Oddly enough, the most powerful letter in the entirety of HBO’s Dear America: Letters Home From Vietnam was neither from a Vietnam veteran nor composed during the 1960s. It was the final letter in the film, likely for effect, and was from a mother written to her late son commemorating the 15th anniversary of his death. In this heart-wrenching piece, the distraught mother recalls a conversation she shared with Jim, another veteran who served with her son William during the last four months of his life. Mrs. Stocks writes about the memories Jim shared with her, that her son was “the most happy-go-lucky kid in the world” and that their jobs “were like sitting ducks”. In its second half, the letter discusses another phone conversation with a mother
