Track 25 – A Letter Home

One day in early 1970, while I was at Purdue, I received a letter from a friend that I had played some baseball with who was serving in Viet Nam. I really didn’t know him that well, and I never really knew what inspired him to write to me, but the letter moved me and produced multiple emotions which all collided together. He just wanted to get back home to his girl friend, and thinking of her was what kept him going. A few weeks later, he was killed in Viet Nam, and so I wrote this song, “A Letter Home”, as my way of dealing with his death, and with the War in general.

“Anger” just kept wanting to come through, but I didn’t really believe that his letter was “angry”. Instead, it was on a much higher level, so I focused on his wisdom, his insight, and his “last wish” to just be with his girlfriend again, and I left the anger for another day. For Jon, and for all those who died in War, . . . the “sound” was not in vain.

NOTE: I don’t have Jon’s letter anymore, as I gave it to his family. So, for the cover art, I used one of my dad’s letters from World War II, and his dog tags, as my way of connecting War from two generations.