Frankie moved into the Coronado cottage her mother had prepared and took Bette McGrath to medical appointments, managing Bette’s fear, vertigo, and speech difficulty with steady reassurance. At the hospital, Frankie read about POWs and remembered the League of Families; she phoned and learned there was a San Diego office. She visited the sparse storefront, met Rose Contreras, and, instead of giving only money, volunteered for the Letter-Writing Committee.

Letter-writing quickly became Frankie’s daily discipline. She wrote to politicians, journalists, and cultural figures urging action for POWs and MIAs, while intensively assisting Bette’s recovery at home and in therapy. The doctors were impressed with Bette’s progress, which Frankie and Connor attributed to Bette’s willpower. Frankie’s own mood stabilized, and she stayed in touch with Barb and Ethel by mail, accepting a quiet, date-free life.

By late June 1971, Frankie extended her activism beyond letters. At a Chula Vista shopping center table beneath a “Don’t Let Them Be Forgotten” banner and beside a bamboo mock cage, she joined Joan, a young Navy wife whose husband had been shot down in 1969 and held in Hoa Lo. They sold POW/MIA bracelets, wrote letters, and fielded the public’s questions and judgments, including an insult from an antiwar passerby and skepticism from a woman who compared POWs to Lt. Calley. Frankie kept her tone educational, persuading the woman to buy and wear a bracelet.

Henry Acevedo arrived with his nephew Arturo, who was set to enter the Naval Academy. Henry criticized military education, while Frankie encouraged pride in Arturo’s choice and urged support through bracelet purchases; Henry left a generous cash donation and hinted at seeing Frankie again. Joan teased Frankie about Henry’s interest, which Frankie deflected.

The chapter ended with a letter dated July 27, 1971, from Barb Johnson, who wrote from Captiva Island, Florida, announcing that she and Noah Ellsworth had eloped, promising celebrations later.