The year was 1967. We landed at Cam Ranh Bay, Vietnam, a deep-water port situated on a peninsula of sand housing 50,000 men – and a few women – tasked to receive and move 98% of all the supplies required to support the 500,000+ men in the field.

In early January, Hearth & Home faxed a survey to 2,500 specialty retailers of hearth, patio, and barbecue products, asking them to compare December 2019 sales to December 2018. The accompanying charts and selected comments are from the 216 usable returns.