A Christmas card sent to John Melzer by a young girl helped him get through the Vietnam War, according to the veteran of the United States Armed Forces.

On Christmas Day in 1970, John was given the letter, which read in part, ‘Dear Serviceman, I want to send my sincere thanks for going over to war to fight for us.

The students in the class are hoping you’ll be able to return home soon. The war was extremely difficult for John, who was 23 years old and serving as an Army helicopter sniper at the time.

‘When you woke up in the morning, you always wondered if you’d see the sun set at night,’ John explained. ‘When I woke up, I wondered if I’d see the sun set at night.’

Despite the fact that John did not know the girl who had sent him the card, he was moved by it.

John stated that he believes the item now holds more meaning for him than it did when he first received it.

He went on to say that this was because she had expressed gratitude for it.

The letter’s signature ‘DonnaCaye’ was John’s only clue as to who the letter’s author was.

John didn’t know who had written the letter. After a number of years, John was able to locate DonnaCaye Ludemann Sica and express his gratitude to her in person.

‘I recall writing the letter,’ she said, and I quote: ‘I was astounded that I could have the opportunity.’

‘To write to a serviceman and possibly make his life a little bit easier for a couple of minutes,’ explains the author. ‘It blows my mind that I have this opportunity.’

People all over the world who use social media have expressed how moved they were by their reunion.

‘Words have the power to save lives. Ask them what their service was like in addition to honoring servicemen and servicewomen, as well as the families (spouses) who made sacrifices,’ one user commented.

Another person added, ‘There are so many sad people out there that you have to remember to give a good word to somebody. It could very well be the only thing that helps them make it through another day!’