Let it be Kevin~

While Jerry Truhill was preparing for a
possible space flight, James Dowling was serving the U.S. army. He
fought in three wars, and not long ago his family remembered him
for StoryCorps, our project that records American
conversations.

James Dowling fought in WWII and in Korea. And
in 1966 he was sent to Vietnam for a one-year tour. His wife stayed
behind with 3 daughters in elementary school. Two of those
daughters, Ellen Hess and Eileen Tarr still remember when he
left.

The day that we put him on the plane at the
Pittsburgh Airport was one of the saddest days of my life. You were
so depressed about it. You couldnt even go back to school for the
afternoon. I went to school. The day went by and all I could think
about was Dad’s stepping on that plane to go to Vietnam. And I
cannot remember many days that when I, you know that, I didn’t
think about him and worry about him.

When papa hope was on. Mom, papa does in front
of the TV set, hoping we would see him and that we would be able to
say that dad looked OK. You know, I remember her loneliness about
being separated from Dad. And I remember when she made that chain
out of 365 safety pins. And everyday he was gone she would take a
safety pin off. When she first put it up it was on a lamp. Yeah, it
was a standing lamp. It actually was wrapped around it and there
was a pool on the floor. You know. I can remember watching the
chain with her and feeling excited as it was really getting
smaller. And they were like benchmarks or milestones like when it
no longer pooled or when it no longer wrapped. You know, and she
wrote him a letter everyday. And when she was done writing the
letter she would take the pin off the chain unless like it was your
birthday and you got to take the pin off or if something special
would happen at schools , she would like you take the pin off for
the chain. And she kept all those pins and just like she kept all
his letters from Vietnam until he returned.

Ellen Hess with her sister Eileen Tarr in
Richmond, Virginia. Their father James Dowling survived the Vietnam
War. And he was awarded the Bronze Star for bravery. This
StoryCorps interview will be archived with all the others in the
Library of Congress and you can subscribe to the StoryCorps
Podcastby going to NPR.org.