European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 23, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Mechanics gave Crista Ball a shopping list of items she needed for car  Chi. Peter Wagner takes a a a mechanics a Coffee  Manfred Wimmer says that by helping americans he has Learned a lot of English words for Auto parts. Happiness Ismail any Soldier letters started in Vietnam by Janet Howells Tierney Washington Bureau if not for a Lone Soldier sweating it out in Vietnam. More than 20 years ago . Troops in the persian Gulf today might not be getting mail addressed to Quot any . David Rice an army Supply clerk in 1967, saw plenty of lonely gis in his travels each Day among the american front line troops in  the private first class heard that syndicated columnist Abigail Van Buren was asking service members to write and Tell her readers what they wanted most for the upcoming Holiday season Rice decided to do just that. A a a a a a a a a a a. A a. A a Quot dear Abby Quot he wrote Quot for Christmas i d like to see. Some smiles on the faces of lots of my buddies Over Here. Quot they Don t get any mail. If any of your readers from 15 to 80 have a 5-cent stamp and time on their hands please have them write to any lonely Soldier in care of me and i la see that he gets   a letter appeared in the column and began an Avalanche of packages and letters however at first the mail bags were stalled by a military regulation that a allowed Only mail addressed to specific individuals to be delivered to deployed units. A the regulation was enacted to protect soldiers during world War ii from receiving Anonymous letters or packages from War protesters. In one reported Case gis were sent cans of dog food and called animals for. Fighting in the War. However when a California congressman took Rice s request to the Pentagon officials decided to reverse the policy. A a consequently the army Supply clerk was buried under a flood of 195,000 letters and 19,000 packages before he left Vietnam. Quot we would go through the mail sacks with flashlights each night to be sure there was t any personal mail Quot Rice remembers. Then during Normal Supply runs Rice handed out the letters and. Packages to company mail clerks who gave. Them to any troops who were left out of mail Call. The contents of the packages were often similar to what troops in the persian Gulf have been getting such As soap toothbrushes cookies peanuts and to shirts. Apparently the military s fears that anti War protesters would use the mail to express their views was unfounded. Quot one woman did Send some dog biscuits with a letter a Rice said. Quot she saw some Skinny dogs on television and David Rice left passing out letters to a Soldier in Vietnam in 1.67. Wondered if we could feed . Some items sent to the gis in Vietnam did t make the. Trip Well. A. A a a a a a a a a Quot we got some Hickory farms gift packages that were a Slimy mess after 30 Days on a ship Quot Rice said. Quot after that the military insisted on installing walk in refrigerators for perishable . One strange item that made the journey intact was a live Christmas tree with water in an enclosed stand he a said a. ,. I \ schoolchildren sent essays and Valentines Complete with melting chocolate and a steady Stream of newspapers and magazines flowed in Rice said. Quot the mail was always passed around a lot Quot he said. Quot sometime a company of 120 Guys would have intervals when they got no mail and that a when the any Soldier mail was most  r three gis became pen pals with some College students who wrote Anonymous letters and eventually they married he said. When Rice left Vietnam in May 1968, no one know what to do with the incoming Quot any service member Quot mail and eventually letters  packages continued Rice returned to Vietnam for another year Long tour of duty in 1973, and was immediately made a mail clerk by a commander who remembered him from his. First assignment. The number of Quot any service member Quot letters never reached the Levels he processed in 1967 and packages Only trickled in he said. After More than 10 years of service Rice left the army in 1978. Today the father of three is a scheduling clerk for a veterans Hospital in Elsmere del., his Hometown. Quot i be written some letters to the troops in saudi Quot Rice said. Quot ill always remember How Happy those letters made everyone . David Rice with his Wietman scrapbook. Cd 23, 1991 the stars and stripes a Page 15