VENTURA : Pen-Pal Service for U.S. Forces Is Busy

Ventura resident Grace Baskin has about 800 letters piled on her dining room table and more in boxes on the floor.

In the last three weeks, Baskin has gotten more than 2,000 pieces of mail from all over the country, which she has been forwarding to troops stationed in the Middle East.

Baskin, 43, is the founder of the U.S. Forces Letters Brigade, a pen-pal service matching civilians with overseas military personnel. She founded the service three years ago, after rereading some of her own correspondence with a high school friend who was killed in Vietnam. The project began in a period of relative military calm, as Baskin’s way to remind overseas service people that they are not forgotten in peacetime.

Since the Middle East crisis began, Baskin has been in the news and has received mail from all over the country, including parcels of letters from elementary school children. So many letters have arrived that Baskin has been shipping them overseas in huge bundles, with no attempt made to match up civilians and service people. “We’ve been overwhelmed,” she said.

There are about 450 names on Baskin’s list of people stateside who want to become regular correspondents with a service person. But Baskin has the names of only about 250 service people with which to pair them, although she continues to advertise in military papers.

“I really would like to reach more of the troops,” she said.

Several parents who have been unable to contact their sons and daughters have sent frantic letters in care of the Letters Brigade. However, Baskin cannot send mail to individual service people who haven’t contacted her. “I hated to do it, but I had to send them back,” she said. “This is not a matchmaking service. Some of these girls go into detail about how good-looking they are.”

Baskin handles the letters with help from her husband, her sister and her two children.

Those wishing to send a letter or to add a service person’s name to Baskin’s list of potential pen pals may write to the U.S. Forces Letters Brigade, P.O. Box 4961, Ventura 93007.