Sara and Vera Bond Over Their Husbands' Love Letters From the Korean War

About Tori Thurmond

Tori Thurmond combines her creative writing background with her marketing experience in her role as the Content Specialist at Brookdale. When she's not writing, she's probably spending time with her two cats or knitting.

Is there anything more romantic than a love letter? We don’t think so, especially when it’s a love letter sent thousands of miles from a solider fighting over seas to the woman he loves back at home.

Vera Thames, a Brookdale resident, kept the love letters her husband, O. Hayward Thames sent her during his time spent serving in the Korean War. One day Vera’s son, Allan Thames, discovered the box of letters that his mother and father wrote to each other during the Korean War. Realizing how special this correspondence was, he decided to have the letters printed in a book, Your Ever Loving Solider Boy: Korean War Love Letters. The collection of over 200 letters details Thames’ journey to Korea, how he filled his downtime, and how he won over the woman he loved.

After the book was completed, Allan Thames donated a copy to the library in the Brookdale community where his mother lives. One day, Sara Campbell, another Brookdale resident at the same community, pulled the book from the shelf and instantly became enamored with the book’s contents. She had also exchanged many letters with her husband during the same war during the same years. Campbell said that she would go to the library every day and read a few more of the Thames’ love letters. She told others about the book because she related to the letters in Your Ever Loving Boy in a way that many others would not. Campbell decided that she wanted to meet the people in the book without realizing Vera Thames lived in the same community as her.

After a tearful meeting, the two woman formed an amazing bond fueled by a shared experience. Vera Thames noted the similarities in the wonderful letters their significant others sent her and Campbell during their time away. Thames and Campbell both understood what it felt like to be away from someone they loved.

Thames and Campbell’s story shows that we’re living in a small world after all. Watch this amazing story of love and friendship from Sara Campbell and Vera and Allen Thames.