In 1966, while the United States had half a million troops overseas, a young army medic stationed in Vietnam and an elementary school student in New York began a lasting friendship through correspondence that would finally bring them face-to-face 45 years later.

Lizzie Ivory sent a Christmas card addressed “to a soldier” as a part of a Girl Scouts project.

Nine thousand miles away, Chuck Pusateri’s sergeant handed his soldiers Christmas cards from their young supporters and urged them to reply.

“It was a nice card and for a class project, so I decided write back,” Pusateri told ABCNews.com.

Ivory was the only child to receive a response.

Overjoyed, she sent her new friend a small box of Girl Scout cookies. He reciprocated by sending her a Vietnamese doll.

It was the start of a friendship in which the two would share their lives on paper for 45 years.

“I saw pictures of her in her wedding dress, of her kids,” Pusateri said. “We sent each other little gifts and stuff at Christmas, too. I really watched her grow up.”

When Ivory, who now lives in Florida, said she was going to be near her old friend’s Parkland, Wash., home, the two arranged to finally meet in person.

“I was scared to death to meet her,” said Pusateri, now 73.  “I was completely shaking.”

But the nerves dissipated as soon as the two sat down to chat over a lunch that lasted five hours.

“It was a great afternoon,” Pusateri said. “You named it, we talked about it.”

Ivory left today to return home to Florida and could not immediately be reached for comment.

If this meeting was any indication, it won’t be the last the two see of each other.

“I’d really like to make a trip to Florida,” Pusateri said. “We’ll see.”