you know, it's still raw and even, you know, we wanted to have a picture of mom all the time.

And not just to me, it was like, we can't do this.

So so, you know.

Well, you're getting your nickname Puddles here.

Yeah, I was going to apologize for that.

It's my wife is calling me Puddles because I am a concert crier.

Now, if I go see a concert and there's a song, I'm crying and, you know, mom.

Do you cry at movies?

Oh, my God.

And just, you know, I oh, look, Nancy, through the glass, there was Nancy in a pretty pivotal role and just hospice related to a degree with mom at the last night.

Oh, I know.

That's that's quite, quite a journey.

Yeah.

Going through that, definitely.

You know, 1967.

How old were you in 1967?

At that time, I was three years old.

Well, okay.

So you didn't quite understand what's going on.

Oh, no.

In 1967.

I don't know if I'm imagining it, but I do remember the TV like later in the 67, 68, 69 you know, when you were seeing, I do remember, unless I'm just, you know, the certain media's shaped me.

But I swear, as a kid, you would see this on the news.

Okay.

And I really didn't know what to make of it, but it it just seemed horrible.

Well, the first Super Bowl was in 1967.

Was it really?

You know, Green Bay.

Oh, my gosh, I didn’t know that.

They defeated Kansas City.

Got some other things from 1967.

Some of the songs, All You Need Is Love.

I'm a Believer by The Monkees.

Uh, well, let's see what else we got here.

And it was, oh, the Saint Louis Cardinals won the World Series.

Wow, that was good, good.

Beating Boston, so.

But, it’s interesting David because the letters of Bill and Nancy are referencing these songs and these movies.

Oh, I know!

So it's capturing that 67.

It is, it is too.

And you said it might be a good screenplay.

Yeah.

You know somebody has showed an interest, right?

When we released the book in May, a guy just you know, he is he was tied with a he was in the business and he was moved.

If I remember correctly, we've talked a bit, but the 9/11, all of a sudden he was ready to, you know, at a later age, he ended up going to Afghanistan.

Sure.

And he remembers the letters between him and whether it's his girlfriend or- but he thinks to Google search.

I mean, he just all of a sudden heard about this book and and he just saw what was on Amazon and just a few of the early pages.

And he was amused.

Oh, my gosh, this is what I want to write.

So so we're talking about it.

You know, writing a screenplay is not the same as getting it made.

But I mean, he's he's got the connections.

But you can see you can see this visually and also with the music behind it, that era and the way people dress, what was going on was a turbulent time, you know, in our country's history, we had racial problems.

And of course, the people were protesting and they had the wave of patriotism.

There was a lot going on in the late sixties.

Yeah.

And that's I mean, it's a time capsule, those letters are.

Definitely.

You know, in Vietnam War Love Story and you get on Amazon and that's where it's done.

Yeah.

Well, Scott Saalman, what's next for you now?

Well I'm probably doing a follow-up to Mom's book because when, when “What Are You Going to Write About When I'm Gone” ended, you know, mom is still alive and there's a year or so before and so, you know, it ends.

You know, mom’s still alive, I have all these stories.

But after she died, I just and she keeps reappearing and so there are a lot more.

I’m either going to add an expanded edition and just make it a full length thing, but I'm do for and you know with mom so you know and they call me Puddles and I get all teary eyed but a lot of funny stuff in mom’s stories, as you know, so there's that.

But I do know I need to also I need to get back to a totally funny collection.

So I got another essay collection I'm working on this year that and it's all newspaper columns.

So it's not like I'm sitting here writing a book.

I've got tons of stories to compile and put together, so I'm fortunate that way.

And you live in Fishers now.

I moved to Fishers last September.

My wife was living there, we were married in 2019 and but she was from that area.

And so I would work down here with Kimball Electronics.

Also, I was a remote husband for a year or so, and COVID made things weird too, you know, after getting married in 2019.

But we were away for about six months from each other.

But I found out it's better to be a remote employee.

Thank you, Kimball Electronics, versus a remote husband.

And I like the move.

And but we're still like I said, we did a will read and sing for food show again.

I'm hoping to I'm I'm hoping to even do some stuff in Fishers with that, start small and build up.

So I got some things in the works, but we still like to get out here to either the Lincoln App or Astro Theater, maybe do some more shows because it is helping others.

So and it gives me a chance to see all my friends again and and it's yeah.

Well, keep writing.

Scott, we really appreciate you being here and bringing us the story of Bill and Nancy Young, their Vietnam Love Story, their love letters in 1967.

It really is a snapshot in time, a wonderful couple.

And reading these letters gives you hope for this world.

You know, we need it right now.

We certainly do.

Thanks a lot, Scott Saalman.

Thank you, David.

I'm David James.

And this is Two Main Street presented by Jeffrey Berger, Kim Wren, and the Berger Wealth Services team at Baird Private Wealth Management.