An Army Captain’s Legacy with Nancy Lynch

Journalist Nancy E. Lynch, author and publisher of the award-winning social history, Vietnam Mailbag, Voices From the War: 1968-1972, returns to Lima Public Library at 4 p.m. May 21 to share an extraordinary war story.

The return after 45 years of a charred military driver’s license of a helicopter pilot shot down in Vietnam to the daughter who never knew her father involves incredible twists and turns and, in the end, the honorable actions and decades-long perseverance of a Florida veteran and a South Vietnamese soldier.

The saga started with a war letter Lynch received in 1968.

Her program is sponsored by the library at 1872 Genesee St., Lima, NY. After her presentation, she will be available to autograph and personalize her book at $40. A companion DVD sells for $10.

Lynch, whose maternal grandparents lived in Canandaigua, has presented her salute to Vietnam veterans in the Finger Lakes since 2009, visiting the area for two weeks each May and October to increase awareness of our troops’ service and many sacrifices. She has written six other books and lives in Bethel, Del.

Her 456-page book features nearly 1,000 war letters and hundreds of pictures her popular newspaper column, Nancy’s Vietnam Mailbag, received from our troops on the frontlines during the last five years of the contentious war while she was a reporter for The News Journal papers in Wilmington, DE.

Her unique column afforded our servicemen a rare opportunity to let those at home know where they stood on issues ranging from the war to the weather and is believed to be the only war correspondence column of its kind in the country.

In her final column in December 1972, Lynch promised “her guys” she would someday put all their letters and pictures in a book to honor them and Vietnam veterans throughout the country. Vietnam Mailbag fulfills her pledge and in 2009 won Independent Publisher’s gold medal for Best Non-Fiction in the Mid-Atlantic.