The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love

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In this letter, written on June 27, 1971, Captain Sarah Allgood isn’t shy about how much she misses her husband — or how badly she wants him.

It’s raw. It’s funny. It’s incredibly personal. And it’s real.

From splitting headaches to bridge games, tacos, teenage neighbors asking awkward questions, and heartfelt longing, Sarah’s voice leaps off the page. She jokes about how hard it was to go four pages without writing “I love you.” She remembers the way Dick kissed her eyes and hair. And yes — she tells him her panties are wet just writing the letter. This one is pure, unfiltered Sarah: sexual, playful, deeply affectionate… and just trying to make it through another weekend alone while pregnant during wartime.

Her humor and horniness live right alongside her heartbreak.

And maybe most incredible of all — this letter, like every one she wrote, somehow survived. My dad saved it in Vietnam, brought it back to the States, and it sat quietly in a storage unit in Big Sky, Montana for decades — through freezing winters and everything else life threw at us — until I found it. Dry. Intact. Waiting.

Now I get to read it to you.

💌 Listen and follow the journey at theallgoodslove.com

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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.

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This letter from Captain Dick Allgood, written on June 27, 1971, reveals the tender truth beneath his famously gruff exterior. “I am not a cold bastard,” he writes to his wife, “I just may present that on the surface.” And it’s true. Anyone who knew him knew he was a softy at heart — a man who loved fiercely, laughed loudly, and proudly identified as a tit man, even offering free Allgood T-shirts to any woman in the bar who’d change into one on the spot.

But in Vietnam, even the most loving letters carry shadows. In this one, Dick writes about a young airman — the same man mentioned in earlier letters who had contracted the clap and then crabs — who became so overwhelmed with depression that he attempted suicide. It’s a stark reminder: even though Dick rarely describes the war itself, he was still living in the middle of it. It was hot, humid, and full of misery — rashes, bugs, broken spirits. The men may have been trained not to write about it, but the war still bleeds through the margins.

And yet, these very pages survived. My mom wrote them. My dad treasured them — carrying them with him through war and home again. Somehow, decades later, I found them intact in a freezing storage unit in Big Sky, Montana. They never got wet, never got lost. He saved them. And now, I get to read them to you.

💌 Follow along at theallgoodslove.com

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

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This project is starting to get heavy — not just because of how much they wrote, but because of what these letters carry.

On June 26, 1971, my mom wrote two letters to my dad. She was pregnant with me, and he was across the world in Vietnam. They couldn’t call. There was no FaceTime. No text. Just words written by hand — and a wait of days, maybe even a week, for each one to arrive.

In her first letter, she is aching with loneliness. In the second, she softens a little, shares a poem, pats her belly, and dreams of banana coconut ice cream. It’s one day in their life — and reading it, I cried.

These letters are beautiful. But they take time. And energy. And some days, I don’t know how I’ll keep up with the pace of it all. The podcast part is easy. It’s the reading and feeling and transcribing that take the most out of me.

So if you’re listening — thank you. Your support helps me keep going.

💌 theallgoodslove.com

🎧 patreon.com/TheAllgoodsLove

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

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On June 26, 1971, Dick writes from Vietnam after a quiet, unsettled day. Two new pilots have just arrived — one of them, nicknamed “Pie,” seems like a good guy and will soon become part of this story. The other is clearly nervous, a reminder that no matter how long someone’s been in the Air Force, this place can shake anyone.

Dick tries to call Sarah — again — but the call won’t go through. The overseas operator can’t make the connection, and Dick is left sitting with the silence.

So he does what he’s learned to do: he writes.

He tells her how proud he is that she’s preparing to leave work behind and focus on being a wife and mother. Even across the world, he can feel her readiness, her heart. And he promises to keep showing up — to provide, to write, to love her as hard as he can, from wherever he is.

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🎙️ patreon.com/TheAllgoodsLove

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

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In this letter from June 25, 1971, Sarah writes to Dick on her day off — lazy, cozy, and full of longing. She didn’t get a letter that day, and it leaves her feeling empty inside. She knows he’s writing. She just doesn’t trust the U.S. Postal Service to get it right.

