“Dear mom, dad, Steve, and Sue, Time to write and let you know I’m ok. I realize my letters don’t come as often as you’d like them to come, and like dad says, ‘no news is good news.’ Remember the conditions I’m writing under. I can only write in the daytime when we are not moving and it is not raining. And as far as Brenda goes, I did answer her last letter, but apparently the letter didn’t make it. After all, this is a combat zone and the letters don’t always get through. Quite often they don’t. I’ll be writing to Brenda again as soon as possible. If I don’t have a chance while we’re out here looking for gooks, I’ll get a letter off to her while we’re in the LZ eight days form now.”
“The LZ got hit last night and the night before – a violation of the cease fire called for Budda’s birthday. Ourselves, we made contact twice in the last three days – 10 wounded, nobody seriously. And I got to fire my new weapon, a CAR-15. It’s merely a sawed off version of the M-16, but if fires much faster on full automatic. We’ve been lucky so far. We make contact, withdraw almost immediately after and let artillery and air strikes take over. Today we’re going back to where we made contact yesterday to check out the area.”
Honestly, would you rather I didn’t tell you what happens out here? Some guys folks think their sons are in the rear areas. The guys lie in their letters so their parents won’t worry. I figure you can take it.” Six months in and I finally ask if they want to hear this stuff. Read on. “Grey hairs are minor. I suspect I’m getting them, too. After all, I’m the one over here. But in 5 months, 3 weeks, and 6 days – I’ll be on my way home again.”
“Aunt Louise and Gram are very faithful letter writers – at least once a week I hear from them both. Aunt Louise’s letters are a riot and I really enjoy them.”
“I’m sorry I can’t agree with you about Steve’s hair. When I come home I’ll try to explain my position better, and moustaches? You can’t get much more masculine than a moustache. Most of the guys that grow them over here shave them before they go home – and of the ones who do have the guts to wear them home, most of them shave them off shortly after they get home.” I wonder how I knew that. I don’t remember getting letters from guys after they went home. Clairvoyant I guess. “Me? Well, we’ll see. I shaved mine off in Hong Kong, but am growing it again.”
“Did Rob see my pictures while he was home? You didn’t mention that in your letter. And you also said he’d be working for dad this summer. I thought he didn’t get out of the Marines until Sept.”
“Sue, I got your letter and I thank you very much for it. I want to see you get up on one ski this summer. Maybe pretty soon you’ll be better than I am.” I don’t think she took to water skiing like I did. I’ll ask her when I see her in a few days. She’s coming to Texas to help me get through hip replacement surgery.”
“Steve, you really let me down when you didn’t get Marylin’s address for me. I won’t forget that!” Good grief, not only did I forget that, I’ve forgotten who Marylin was (or is). “To be honest with you, when I finally left Fort Polk, Louisiana she seemed more concerned about me being in the army and the possibility of Vietnam.” It’s fascinating to me that I was bothered by this because I’ve not mentioned Marylin in any of the previous letters. “Like I said about John and Larry, I don’t want ‘em around. Mom will say, ‘I’ll entertain whom I please.’ But remember, these guys are supposed to be my friends. And I have exactly one letter from each in the 6 months that I’ve been here. Dean has come across twice. If they were over here, I bet they’d be crying for mail, too. I’m beginning to think I don’t have a male friend back there at all. I haven’t even heard from Ray in almost a month. Just thinking about those creeps makes me angry, back there enjoying themselves, drinking, going out with girls, soft beds (beds period!) and nobody shooting at them. Ah what a rough life they lead.” Wow! Harsh, Davey boy (dad called me Davey). First of all, I was the only one of my friends stupid enough to get myself drafted. It almost makes me wonder if they read this letter. I’m not in contact with any of them today. And although I have sought them out, there has been no response from any of those listed. We all went our separate ways, and that is sad. In hindsight it was selfish of me to begrudge them their lives. I know that Ray (if he is still alive) was last seen in the Dallas area. Evidently he is (was) a pastor of a church and got into some financial difficulty with same. Atta boy, Ray!
“Well, I think I’ve rambled on enough here so I’ll sign off here. Take care everyone, Love Dave” If you haven’t figured it out by now, I think you get how important male was to not just me, but most of us. The next letter is from June 10th. That’s quite a gap between the two letters.