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Pen Pals Ned Felder and Kris Feeney. [Photo: South Carolina State University]
Episode 2663 of the Vietnam Veteran News Podcast will feature a story about how Vietnam Vet Ned Felder met up with a pen pal he corresponded with 56 years while in Vietnam. The featured story appeared on the People.com website and was titled: Vietnam Veteran and Decades-Old Pen Pal Meet for First Time: ‘It’s Unbelievable’ Ned Felder and Kris Feeney met for the first time in November, 56 years after first corresponding during the Vietnam War. The story was submitted by Anna Lazarus Caplan. She has over 20 years of experience working as a journalist, with a focus on lifestyle and features stories.
In her story Caplan reports that: An Army captain in the Vietnam War and a young girl from Michigan struck up an unlikely relationship 56 years ago as pen pals — and now they’ve finally met! Ned Felder received 13-year-old Kristina Olson’s care package almost by accident in 1967, when the teen reached out to “any soldier” fighting in the war as part of a Camp Fire Girls project.
Time went by and Olson and Felder continued to correspond, with the serviceman sending his pen pal birthday cards, a book about Vietnam and even a doll that was inscribed with their names.
Kristina said this about Ned Felder, “He made me want to be a better person, which is the best thing I can say about anyone. I like to be around people who make me want to be the best person I can be.”
Ned Felder said this about their unexpected connection: “There was no requirement to do what we did at all, and it’s real. There was a feeling of wonder, and even today, it just exceeds that feeling.”
Listen to Episode 2663 and discover more about how Vietnam Vet Ned Felder met up with a pen pal he corresponded with 56 years while in Vietnam.