Still, she finds comfort in rereading his old letters, eating pineapple sandwiches in bed, and talking to her “beautiful, handsome husband by ESP.” And what’s remarkable is that — even though he hadn’t received her letter yet — Dick wrote on the same day about feeling that connection too.

They didn’t have the words for it back then, but we do now. It’s real. They were in sync, across oceans and time zones, speaking to each other in ways science has only recently begun to explain.

She also includes Glenn and Dale’s address — because yes, they’re telling people they’re going to be parents. ❤️

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🎙️ patreon.com/TheAllgoodsLove

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

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In this letter, my dad writes from Vietnam on June 25, 1971 — and something about it stopped me.

Yesterday, my mom wrote about ESP. About how she could feel him reaching for her across the world. He hadn’t received that letter yet — she’d just mailed it. But somehow, he writes back with the same intensity, like he’s answering without even knowing it.

He doesn’t call it ESP. He just calls it love. But it’s there — that connection. The kind that reaches you, even from thousands of miles away.

This letter is full of longing and humor, but also something deeper. He talks about their upcoming first wedding anniversary and how much those early months of marriage have meant to him — how they’ve shaped his whole life. He jokes, he flirts, but then he admits that sometimes the tears still come while writing her. That the ink used to smear when he’d cry — and now, he’s just learning to hold it back a little better.

He loved her. Fully. Bravely. And he never stopped showing up for her, even from a war zone.

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🎙️ patreon.com/TheAllgoodsLove

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

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In this deeply personal and poetic letter, Sarah writes to Dick from San Antonio after another brutally hot day in the operating room. She shares a poem about ESP and emotional connection — wondering aloud if their bond is so strong it transcends time, space, and reason.

She also opens up about exhaustion, everyday frustrations, and the little joys that carry her through — a Coke, a kind doctor, a surprise visit from friends, and the comfort of writing to her husband from bed.

With humor, vulnerability, and just the right amount of mischief (yes, there’s another quarter in the pot), Sarah reminds us what devotion looks like in real life: unfiltered, tender, and completely human.

💌 Letter #90 of over 1,500

📅 Written June 24, 1971 — San Antonio, Texas

🎙️ Read by their daughter, Alisa Allgood

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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

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After more than two weeks apart without a successful phone call, Dick and Sarah finally get to speak — even if the connection isn’t great. In this letter, written the same day from Da Nang, Dick reflects on how deeply their love has changed his life, how much he cherishes her voice, and how he can’t even remember what life felt like before they fell in love. He also shares his relief at finally getting a broken tooth fixed — and his raw, unfiltered frustration with the daily grind of war.

💌 Letter #89 of over 1,500

📅 Written June 24, 1971 — Da Nang, Vietnam

🎙️ Read by their daughter, Alisa Allgood

🌐 theallgoodslove.com

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

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It’s June 23, 1971 — and after more than two weeks of missed connections and shutdown phone lines, the call finally goes through.

Sarah hears Dick’s voice, and everything rushes in at once: the relief, the longing, the ache of being apart for so long. She writes this letter just after they hang up, still feeling the high of being close to him again — and the emptiness that comes right after.

She talks about how much she misses him, how proud she is of the letters he writes, and how she’s barely making it through her shifts while pregnant and exhausted. She’s counting down her last working days, and finally getting help in the OR — but it’s still hard to get out of bed.

The letter is warm, funny, and full of love — from her queasy mornings to her favorite word for sleep (seepy) to the way she signs off: “Be sweet — keep loving, and soon we’ll be loving, fucking, and sucking.”

—

If you’re enjoying Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love, please follow, rate the show, and share it with someone you love. You can also support the project or get bonus content at patreon.com/TheAllgoodsLove.

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 June 22, 1971, Dick Allgood hadn’t received any letters in three days—and it left him wondering if Sarah had forgotten to write. Of course, she hadn’t. But it speaks to how closely they watched the mailbag, how much those letters meant, and how deeply they missed each other.

This one is pure classic Dick: playful, possessive, deeply loving—and yes, very much an S.D. letter. His mind drifts to his “wittle chick-a-dee,” and let’s just say he hopes she’s saving a bundle of hugs and kisses—and a few more things—for his return.

He also hints that tomorrow’s letter will be longer and full of news, but this one? This one’s for the passion

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