I’ts really quiet around my apartment complex right now. It actually feels like Memorial Day. Last year I picked up my trumpet, practiced a little bit and joined all those who responded to the CBS appeal to play Taps at 6:00. Doing it this year, I’m not (a little Yoda speak there). I’m doing my blog instead, the letter from June 22, out in the boonies.
“Dear Mom, dad, Steve, and Sue” Have you noticed that I often capitaize “mom,” but never “dad”? Hhmm. Anyway, “How goes it at home base? The war rages on and the 9th infantry goes home. You’re not going to like this, but the fact is the problem exists and I need your help. Enclosed is a reminder bill from Natraj’s Tailors in Hong Kong. I bought almost $400 worth of clothing there on credit and now I’ve got to pay them. Since I can’t get hold of that much money out here in the field, I’m going to ask you to take care of it from my allotment I send home. I’m not asking you for money. I’m asking you to use my money to pay this bill for me. Every time you send them a money order, they will send you some of the stuff I ordered. The tailor shop is reputable and the quality of material is very good. I’m enclosing the bill with this letter. If you can’t take care of it from there, send the bill back to me and I’ll find a way to do it from here. It’s not necessary to pay the whole thing at once, but if you’ve been saving my allotment checks you should have almost enough to pay a good part of it – and show them I am acting in good faith. I’ll write them a letter and explain how I’m doing this.
“Ok, so enclosed is the bill. If you do it in partial payments, they’ll send you the clothes (your address – I’ve already taken care of that) equivalent to how much money you send. Also important is your size. Please send them your size so they can make up that dress and coat for you. I’ve already selected the material and design. General opinion is that $396 for all the stuff I’ve got is a good price if the quality is good. And since I selected all the material and I’ve seen their work, I think I’ll be satisfied and you also.”
It’s hard to believe I’ve devoted so much of this letter to clothes (mostly suits which I no longer have and rarely wore when I did have them), but to not include this ultimately boring letter on my blog would be doing you and myself a disservice. When all is said and done this “event” was still part of my journey. I remember the suits, but I don’t remember my mom ever talking about the dress and coat. Methinks she may have cancelled that part of the order. But wait! There’s more!
“Well, the LZ has been quiet these last two nights and B-52 strikes have been blown in suspected areas. We’re going out today on a bomb damage assessment to check out these strikes. We’re due back in at the LZ in 5 days. It’s starting to rain and I want to get this off, so I’ll sign off here. Take care, see you in about 5 months, Love Dave.”
In an unlikely sequence of events, I have been re-united with one of my friends mentioned in several of my letters. While the saga of Peni and Susan continues, the reader may remember me mentioning and writing to Jennifer. Through my brother Rob, I have estabished contact with her. She appears to be happily married, with several children and is living on the west coast. To my amazement, she saved my letters to her, letters that I wrote before and during Viet Nam. She told me that she has re-read those letters, made observations and comments and has sent them to me. I haven’t read them yet, and haven’t decided if, how or when I will include them into my blog. These letters obviously mean’t something to Jennifer, enough for her to save them. I can’t believe she allowed me to have them.
The next letter is from June 25 and it contains more about Max. And I seem to be in a mood when I wrote it. I usually read a couple of lines in the next letter to see where it’s taking me. See ya next Monday, June 6.
Hello, John Robert Maxson was my uncle. While I was going up i knew he had been killed in Vietnam and was I always curious about his time there but My family rarely talked about Vietnam because I guess it was too painful. I have read all of your letters and blogposts and greatly appreciate your insights and honest accounts of your experiences. I look forward to your next posting.
Hi Brian,
Thanks for your kind comments about my blog. As you probably know, the first time I read these letters is when I post them. Had I done this years ago, I could have found your family a long time ago. I didn’t because I didn’t want to go there again. My therapist suggested I do this for my own mental health, and it has been a really positive experience for me. John, me and a couple of other guys played a lot of cards in our spare time, and had plenty of bullshit sessions, learning about each others lives before Viet Nam. He was a really good friend. I found a couple more pictures with John in them. I will put them in Monday’s blog and will probably submit them to the Wall of Faces website.