“I HOPE YOU’LL EXCUSE MY CONFIDENCE BUT I’M FAMILIAR WITH THE CNR SPIRIT AND I’M SURE THAT YOU WILL HELP US OUT…. THANK YOU, IN ADVANCE FROM A GRATEFUL GROUP OF MARINES.”
IN NOVEMBER of 1967, when I was a Senior at the College of New Rochelle, a letter arrived from First Lieutenant Kevin Brooks, US Marine Corps “C” Company. Lieutenant Brooks was asking the girls of CNR for help in brightening the holidays for his corps of Marines stationed near the DMZ by sending them cookies. It was addressed, “Dear Miss President…” Since I was the Student Body President, the school gave the letter to me.
Lieutenant Brooks was a graduate of Manhattan College (before it was co-ed, of course….) and remembered CNR fondly. He wrote:
That evening at dinner (attendance was mandatory, PLUS we had to dress up! ugh) and during the insufferable daily announcements, I told the school that the soldiers needed our help. I posted the letter on the Bulletin Board.
That night, girls lined up at the pay phones in the dorms to tell their parents and families about the letter. The next day they told their day hop friends. Somehow the word went out. Dozens and dozens of girls baked cookies, wrapped the boxes in Christmas wrapping paper, and mailed them to Vietnam to make Christmas a little brighter for the Marines in Lt. Brooks’ company of soldiers.
That night, girls lined up at the pay phones in the dorms to tell their parents and families about the letter. The next day they told their day hop friends. Somehow the word went out. Dozens and dozens of girls baked cookies, wrapped the boxes in Christmas wrapping paper, and mailed them to Vietnam to make Christmas a little brighter for the Marines in Lt. Brooks’ company of soldiers.
He sent me some pictures a few months later, but those were lost to time. But I saved Lieutenant Brooks’ letter all these years as a reminder that if you ask for help, people are almost always very happy to give it.
Read on if you want to see how this story ends…..
Read on if you want to see how this story ends…..
I came across his letter as I sorted through my CNR stuff for our 50th (what!) Reunion. I wondered if Lt. Brooks had survived the war. With some internet sleuthing, I found his name but nothing else.
So without having a clue of what I was doing, I sent my own “Dear Miss President” kind of letter out into the internet ether, asking for help at various military sites in finding out what happened to First Lieutenant Kevin Brooks, USMC, Vietnam.
A few days later, to my surprise, I received a reply from Captain David Mellon, USMCR. I told him the story, and he volunteered to ask around.
I don’t know how he did it, but eventually Captain Mellon found an address for Kevin Brooks. Probably an old one, we had no idea.
So with his old address in hand, I wrote to Lieutenant Brooks and enclosed a copy of his letter. I expressed my gratitude for his service and those of his men, and thanked him for reaching out to us in the middle of that war, knowing as I am sure he did of the anti-war sentiment felt on campuses all over the country. I told him I remembered the pictures he sent us later, and was sorry that I had lost them, because the pictures of those happy soldiers helped us all somehow that Christmas day.
“Feel free to write back or not,” I told him, “but I wanted you to know that you played an important part in many lives.”
I had no idea if Lt. Brooks was alive, if the letter would reach him even if he was, and/or if he would just throw away an unsolicited letter from an unknown pen pal in California.
So just in case, I wrote under my name and address, “Re: your letter to me of November, 1967.”
The weeks passed and I heard nothing. I assumed the letter was on its way back to me as undeliverable.
The night before I was leaving for New York, at midnight or so, my computer pinged as an email arrived. The email was from Colonel Kevin Brooks, US Marine Corps, Retired.
So without having a clue of what I was doing, I sent my own “Dear Miss President” kind of letter out into the internet ether, asking for help at various military sites in finding out what happened to First Lieutenant Kevin Brooks, USMC, Vietnam.
A few days later, to my surprise, I received a reply from Captain David Mellon, USMCR. I told him the story, and he volunteered to ask around.
I don’t know how he did it, but eventually Captain Mellon found an address for Kevin Brooks. Probably an old one, we had no idea.
So with his old address in hand, I wrote to Lieutenant Brooks and enclosed a copy of his letter. I expressed my gratitude for his service and those of his men, and thanked him for reaching out to us in the middle of that war, knowing as I am sure he did of the anti-war sentiment felt on campuses all over the country. I told him I remembered the pictures he sent us later, and was sorry that I had lost them, because the pictures of those happy soldiers helped us all somehow that Christmas day.
“Feel free to write back or not,” I told him, “but I wanted you to know that you played an important part in many lives.”
I had no idea if Lt. Brooks was alive, if the letter would reach him even if he was, and/or if he would just throw away an unsolicited letter from an unknown pen pal in California.
So just in case, I wrote under my name and address, “Re: your letter to me of November, 1967.”
The weeks passed and I heard nothing. I assumed the letter was on its way back to me as undeliverable.
