Joe Rhodes

Fly It Home: Letters from Nam Joe Rhodes

This book, Fly It Home, is a biographical compilation about the year that I spent in the war in Viet Nam. It is drawn from many letters that I wrote home to my family. My mother always saved the letters that her sons wrote home from their duty stations and when I was reading some of them a while back, I decided to put them in monthly order and write my thoughts about the letters. The letters that I wrote home usually were specific about what was happening at my duty station. Some were about visiting with my brother, some were about working in the hanger and some were about the weather or the South China Sea. Some were even about the food that we had or about the sorties that our helicopters flew. Many were written about what I was looking forward to when my tour was over. Then there was one that I wrote about the day that my brother left Viet Nam and the lonely feeling that I had upon his departure. I believe that was the day of my transformation from boy to man. I remain thankful that both my brother and I were able to serve our country for a year each in a war zone and returned back home unimpaired. Many served and came back home. Many served and came back home in a box. Fifty eight thousand of them. Please remember their family's sacrifice. Thank you.