Torrence penned a thankful reply for the young lieutenant’s frank and thoughtful words. Torrence’s letter is still with the collection, marked ‘Returned to Sender.’ Shortly after writing, Menninger had been killed in a helicopter crash. Appended to the file is a copy of another letter written to Torrence by one of Ed’s classmates who had heard about Menninger’s contribution to the Adventure Board. ‘I would ask,’ he wrote, ‘that you send me a copy of that letter for use in a eulogy for him. I feel that this was the way Ed would have wanted it, and at last he is at peace.’ Torrence dutifully complied.

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Major Torrence later deployed to Vietnam, where he earned a reputation as a savvy and fearless fighter. He promised to add his own contributions to the Adventure Board when the pace slowed down enough to permit him a chance to pen something thoughtful. Among his acquaintances was the legendary John Paul Vann. Torrence is even mentioned by Neil Sheehan in his biography of Vann, A Bright Shining Lie: John Paul Vann and America in Vietnam.

On May 18, 1971, James Torrence died in Vietnam, also killed in a helicopter crash. Torrence was buried in the cemetery at West Point, resting not far from many for whom the History Department’s project represented the last adventure. Among them was 2nd Lt. Frank A. Rybicki, Jr., a graduate of West Point’s class of 1966. Frank’s letter was typical of those written back to the academy, the thoughts of a young officer eager to do a good job, to prove himself. On May 9, 1967, while serving with the 9th Infantry Division, he was killed by the accidental discharge of a weapon. Frank was a popular cadet, and his death deeply affected both his fellow students and the faculty at the academy. Rick Atkinson recounted the moment in his best-selling saga of West Point and Vietnam, The Long Gray Line. Rybicki’s funeral was one of the academy’s darkest days.

Despite the increasing unpopularity of the war, the work of the Adventure Board carried on until the project was discontinued in 1971. Then the letters were boxed up and consigned to the History Department storeroom, where they were all but forgotten. In the late 1980s the department’s cartographer, Edward Krasnoborski, mentioned the Adventure Board project to a young captain on the faculty. Krasnoborski, who had served for decades as West Point’s official military map maker, often recounted stories to the junior professors, including stories about the Adventure Board, which he had helped mount, adding maps and displays to illustrate the letters. A subsequent search for the letters was unsuccessful.

Apparently in a recent frenzy of housecleaning, the boxes had been inadvertently sent to the dumpster and would have been lost if not for the efforts of a longtime member of the department, Colonel Scott Dillard. Dillard had a well-earned reputation as the faculty pack rat. His office was so cluttered with books and papers that it led to one of the junior faculty coining a new verb: to ‘dillardize,’ which meant to obscure a thing beyond all recognition. Dillard had spied the boxes in a trash heap and thought the cases wrapped in yellowing tape and marked ‘Vietnam letters’ might contain something interesting. He tossed them behind his desk. Later, in a chance conversation, he mentioned his discovery. Buried beneath a tall stack of books was the complete collection, an invaluable treasure trove of more than 100 letters, a snapshot account of officer experiences in Vietnam from 1966 to 1971.

What is most remarkable about the collection is how the story it tells diverges from the common perception of the American military officer in Vietnam. Popular culture recalls an officer corps in crisis, filled with self-serving professionals who wanted a quick combat credit to advance their careers, or inept leaders who spent their time counting the days until the end of their tours. That image hardly squares with the West Point Vietnam letters. Absent as well is any discussion of drug abuse, racism, fraggings, war crimes or other morale problems and moral conflicts.

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