[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 149 (2003), Part 18]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 25468]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                    WARTIME LETTERS A LIFETIME BOND

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                           HON. STEVE ISRAEL

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, October 21, 2003

  Mr. ISRAEL. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to share with my colleagues the 
touching story of Fred Amore, Commander of the Suffolk County Veterans 
of Foreign Wars and Dorothy Holland. Mrs. Holland and Commander Amore 
were pen-pals while he was serving in the Vietnam War. They remain 
close friends today.

                    Wartime Letters A Lifetime Bond


  detention officer, vietnam soldier have forged lasting relationship

                           (By Rob Morrison)

       When Fred Amore, Commander of Suffolk County Veterans of 
     Foreign Wars (VFW), looked into the crowd during the Cow 
     Harbor Day Parade last weekend, he was searching for the face 
     of a friend who has stood by him through years of war and 
     peace.
       As she does every year, Dorothy Holland, 75, of East 
     Northport stood along the parade route waiting to catch a 
     glimpse of Commander Amore, 55, also of East Northport, 
     marching along. Seeing him brought back many memories of her 
     years working for the Northport-East Northport School 
     District and the year-long period she and Commander Amore 
     were pen pals while he was serving in the Vietnam War.
       The two met in 1965. Mrs. Holland had just begun her tenure 
     at the old Northport High School building on Middleville Road 
     as the detention officer. It was during the spring of that 
     year when Commander Amore, then only a teenager, was given 
     detention for cutting class with his high school sweetheart.
       ``From that day on Fred and I were friends,'' Mrs. Holland 
     told The Observer during an interview in her home Tuesday.
       While the two remained friends, Commander Amore graduated 
     the next year, in 1966, and attended Suffolk Community 
     College. But in the spring of 1967 Commander Amore received 
     his draft notice. On June 13, 1967, he went into the United 
     States Army as an Infantryman. Before he left, she went to 
     all the boys ``who were leaving,'' Mrs. Holland said. ``I had 
     tears in my eyes and I said ``I will write to you but you 
     have to write to me.''
       Commander Amore returned home from boot camp for 
     Thanksgiving in 1967, then he left for Vietnam December 10 of 
     that year. That Christmas, knowing he would not have a tree 
     of his own, Mrs. Holland sent Commander Amore a photograph of 
     herself in front of her Christmas tree. It was not until 
     January 1968 that Commander Amore said he wrote his first 
     letter to Mrs. Holland.
       ``I remember saying to Walter, my husband, `Oh, he'll never 
     write,''' Mrs. Holland said.
       But Commander Amore said he became very homesick during his 
     time in Vietnam, especially during the holidays. Commander 
     Amore wrote as often as he could from his military post in 
     Soc Trang on the Me Kong Delta.
       ``He only said `I'm so lonely' and `It is a horrible 
     war,''' Mrs. Holland said. ``That's when I started getting 
     worried.''
       But her fears of the worst became stronger when she stopped 
     getting letters from him. It was February 1968 and Commander 
     Amore was in the thick of battle, attempting to hold off the 
     North Vietnamese during the Tet Offensive. Commander Amore 
     said the three-month ordeal mostly took place at night and 
     forced him and his fellow servicemen and women to live in 
     their foxholes.
       ``We knew it was coming,'' Commander Amore said. ``It was 
     all over the constantly being bombarded by mortar attacks. 
     The South Vietnamese military was supposed to be protecting 
     the base and the members of the 1st Aviation Battalion, of 
     which he was a part. When the North Vietnamese attacked, 
     however, the South Vietnamese dropped their weapons and fled, 
     leaving Commander Amore and his colleagues stranded. He had 
     been on base for 90 days and still did not have a weapon.
       ``I had to wait for someone to leave or die to get a 
     weapon,'' Commander Amore said.
       While many soldiers on base were killed during the 
     offensive, Commander Amore said all of the 25 men in his unit 
     survived.
       Commander Amore spent several months hoping he would live 
     to see his home again. In the meantime, Mrs. Holland waited 
     to hear news from Commander Amore and the rest of the 
     Northport High School graduates she knew were in Vietnam.
       ``My heart went out to all the boys,'' she said. ``The 
     stories were just horrible [in their letters]. They knew they 
     weren't accepted back home. That was the worst for them.''
       After coming out of Vietnam unscathed, Commander Amore was 
     disturbed to hear the negative public opinion of the Vietnam 
     War.
       ``I knew the feeling of the people before I left and I knew 
     the feeling when I came back,'' he said. ``I didn't want to 
     talk about it.''
       It was not until 1991 when Commander Amore decided to get 
     involved in veterans activities and build up pride for his 
     service during the war. He joined VFW Post 9263 in Elwood and 
     Commack. In June, he was appointed commander of the Suffolk 
     County VFW after serving as commander of his own post for 
     five years.
       ``I had no intention of joining the VFW when I got out,'' 
     he said. ``I didn't want any part of it for a lot of 
     reasons.''
       He always remembered, however, the letters of support that 
     Mrs. Holland wrote him. Despite the nationwide disdain for 
     the war, Mrs. Holland was a proud supporter of the boys who 
     left high school to fight in Vietnam.
       ``The letters would pick you up,'' Commander Amore said. 
     ``That would get you to the next mail call. I really figured 
     when I went into the service I wouldn't hear from her again. 
     She knew how to keep your morale up and keep you going.''
       ``While working at the high school I met the greatest 
     students,'' Mrs. Holland said. ``I haven't forgotten them and 
     they haven't forgotten me. That school was the happiest part 
     of my life.''

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