VETS TO GET SPECIAL VALENTINES; THIRD-GRADERS SENDING LETTERS OF GRATITUDE TO VA HOSPITALS.

Byline: Stacy Brown Daily News Staff Writer

One of the most touching letters teacher Sandy Halverson has seen came from a young Vietnamese immigrant who said she had much to be grateful for and wanted to relay her love to the veterans ``who saved my country.''

Halverson, of Valencia Valley School, barely contains her emotions when she reads that letter from one of her third-graders last year.

``I am proud of you because you saved my country and I know some of you have no legs and arms. I hope you feel better because my grandpa and grandma died (during the war) and I am still sad,'' wrote Dan Nguyen, now 9.

Halverson repeated the exercise this year, having her third-graders respond to advice columnist Ann Landers' call for valentine greetings to Vietnam War veterans. She thought it was a good idea and saw the opportunity to further educate her students on the controversial war.

``We talked about how nobody really wins in war, and I also read a book about the memorial Vietnam Veterans Wall, and the students were also able to share stories about relatives who participated in the war,'' she said.

For several years Landers has asked her readers, specifically teachers, to honor veterans on Valentine's Day.

Jesse Brown, the secretary of veterans affairs, said more than 1 million cards and letters for veterans at 172 Veterans Administration hospitals across the country have been received.

``With some 61,000 brave men and women hospitalized on any given day, that was more than 20 valentines for each veteran,'' Brown said.

In one letter, signed ``by a kid who cares for you,'' a third-grader wrote, ``I hope you're OK, thanks for saving our world and (although) I don't have anyone in my family that fought with your people, I still respect you all.''

Halverson said the children would sometimes get emotional when writing the letters. ``Some of them were deeply touched, especially the little boy who wrote he couldn't spell that well but it came from the heart,'' she said.

That letter was written by Hannes Bartels, who recently emigrated from Germany. ``Thank you for saving our country,'' he wrote. ``I am 9 years old and have blond hair. I came from Germany and I hope you can read my letter because I don't know all the words . . . but I hope you get well.''

Halverson said the letters will be given to a school service group, Club MARC - Mad About Rising Crime - which will deliver them to VA hospitals in Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Brown told Landers how touching it was to see how young children brightened the lives of hospitalized veterans with their colorful valentines.

``Cards came in every shape and size and were made with baseball cards, stickers, colored doilies, crayons and markers,'' Brown said.

As the students - such as Mary Hubert and Jaime Dubin, who both expressed the hope to do ``something for you'' - continue to send their best wishes to the veterans, Halverson said she plans to continue the letter-writing tradition with her classes each year.

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PHOTO (Color in SAC Edition only) Students in Sandy Halverson's third-grade class at Valencia Valley School in Valencia will send valentines to hospitalized veterans of the Vietnam War this weekend.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News