Her soldier didn’t remember the letter, but Joan MacDicken never forgot sending it 36 years ago.
It went “To Any Soldier” in Vietnam in 1970, from a Camp Fire troop, with encouraging words and a package of goodies. Robert Alan Horton received the little girl’s note.
He wrote back:
“Dear Joan, I can’t thank you enough for the nice gifts you sent me this Christmas. Just knowing there are people like you back in the world that care has made my Christmas a whole lot merrier. My name is Robert Horton and I’m from Houston, Texas. My middle name is Alan and that’s what my friends call me. My birthday was Dec. 6 and I was 20. I’m engaged to a 17-year-old girl back in Houston and we plan to be married when I get home. I’ve only been in Vietnam now for three months so I’m still called a newbee by the other guys. I’ll be going home next Oct. 19 and will get out of the Army at that same time. Right now I’m at a small base located near the town of Vinh Phuc. I’m in the artillery and I’m an artillery mechanic. I work on the big guns and sometimes help out on the trucks and smaller vehicles. Well, Joan, I guess I’ve told you just about everything about myself so I’ll be saying Merry Christmas to you and best of luck to you and your family. Your friend in Vietnam, Alan.”
That was the end of the correspondence. The girl tucked the note into her hope chest. MacDicken lives in the home she grew up in in Snohomish with a very special husband, Cliff.
Her family often heard the story of the letter.
Knowing how much the soldier meant to his wife, Cliff MacDicken aimed to find the gentleman. “He checked the list of names on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Phew, no Robert Alan Horton. He found a Web site dedicated to finding veterans, but none of the suggested “Hortons” called him back.
He didn’t tell his wife about the search, to keep it a surprise, and to shield her if her soldier was dead. Eventually, he made a call to the right home in Texas.
“I thought he was just another con artist or salesman calling at dinner time,” Horton said, “But unlike the others, he left a message mentioning Vietnam and the letter. I had no memory of writing that letter to Joan, but when Cliff read it to me, there was no doubt it came from me.”
He sent Joan MacDicken a second letter: “It’s been 36 years and 3½ months since I wrote you last. This is no joke. Your husband, Cliff, who must really love you a bunch, contacted me and reminded me of the letter I sent you from Vietnam on Dec. 25, 1970. Cliff said you’ve been married 28 yeas and have two fine sons. I married the girl I mentioned in my first letter to you on June 23, 1973, and we’re still together. I have a married daughter, 26, and a son, 21, who is in his third year at Oklahoma University. Obviously I made it back from Vietnam in good condition and I praise God for that. I’ve had a good life up until now and I hope you have, too. Again, it appears you have a husband who truly cares for you. Best wishes to you and your family, Joan, and thanks again for that first letter!”
Joan MacDicken got the mail, opened the letter and started sobbing.
“She called me and I could hardly understand what she was saying,” her husband said. “She was crying a lot.”
Her soldier was drafted into the army and sent to artillery training. He landed in Vietnam on Oct. 7, 1970.
“The daily routine for an artilleryman is typically just hard work,” he said. “Prep rounds all day and shoot-em-up at night. I don’t remember ever getting a full night’s sleep. Fire missions came at all times and in all weather.”
He said he thanks the Lord for delivering him back home in one piece, but often thinks about six friends who didn’t make it back.”
A few weeks ago, Horton happened to be going to LaConner and said he would visit the MacDicken home. Joan MacDicken made lasagna, and waited for a knock at the door.
The soldier arrived, saying he had a date with a 10-year-old girl.
“I had to give him a hug, right off the bat,” Joan MacDicken said. “I bawled when he got there, when I got the letter, when he left.”
Conversation flowed for hours. Come to find out, the engineer’s son, Jonathan, could be a member of the U.S. Olympic gymnastics team next summer in Beijing, China.
“He made the Olympic trials as a high school senior and received a full scholarship to the University of Oklahoma,” Horton said. “He has already broken all of Bart Conner’s NCAA records with this year still to go.”
Jonathan Horton, 21, led the United States team to a fourth-place finish at the September world championships in Stuttgart, Germany, and finished one out of the medals in the individual all-around.
The MacDicken family will follow the young man’s exploits, Joan MacDicken said.
Her family is invited to the Horton home in Texas.
She said they would love to pay a visit.
“I was enthralled with him,” Joan MacDicken said. “I couldn’t have picked anyone nicer.”
Joan MacDicken has excellent taste in soldiers and husbands.
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451; oharran@heraldnet.com.
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