Well, R&R was an adventure, but back to the boonies. “Dear Mom dad and Sue, Things have been relatively quiet so far where we are working. The date – May 26 – time 1730 hours (5:30pm). Today we got up, ate and moved out to the southeast paralleling an infiltration trail. The jungle was thick and movement slow. About 11:00am we stopped and set up a daytime ambush. About 2:30 we moved again another 200 meters to our night location. Our hole is dug and sleeping positions prepared. Now we’ll eat and get ready to bed down for the night. Artillery is marking our position. We set up on the same trail we’ve been following all day. We’re set up in ambush posture, what we call ‘trick or treat’.”
“May comes to an end and June approaches. One more day closer to Dec 1. I feel pretty good, but I hate to think I’ve got 6 more months here. I’ve made the 1st six and I guess I’ll make the 2nd six. The heat is almost unbearable. I can’t even guess at the temp, but it’s been a lot hotter lately than since I’ve been here in Vietnam.”
“The war rages on. Perhaps you’ve heard of the fight for Hamburger Hill in the Ashau Valley. It’s received much criticism back in the states apparently. But hills are always important and we couldn’t let the enemy have it. I believe the operation has been blown way out of proportion back in the states. Senator Kennedy even attacked the military strategy. Nixon defended it. Last night we killed 2 gooks and took 2 prisoners and got a pat on the back from our battalion commander. It’s the first time we’ve taken any prisoners since I’ve been here and it was rather a pathetic sight. One was wounded, but not too badly. I felt sorry for him. We’re due back in at the LZ in eleven days. I’m glad you heard from Peni. I haven’t heard from her since she left on her trip. I worry about her, but I’m sure it will be a good experience for her. It’s very hot again today.”
The reader has probably noticed that I didn’t follow paragraph rules (among others) in my letters, but I prefer to present them to you the way they are presented in the letters themselves. Although auto-correct does correct some spellings, I copy the content of the letters as it appears. My cursive is much more readable that it would be today at 74 years and 364 days. Yup, tomorrow I hit 75.
“For my 7 day leave I will either go to Bangkok or Hong Kong again – just have to wait and see – plenty of time to decide.” Actually I never did get that 7 day leave. That will be explained several months worth of letters down the road. “Steve ought to be home by the time you receive this. Tell him I’ll expect him to write more now that he doesn’t have to study. I haven’t heard from Rob in a long time. I’m kind of disappointed about that. Next time John Z comes to the house, throw him out because he doesn’t write either. That goes for Larry, too. Dean, you can admit. For all his long hair and what not, he did write about a month ago. The novelty of my being here wears off and friends no longer write. It seems the best friends I have are over here (Mouse, Rick and Ed) and my relatives.” Dean, Larry and I played in a high school rock and roll band called the Novas. It’s disappointing that these great high school friends have been out of my life for many years. And even the relationships I had with the three guys I mentioned that were Viet Nam buddies didn’t survive the war. I came home before they did and contact was lost. “Mrs. Parker continues to send packages. I will visit her when I come back and thank her for all she’s done. Jennifer has slowed down in corresponding and so has Brenda. Susan is still going strong. Except for the lack of interest by my friends, I feel fine. I’m in good physical shape, alert and ready. I’m quite confident that I will be seeing you all in December. I guess that’s about all I’ve got for now. Worry if you must, but have faith in me. I have faith in myself. Like you say, someday it will be over. But the memories, good and bad, will remain. Let’s see what the next 6 months will bring. Will Stephen be going back to school in the fall? I’ll drop in and see him there on my way home in December. Guess that’s it for now. Take care – I love and miss you all. Dave. PS: Oh yes – I’m still RTO, but I’m carrying a different weapon – a sawed of M-16 called a CAR 15. It looks a little like a sub machine gun.”
I have included a picture of Mouse, Ed and me in this post.
