By Lee Cataluna
Advertiser Columnist

Terry Feavel carefully saved the three letters he received in Christmas 1965. This Christmas, he decided, it was time to write back.

Terry was 21 years old in 1965, a Marine stationed on the front line in Vietnam. The letters came from three fourth-graders at Pearl City Highlands Elementary school. They were addressed not to him specifically, but to "Mr. Marine" and "Mr. Marine in Vietnam." But that didn't matter much. To Terry, they were precious.

"Over there, the one thing you look forward to is mail. I mean, you can't get enough of it," Terry says. "Back home, I only had my mom and dad and my sister write to me. When I got those letters from those girls, it was such a joy."

Lynne Matsuo wrote to a Marine in Vietnam in 1965. Decades later, the letter found her at her workplace.

"I am writing this letter to thank you for serving our country in Vietnam. Whenever I hear about the war, I am very glad that we have men like you."

Another wrote: "I know you people are hard working men. You fight as hard as you can but I know it is not easy."

The third letter included this little gem: "If you think the teacher corrected this, she didn't. She told us to think of our own thoughts so I am doing it right now ... P.S. Have a merry Christmas!"

Terry sent the letters to his parents in Wisconsin for safekeeping. It rained all the time where he was, he remembers, and he didn't want them to get ruined.

"To tell you the truth," he says, "I don't even know if I wrote back to them or not. I really don't. It was kind of hard having letter-writing gear to start with, because it rained all the time and so we couldn't keep letter-writing gear dry."

Terry's father died last year, and when he went to his father's house to sort through the things he left behind, Terry found the three letters saved in a box. He said he never forgot what those letters meant to him all those years ago. He decided to try to find the three students from Hawai'i and thank them for their kindness.

In December, Terry wrote three Christmas cards — one to Pamela Shingaki, one to Wendy Miyama and one to Lynne Matsuo. He sent the cards to Pearl City Highlands Elementary with a cover letter, hoping the school would be able to locate the girls — now grown women, of course — through some sort of alumni directory.

No luck.

The school sent the letters back, with a suggestion to contact the newspaper for help in his search.

At the end of December, Terry wrote to The Advertiser. He explained his search and sent along the original letters, now yellowed with age, and a self-addressed stamped envelope so he could get them back. He wrote, "If you could return these to me, I will be grateful. They are real treasures to me."

Internet and telephone directory searches turned up nothing on the three names. The girls were 9 years old in 1965 and very likely had married, changed their names and moved away.

The Hawai'i State Teachers Association helped look for the teacher mentioned in both Lynne's and Pamela's letters, Mrs. Yoshishige. The name didn't turn up on any of their lists of active or retired teachers.

One of the letters had a home address written in careful script in the right margin. Turns out Wendy Miyama's parents still live in that house.

It just so happened that Wendy, who now works in the business

office of a medical facility, was visiting her parents when I called. She got on the phone, listened with hesitation to the story of the letter she wrote so long ago, and burst out laughing to hear her words read back to her. "Oh gosh, I can't believe this. That's amazing! And to think, that was so long ago."

But then, Wendy had some amazing information of her own. She knew where to find one of the other girls.

"Lynne Matsuo? Wait now, Lynne works with you at the paper. She's Lynne Chang."

Lynne, an Advertiser copy editor, came in early to work when she heard.

"Oh, my goodness! I get chicken skin!"

She looked at the letter that had traveled from Pearl City all the way to the front line in Vietnam, to Wisconsin and then back into her hands at her workplace 37 years later.

"I wish I could tell you I remember writing that letter, but I don't. But I do remember my teacher, Mrs. Yoshishige. She was awesome. It would be so like her to assign something like that."

Neither Wendy nor Lynne knows how to reach Pamela Shingaki, so that piece of the puzzle is still missing. But Terry Feavel will now be able to send two of those Christmas cards, a bit belated, but no less sincere.

"In the cards, I thanked them for their letters," he says. "They probably don't remember, but I explained I was the one they wrote to. I never forgot about them. Those letters are priceless."

Lee Cataluna's column runs Tuesdays, Fridays and Sundays. Reach her at 535-8172 or lcataluna@honoluluadvertiser.com.