TROOPS TO GET GIFTS FROM VALLEY VETERANS COLLECT PACKAGES FOR OVERSEAS GIS.

Byline: Helen Gao Staff Writer

BURBANK - Thirty years after serving in the U.S. infantry on the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War, Marc Cutter still remembers how much it meant to him to receive packages from strangers.

``It meant a lot because it came from someone other than your mother, girlfriend or wife,'' he said. ``It's more special because it is a random act of kindness.''

Cutter, a general contractor and member of the Burbank Veterans Commemorative Committee, wants to do the same for U.S. troops serving oversees in the war against terrorism.

``If restaurants can adopt a piece of the highway to keep it clean, why can't we adopt a platoon?'' he said.

With support from the city and the veterans committee, Cutter has launched Hands Across the Battlefield, a campaign to collect snacks, toiletry, games, books, pens and writing tablets to send oversees.

``We would try to get it to the front line if possible,'' said Mickey DePalo, a city employee and another member of the veterans committee.

DePalo, who has known Cutter since fifth grade, also served in Vietnam, but as a military policeman. He, too, believes that troops in the war on terrorism will appreciate gifts in the way GIs in earlier wars enjoyed packages from the Cooperative for American Relief Everywhere - popularly called CARE packages.

``To get CARE packages from someone you don't know, but they are in total support of what you are doing, it meant a lot,'' DePalo said. ``Getting mail from home is a real morale booster.''

As Hands Across the Battlefield gets under way, Doris Vick, 79, is resurrecting Operation Cookie Lift, which she launched during the Vietnam War to send baked goods to oversees troops.

``We are going to try to get our first shipment out so they can get it for Valentine's Day,'' said Vick, who served as a dental hygienist in the military during World War II. She was in the Women Appointed for Volunteer Emergency Services, then the women's branch of the U.S. Navy.

Today she cherishes a copy of her published cookie recipe book, filled with thank-you notes from Vietnam soldiers and recipes given to her by others in Operation Cookie Lift.

Cutter was among the soldiers who received Vick's cookies packaged in movie-film cans, each the size of a dinner plate.

``It got to a point when my platoon saw a film tin, they all knew they were getting cookies and homemade candy,'' he said.

Vick is sticking with her trademark film tins, and so far she has collected about 500 from local studios.

A proud member of the San Fernando Valley WAVES No. 86 veterans group, Vick has rallied its members and other local organizations to help out.

``I've gotten great response this time. People want to know if they can bake cookies and what they can do,'' she said.

WAVES veterans are relying on a network of people they know to collect cookies. Because of concerns about tainted food, Vick said she has been told by the Department of Defense not to accept donations from strangers.

The veterans committee is stressing that snacks from other donors need to be prepackaged. The small prepackaged snacks should be put into resealable, plastic quart-size food bags for distribution.

The veterans committee has arranged for Camp Pendleton in San Diego County to forward the donated goods to soliders. Vick is relying on the Department of Defense to deliver her cookies to servicemen from local areas. She is asking people to submit names of those they know who are on duty abroad.

--Donations for Hands Across the Battlefield can be dropped off at Verdugo Park, 3201 W. Verdugo Ave.

DePalo, who is the donations coordinator, can be reached at [phone]. Monetary donations can be sent to: City of Burbank, Hands Across the Battlefield, P.O. Box 6459, Burbank, CA 91510.

Vick can be reached via e-mail at dorisvick(at)cs.com.

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Photo:

Vietnam veterans Marc Cutler, left, and Mickey DePalo are looking for prepackaged snacks, books, games and other gifts to send to U.S. troops overseas.

Phil McCarten/Staff Photographer