The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love

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In this letter, Dick Allgood gives us a Vietnam story we rarely hear — one built on love, small human moments, and unwavering devotion.

On his day off, he borrows a truck and takes a couple of sergeants to Long Binh Army Post — not to escape the war, but to scrounge some food to make life a little better for his crew. That night, after a barbecue and a quick visit to the club, he chooses to leave early — so he can come home and write to Sarah.

From his bed in a rain-soaked hooch, Dick reflects not on war or fear, but on how deeply he loves and misses his wife. He longs not just for her presence, but for their laughter, pet names, kisses, and the waves of joy they share when together.

This is not the Vietnam of movies or history books — this is love, lived across the miles, written by a man determined to keep it alive no matter where he is.

✨ You can follow The Allgoods: Vietnam Through the Eyes of Love and listen to all episodes at theallgoodslove.com — and on your favorite podcast platforms. If you enjoy it, please like, share, and subscribe!

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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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In this June 11, 1971 letter, Sarah writes to her husband, Dick — a rescue pilot flying missions in Vietnam — from San Antonio, where she is navigating life, work, and pregnancy while they are apart.

She shares a slice of daily life: taking a much-needed day off, trying to beat the Texas heat by the pool, playing cribbage, and passing time at the club. But beneath the surface, her longing for connection is palpable — missing her husband in every familiar moment.

Even after a long day and a few drinks, she is determined to write — sharing her love, her humor, and the ache of separation.

As I record this episode, I’m on a beach in Miami — the city where my parents raised me — here to honor my mother’s final wish to have her ashes spread at Elliott Key. The only way I’ve been able to keep this project moving on a daily basis is by recording these letters on the go — sometimes in less-than-perfect settings — because I want to honor their timeline and their story exactly as it unfolded.

Thank you for listening and walking this journey with me.

You can follow the project and learn more at: https://www.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

Send us Fan Mail

June 10, 1971. My father was flying with the HH-43 Pedro rescue team in Vietnam. My mother was an Air Force nurse stationed in Texas—eight weeks pregnant with me and counting the days until they could be together again.

In this letter, she writes after an exhausting day in the O.R., her body aching from long shifts and early pregnancy, her heart aching with longing.

She records a tape for my dad—warning that some parts are “rather personal”—and wonders how he’s holding up. Letters were their lifeline, connecting two young officers trying to build a family across the distance of war.

You can follow this project 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

Send us Fan Mail

In this June 10, 1971 letter from Vietnam, my dad—then flying rescue missions with the U.S. Air Force Pedro team—writes to my mom about R&R plans, tracks her pregnancy dates, and talks about how he’s passing the long hours on alert by reading pocket novels.

My dad loved to read all his life. In fact, one of the hardest parts of his final years was losing his sight when cancer spread to his eyes—taking away the books he’d always loved.

That loss is one of the reasons I started this podcast: so his words, and my mom’s, could still be read, heard, and remembered.

In this letter, as in so many others, he reminds her: “We have each other. We both know that this is the best love possible.”

Follow the full project 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

Send us Fan Mail

In this playful, passionate letter from June 9, 1971, my mom writes to my dad with longing and complete honesty.

She reassures him about her faithfulness, jokes about how things will be when they are finally together again — when she’ll be visibly pregnant with me — and reflects on how their love first began.

“How’s it going to be for you to make mad and passionate love to a very pregnant wife?” she asks him. “At any rate, you’d better get prepared — I’ll probably attack you.”

I love letters like this because they show how fully alive my parents’ love was — funny, physical, tender, and real. And even across the distance, they never stopped finding ways to connect.

You can follow along and see photos of these original letters 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

Send us Fan Mail

In this letter from June 9, 1971, my dad writes one of the most vulnerable and pivotal letters of his deployment.

He’s just been selected for a Regular commission — a path that would keep him in the Air Force for several more years, requiring more flying, more moves, and more time apart from my mom.

But instead of deciding alone, he turns to her with deep love and respect and asks: What kind of life do you want?

“Would you like a life in the Air Force and all the things that go with it,” he writes, “or would you be more happy on the outside?”

Beneath the career questions, this letter is ultimately about love, partnership, and longing. “You are the most important thing in my life,” he tells her. “I don’t want to be apart anymore.”

It’s a powerful window into how my parents made decisions together — even in the middle of a war — and how they built a marriage grounded in honesty and trust.

You can follow along and see photos of these original letters 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

Send us Fan Mail

In this short but deeply emotional letter from June 8, 1971, my mom writes to my dad after recording her very first tape to send him in Vietnam.

She’d waited for her tape recorder to arrive — and now that it has, she spends more than an hour trying to get her first message just right. Through tears, she tells him everything she’s feeling.

“I had to pause for tears so I could talk,” she writes.

This letter reminds me how hard they were both working to stay connected — not just through words on paper, but through their voices. Even exhausted and missing him terribly, my mom was determined to pour her heart into every way they could reach each other.

You can follow along and see photos of these original letters 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

Send us Fan Mail

“I Couldn’t Call — My Eyes Clouded with Tears” — June 8, 1971

Description:

This letter from June 8, 1971, left me in tears.

My dad, writing from Vietnam, finally tells my mom why he never called her from the airport before he deployed. He says it took him four tries just to address a card — because every time he tried, his eyes would swell up with tears and he couldn’t see.

“I know that I wouldn’t be able to talk,” he writes. “I just couldn’t.”

The rest of the letter is full of the ways they tried to stay connected through this long separation: playful longing, updates about their soon-to-be-born baby — me — and constant reassurances that his love for her was only growing.

It’s letters like this that remind me why I’m doing this project. Even across a war zone and half a world of distance, my parents loved each other with an honesty and tenderness that still moves me to this day.

You can follow along and see photos of these original letters 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

Send us Fan Mail

In this letter from June 7, 1971, my dad — writing from Vietnam — pours out his heart to my mom.

He talks about everyday things: bank accounts, sending money home, chatting with fellow airmen. But what really comes through is how much he loved her — and how excited he was about the baby they were expecting.

He calls her his “lover, wife, and mother of my baby.”

I’m reading these words more than fifty years later — as the child they were writing about — and it’s incredible to feel how real and alive their connection still is on these pages.

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 June 7, 1971. Today my mom, Sarah Allgood, writes with a light and playful tone, even while missing my dad deeply. She shares her day, a bit of gossip, her efforts to stay healthy for her pregnancy with me, and the simple ways she and her friends found comfort during these long months apart.

As their daughter reading this now, I’m struck again by how deliberately my parents kept their connection alive—through love, humor, and hope—while separated by a war.

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