Happy birthday to me. I managed to write home on April 7th, nine days after the letter that I sent to Rob. Some of these letters are pretty mundane and may seem boring, so I can’t imagine how some of my hundreds of thousands of followers get through these. Kidding! I have no idea how many folks actually read these but as I stated on the first page, I’m doing this for me and my mental and emotional well being. Anyway here goes: “Received another package from you today with the Peaches, cookies, stationary, can opener in it. Also received a letter from Rob and a package containing some more film. It’s been a good birthday and one I’ll likely never forget. Also got a new pair of jungle boots which I needed badly.” Truth is I did forget that birthday and much more. I would also like to take this opportunity say that I never took pictures of the dead and wounded.
“There’s some old broad here at the LZ (we’re in for a 5 day breather). She’s running around in jungle boots and fatigues. Guess she’s a correspondent of some kind. All the toilets on the LZ are boxes placed over holes in the ground. Since she’s here we’ve been told to ‘use discretion’ when we decide that nature calls. Same goes for showers. They had to bring out a special assembly for her to use. LZ’s just aren’t made to accommodate lady visitors.”
“My bond. I believe it’s just one bond, but I’m not sure, although I thought it was supposed to be a bond a month. I’ll check on it next payday. I’m also planning on sending $20 more per month to you since I’ll be making more monthly now.” That was a result of the promotion to Spec 4.
“I guess I told you about Marty’s death. It’s a hard thing to live with. I’m glad the slides turned out all right. Just get a couple of more prints (3 or 4) made up of the best ones with me in them. Marty’s in some of those pictures. I’ll point him out when I come home”
“Neither Larry, John or Dean have written at all in the last month. But Dean’s mother’s letter arrived yesterday, and I got one from the Erickson’s today. I’ll try to answer both letters tomorrow – our last day on the LZ. Then we go out again. I believe all the pictures you have were taken at Phouc Vinh. I didn’t take any pictures at LZ Terry or LZ Rita. I’ll send the ones from here to you as soon as I finish them. Since it takes stamps to send them out, could you please send me some. I believe it costs 20 cents to send them out, but I’m not sure. But if you could send me about two dollars in air mail stamps, that would be plenty for this bunch of film I have now.” I have forgotten so much of this that I wish I had done this sooner. My mom died in 93 I think (my sister will correct me if I’m wrong), so that’s when I got the letters, I think. Memory is a fickle beast. Dean, Larry and John were some of my best friends from high school. I have lost contact with all of them except Sherm and Rodney.
Cookies again. “Cookies seem to arrive best in cans when they’re stacked and tied in baggies or something. Your brownies came through in perfect shape, but your sugar cookies, loose in the can, were all crumbled – but they were still good. No kidding – everyone here thinks your cooking is great, so your efforts are not going un-appreciated. We don’t see many animals here, but you can sure hear them at night. At LZ Rita we had rats. Where there is civilian population, there are always dogs and water buffalo. There are all sorts of flies, ants, mosquitoes, gnats, lizards and some birds. Down at LZ Terry we saw cranes and some sort of ducks when we were working near the river. And at LZ Rita we’d run into deer occasionally. And I believe it was at Phuoc Vinh where we heard monkeys a couple of times, but never saw any. There were also plenty of rabbits at LZ Terry. Rob mentioned going to Photo Journalism school in Missouri. Did he mention it to you? Said he tried National Geographic, but doubted he was accepted for a job. Guess it was one of those ‘Don’t call us, we’ll call you’ deals.”
“Thinking about being a cop again. There’s no doubt now that I’d make it if I tried this time. But I will finish school and possibly see how my education will affect my chances with a job in the PD in crime detection. Again this is speculation too far in the future. As for the 1st Cav and the NVA offensive in Tay Ninh province, I’m afraid I was very much a part of it. But now it seems to be fizzling. Rumors are that Nixon will have to do something by June. Funny thing is, no one back in the USA seems to support this war, but we’re still here. I don’t quite understand.”
Peni hasn’t been mentioned in awhile. Time for an update. “I hate to say it, but I don’t expect you to hear from Peni. My last letter to her was ‘Don’t call me, I’ll call you.’” It seems that as far as my relationship with the female gender was concerned, I was on an emotional roller coaster. I just have to remind myself that I was only 22. “She’s not ready for anyone special yet, so I’m not ready for her. She’ll have to grow up some so I mainly told her to forget about me before she could tell me to forget about her. No sweat though. I haven’t taken a spill yet and she can’t hurt me. No one can.” Lying to myself, right? “Marty’s death hurt me more than any girl ever could. Peni continues to write once in awhile and seems to have no concept of what’s going on here, or simply just doesn’t care. She shows less concern than anyone I write to. You show the most – possibly followed by Susan, who has remained quite faithful. She has also ended therapy. Her sanity may be risky, but it would be far less risky than Viet Nam. Again this is too far into the future to discuss in the present. Actually everything is, but it takes my mind of this funky war anyway.”
“Guess that’s it for now, love to all…..” This letter took a long time to reproduce here. For some reason my fingers were fumbling all over the keyboard. Not sure why. I wish I could remember some of what were in Peni’s letters, but I can’t, and that’s a sad thing. See ya next Monday, Feb 14.