Readers Remember

I left high school in my second year to enter the World War II work force. I became a war service temp in the New York postal system.

My job at a long wooden table was to repair boxes of baked goods, candy, assorted gifts that were sent to military personnel all over the world and broken in transit. These packages never had reached the addressees because those men had been killed in action. After rewrapping the packages, I would take a large rubber stamp and mark each one with the word DECEASED in red letters. Hundreds of these packages passed through my hands each day to be returned to sender.

A gut-wrenching experience for a kid.

MARTY LEVINE

Huntington Beach

My first memories of a news event that affected me in a larger way are of a girl who appeared to be my age running naked from a fire in Vietnam, depicted on the cover of Newsweek magazine in the early 1970s. It was the first time I realized that my losing my Barbie lunch pail at school was not the world’s biggest tragedy.

CINDY DIAZ-DONOVAN

Phillips Ranch

What do you recall most about the 20th century? In 200 words or less, send us your memories, comments or eyewitness accounts. We will publish as many as we can on this page until the end of the year. Write to Century, Los Angeles Times, Times Mirror Square, Los Angeles, CA 90053, or e-mail century@latimes.com. We regret we cannot acknowledge individual submissions. Letters may be edited for space.