The song played on the concept of a Dear John letter while referencing the United States' involvement in the Korean War.
When "A Dear John Letter" topped the Billboard country charts, Shepard — at 19 years, nine months — became the youngest female artist to that point to have a no.
The song was released as "Käre John" in Sweden/Scandinavia by Swedish jazz vocalist Alice Babs and Charlie Norman and their Reeperbahn Stompers in the 1950s.
The lyrics in Czech were mostly about the same situation with a key difference: the girl simply states her love to soldier is waning, there is no mention about another man.
Later on (recorded in 1970) Grossmann sung a parody with Miloslav Šimek speaking the text, this time about two philatelists - one losing interest in stamps and the other losing his collection due to draught (unable to read the letter to the end because of the accident, similar as the soldier never learns about the point of the letter in the serious version).
Between 1972 and 1974, the song was covered by Singapore-based female singer Ervinna, backing music by the Charlie & His Boys, on her LP album Golden Hits of 20th Century Vol.
In this parody, John tries to say his "I was overseas in battle" dialogue, but Marsha's humorous interruptions force him to change his accent a little bit.