War effects everyone differently. Some carry physical scars, others mental scars, some just carry that weight, every single day.

What an incredibly moving letter this is from American soldier Richard Luttrell.

“For twenty-two years I have carried your picture in my wallet. I was only eighteen years old that day that we faced one another on that trail in Chu Lai, Vietnam. Why you did not take my life I’ll never know… Forgive me for taking your life, I was reacting just the way I was trained.”

Lutterall was just doing his job but he had a lifetime with the consequences. The photograph carried for twenty-two years tells us something vital: the war did not end when the fighting stopped.

In March 2000, Luttrell travelled to Vietnam to meet with the daughter of the man he met on the trail in Chu Lai.

At Sophie’s Great War Tours, our work is about keeping these stories alive, not to glorify war, but to understand it, and to honour those who carried its weight long after the guns fell silent.

The picture and more amazing stories can be found here: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/warletters-letters/