The night before I was leaving for New York, at midnight or so, my computer pinged as an email arrived. The email was from Colonel Kevin Brooks, US Marine Corps, Retired.
Dear Adrienne,
WOW! Where to start? I wish I knew the name of your local Marine who was able to locate my current address because I owe him at least a beer, and probably more.
Your letter, which I only got ten minutes ago, was a stunning surprise, something that I couldn’t have imagined even in a dream. After 50 years, I never thought for a moment that anyone would even remember baking cookies for a bunch of hot, dirty, thirsty Marines when they probably could have been getting ready for finals or shopping for Christmas presents for their family and friends. Your letter put the entire event into a perspective that I could only imagine when all the packages arrived in December, 1967. Thank you for taking the time to write it, thank you for being so candid about the conflicts that I’m sure many felt about the war and, most importantly, thank you on behalf of everyone in Charley Company for doing what you and your classmates did to brighten our Christmas so enormously.
Saving a letter of no more than minor importance for more than 50 years certainly identifies you as a bit of a “pack rat” but I plead guilty to having the same issue. As evidence of that, here is a list of girls from CNR who, in 1968, were not only nice enough to bake cookies for us but also nice enough to include their name and address so that we could send a thank you note. (No Marine was given a package unless he promised to write to whomever sent it.)
Adrienne Larkin, Kathy Donahue, Aileen Wickham, Sharyn Gillespie, Maureen Hanley, Helene Lutz, Rory Carroll, Cathy Nugent, Mary Watson, Sue Geiger, Judy Mons (or Nions), Judy Laffey, Suzy Griffin, Barbara D’Addario, Cathy Novak, Mary Ellen O’Brien, Mimi Walger, Nan Baycick, Tina Gully, Florence Murphy, Angela Kepka, Barbara Dzivban, Jeanne Courter, Ginny Smith, Claire Colangelo, Barbara Farrell, Ruth Ellen Radico, Anne Hackett, Mary Anne Sadowski, Marguerite Crowley, Cathy Frank, Fran Kelleher and Cathleen Nugent. I’m sure that I’ve spelled some of the names incorrectly but since they were all written in a small notebook that I carried in my shirt pocket and which was routinely wet during the monsoon season, it’s pretty remarkable that I can read any of the names at all.
While your letter was, I repeat, a stunning surprise, the fact is that the surviving members of Charlie Company have been recalling the days of 1967 and 1968 just as you and your classmates have. We will be having a reunion in September … I decided to write a more exhaustive outline of the Christmas season, beginning with the very letter that you were kind enough to just send to me. … I’ve printed a few copies and I will mail one to you tomorrow together with copies of the pictures that you lost….
Thank you again, Adrienne, for your kindness and long memory. When I meet with my fellow Charlie Company Marines in September, I assure you that we will gratefully remember what you and your classmates did for us 50 years ago and toast your kindness.
Kevin
We have emailed back and forth since then, and I am sure one day we will meet and have a beer together.
The girls of the Class of 1968, always 21 (or younger) in spirit, have decided to honor our soldiers again by sending care packages this season to soldiers who are currently in uniform. Captain Mellon and one of our classmates have gotten us the information for soldiers who could use a kind word or a box of cookies. And some of us have sent soccer balls and such to immigrant kids who are being held at the border. Spirit of the ‘60s - the battle for justice is never done. We are stepping up again, in our small way.
The girls of the Class of 1968, always 21 (or younger) in spirit, have decided to honor our soldiers again by sending care packages this season to soldiers who are currently in uniform. Captain Mellon and one of our classmates have gotten us the information for soldiers who could use a kind word or a box of cookies. And some of us have sent soccer balls and such to immigrant kids who are being held at the border. Spirit of the ‘60s - the battle for justice is never done. We are stepping up again, in our small way.
And I say to Lieutenant Kevin Brooks and all the guys at Charlie Company on behalf of myself and my classmates: Thank you for reaching out to us all those years ago, thank you for believing we would step up and help despite the anguish so many felt about the war, and thank you for letting us be a small part of your Company’s story.
PS: The pictures he sent me, and his letter, are below.
PS: The pictures he sent me, and his letter, are below.
Corporal Ken Broadbent and 1st Lieutenant Kevin Brooks Near the DMZ, Vietnam, November 1967
Cookie Bakers from the Class of 1968
If you want to send care packages to our soldiers, here is a link to an Amazon list I created after talking to John Humphrey of the city of Laguna Niguel Military Support Committee.
Cookie Bakers and letters of support are wonderful: send them to:
City of Laguna Niguel
City of Laguna Niguel Military Support Committee
30111 Crown Valley Parkway
Laguna Niguel CA 92677
ATTN: Juana Laur
Cookie Bakers and letters of support are wonderful: send them to:
City of Laguna Niguel
City of Laguna Niguel Military Support Committee
30111 Crown Valley Parkway
Laguna Niguel CA 92677
ATTN: Juana Laur