A Heartache Across the World

The inspiration for this thINK assignment was a letter written in 1952, by a woman, named Louise Duquette, to her husband, Norman Duquette, who was overseas at the time. Louise's Letter



  Do you know what it's like to have a loved one in the military who's been sent to war? There's nothing like the feeling of wondering whether or not you'll ever speak to that person again. In the letter that Louise Duquette sent to her husband in 1952, Louise displayed affection and bittersweet feelings. It was evident that she, along with their two small children, missed their husband and father greatly; "...it is high time you are coming home because Jan is beginning to call every man she sees in a magazine 'Daddy'."
 
  Reading her letter reminded me of the multiple times I had to say goodbye to my father, a Staff Sergeant in the Air Force, who went on to become a U.S. Army Sniper. When you're young, it's not always easy to understand why Daddy isn't home with you, or why you only see him two, three times a year. How do you explain that to a child? I can completely relate with the little girl that was mentioned in the letter; when you're little and Daddy isn't near, you start to forget who he even is. I can't possibly imagine how Lieutenant Duquette felt when he read that his little girl was calling different men- that she didn't know- "daddy."

  Although serving in the military is a wonderful thing to do for your country, being left behind for months, and months, at a time is never easy. Thankfully, this story has a good ending.  Lieutenant Duquette was reunited with his family after spending a horrible 587 days as a North Korean prisoner of war. In the year 1998 he returned to Korea, to visit his son John, a Lieutenant Colonel in the army who was stationed in Seoul. Being a child left while a parent is at war isn't easy, but there can still be a happy ending, after all.