Army veteran Ron Cavello of Norristown had a one-of-a-kind meeting with pen pals from his hometown who sent him letters while he was serving in Vietnam half a century ago, writes Beccah Hendrickson for 6ABC.

“I kept them,” Cavello said of the letters. “I put them up in my attic.”

At that time, Patricia Gallagher worked at the old St. Paul school in Norristown, a mile from where Cavello grew up. She prompted her students to start writing letters to the soldiers, and he was one of the recipients.

“Their parents told me that they waited at the mailbox every day after school to see if they were going to get a soldier letter,” recalled Gallagher.

Five decades later, one of the students who wrote to him, Mary Ann Campo, recognized the veteran’s name on a list of co-workers at the USPS and decided to reach out to him.

They contacted Gallagher and the trio met up for the first time. It was a special moment for each of them as they read the old letters and caught up on what has happened since.

Read more about Ron Cavello at 6ABC by clicking here.