Letter from Thomas (Jerry) Marshall to Jean

Mail call. Those two words pulled sailors’ thoughts away from the toils of life on board a U.S. Navy warship. Each precious envelope, carrying a few pages of handwritten notes, transported sailors away from the ship and back to their lives at home.

During the Vietnam War, crew members on board the aircraft carrier Intrepid shared their experiences with their families through letters such as this one. The author, Thomas (Jerry) Marshall, was a journalist second class. As part of his work, he drafted news releases for use on the ship and to send to hometown newspapers. His correspondence was particularly detailed and his writing more evocative than the average sailor. In this letter to his girlfriend, Marshall describes the loss of one of the ship’s pilots, LeGrande “Lee” Cole, during a bombing mission over North Vietnam.