Presented by Capital Dental Group
This week we are bringing back SP/5 Barry Bongberg, a Vietnam veteran from Shafter and the author of, Dear Mom & Dad: Letters Home from Vietnam.
Proceeds from his book help Links for Life in honor of his daughter, Erica. “Erica fought a vigilant battle with breast cancer for over four years,” explains Bongberg in the first edition of his book. “Her absence has left a huge hole in my soul. Yet, it was her encouragement that brought this project to life.”
Today Bongberg and host, Shannon MacNeil, talk about stories within the book and the release of his second book, an expanded edition of Dear Mom & Dad: Letters Home from Vietnam 1967-1969. He also shares how cathartic is was writing the letters back then, and the new emotions that came about when he put the book together.
“For over 50 years, a box sat unopened and collecting dust in Barry Bongberg’s closet. Painstakingly preserved by his mother five decades earlier, the box contained nearly 300 letters home during his time in Vietnam. In 2020, Barry opened the box.
Six months after his graduation from high school in California, Barry Bongberg was one of 2.2 million men drafted into the Vietnam War between the years of 1964 and 1973. His letters home to his parents span the entirety of his service and take the reader on a rollercoaster of emotions through his tour — the fear, the hopes and dreams, the romantic interests at home and abroad, and the loss of his comrades.”
