Veteran finally meets woman who wrote him Christmas card in 1970 that he says helped him through Vietnam
A Vietnam War veteran credits a sixth-grader’s class assignment in helping him survive through the war.
Since 1970, John Metzler, who was 23 when he served as an Army helicopter sniper, has kept a letter from a little girl that arrived on Christmas Day. “Dear Serviceman,” the letter read in part, “I want to give my sincere thanks for going over to war to fight for us. The class hopes you will be able to come home.” It was signed by DonnaCaye.
“When you got up in the morning, you always wondered whether you would see the sun go down at night,” Metzler told CBS News. That letter, which could have gone to anyone serving, felt personal. The girl was thanking him.
“Fact is, I think it means more today than it did when I got it,” Metzler told the news outlet about the letter, which he keeps tucked behind a photo of himself during the war in his Idaho home.
That little girl is DonnaCaye Ludemann Sica of Florida, and she remembers writing the letter. “I was amazed that I could have the opportunity to write to a serviceman and maybe make his life a little simpler for a couple of minutes.”
Metzler asked his family if it was possible for them to find the woman. They fibbed, saying they couldn’t, when in reality, Sica was going to fly from Florida to Idaho to thank the veteran in person for his service.
When they met, face-to-face for the first time, Metzler could only say, “You’re real.”
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