The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love

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On December 3, 1971, just days after their Thanksgiving reunion, Sarah and Dick wake up in two different worlds again — she in San Antonio, pregnant and hurting; he in Vietnam, back on alert and lonelier than he lets on. Their three letters from this single day show the softest parts of their love: the ache of separation, the humor that keeps them afloat, and the feeling that they are never fully themselves until they’re together.

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The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

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On December 2, 1971 — the first day of the final month of pregnancy — Dick writes from Vietnam and Sarah writes from San Antonio. The countdown home has finally begun, but the pain of saying goodbye is still sharp. These letters show what love looks like when hope and grief live together — hurting from the separation while holding on fiercely to the life waiting for them.

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

Send us Fan Mail

After two weeks together for Thanksgiving, Dick returns to Vietnam on November 28, 1971. Sarah is eight months pregnant and back in their San Antonio apartment — learning once again how to sleep alone, eat alone, and fill a day without the man she loves beside her. These two letters, written just days apart, show the emotional whiplash of reunion followed by separation: from the first night without him to the struggle of trying to find her footing again.

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

Send us Fan Mail

It’s November 18, 1971. Dick is on the airplane flying home from Vietnam — the same familiar flight path he once flew in a C-141, now taking him back to his wife. Sarah is in San Antonio, almost eight months pregnant, tidying the apartment and stocking food so they won’t need to leave the house once he arrives. There are no letters today because they won’t need envelopes tonight. Today is reunion day

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

Send us Fan Mail

On November 14, 1971, Dick writes what will be his final letter before flying home for R&R. In just four days, he’ll be back in San Antonio, holding Sarah for the first time in six months. This is the last letter until November 28, after Thanksgiving and their long-awaited time together. Right now, everything is building toward reunion

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

Send us Fan Mail

On November 13, 1971, Sarah finally gets a flood of letters after days of silence — four all at once — and the relief pours through every word she writes. She opens up about her fears around her pregnant body, her longing for Dick to see her grow, and her dreams of having “two kids within two years.” She’s imagining a bigger family and a life that feels just within reach. Dick, writing from Vietnam, is only days from coming home for leave, and he knows this may be the last letter she reads before he’s back in her arms. Their letters on this day capture everything — the tenderness, the desire, the humor, the anticipation — and the quiet ache of two people about to close the distance for the first time in months

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

Send us Fan Mail

On November 12, 1971, Sarah and Dick are only a week away from being reunited, but the days feel impossibly long. Sarah is achy from stepping on a bee the day before, tired, pregnant, and trying to keep her spirits up as she waits for one precious letter after another. She hasn’t received a love letter from Dick since Monday, and the silence only makes the days feel heavier. Dick, still stuck on alert in Vietnam, spends the day with Pie, bored and dreaming of home. Their words hold humor, tenderness, longing, and the kind of steady devotion that somehow makes the waiting both harder and sweeter.

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

Send us Fan Mail

On November 11, 1971, Sarah and Dick were just one week away from their long-awaited reunion. The love, humor, and anticipation in their letters capture everything that made them who they were — steadfast, playful, and endlessly connected, even from half a world apart.

That year, Veterans Day wasn’t actually observed on November 11; it had been shifted to a Monday in late October under a short-lived federal change. But in spirit, every letter between them was a kind of observance — written between two people who lived and loved through military service.

Today, in 2025, it is Veterans Day again — and I’ll be standing at the new Southwest Montana Veterans Columbarium at Sunset Hills Cemetery in Bozeman, where my dad, Captain Richard “Dick” Allgood, and my mom, Captain Sarah Allgood, are the first and second to rest in the new niches. Their story — the one we’ve been sharing all along — now lives there, side by side

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

Send us Fan Mail

On November 10, 1971, Sarah and Dick write from opposite ends of exhaustion. He’s shaken by the discovery that one of his own firemen has been using heroin — a revelation that went against everything he believed in. She’s sore from overdoing it, sewing and painting and pushing herself too hard, but she’s also bubbling with excitement, counting the days until he walks through the door for his two-week leave. Together, their letters reveal love stretched thin by distance but held together by humor, loyalty, and longing

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com

Send us Fan Mail

On November 9, 1971, Sarah and Dick are both counting down the days—just over a week until his flight home from Vietnam for a much-needed two-week leave. She’s tired and seepy, planning baked potatoes and thinking ahead to the holidays. He’s flying missions, dreaming of her, and thrilled that his parents will spend Thanksgiving in San Antonio the following week. Between them, these letters hold the warmth of anticipation: family plans taking shape, home on the horizon, and love steady as ever.

Support the show

The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love is a personal podcast project based on real letters exchanged between Capt. Richard Allgood and Capt. Sarah Allgood during the Vietnam War. Photos of the original letters, family snapshots, and behind-the-scenes commentary are available for supporters.

Support the show:

https://buymeacoffee.com/theallgoodslove

Visit the official website: https://www.theallgoodslove.com