The Christian Science Monitor

Military wives fought to bring their husbands home from Vietnam

As the wife of a Navy officer in the 1950s, Sybil Stockdale had her own guidebook. It was called "The Navy Wife," and within its dog-eared pages it contained all the rules and regulations a woman like Sybil was supposed to need. There were etiquette guides to writing thank you notes and leaving calling cards, information about shrimp forks and dessert spoons, and admonitions about how to help advance the career and morale of one’s husband – and thus, the guidebook concluded, the security and effectiveness of the United States military.

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