Well, my friends, it’s almost closing time. I’m down to my last three letters. This one is from Nov 14th. When I pulled it out of the envelop I noticed that on the back of the last page I drew a large peace sign taking up the whole page. Under it I wrote, “PEACE – What’s that?” Not sure why I did that, maybe the letter will explain, So without further adieu, let the games begin.
“Dear Mom, dad, Rob and Sue, Tay Ninh Nov 14
You better be sitting down for this. Would you believe strike 3 and you’re out! Positive falciparum malaria smear. What can I say? If this letter sounds and looks funny, it’s because my temp is 104.2. Here I go again. Well, this time the doc says I’ll get out of here. I’m glad about that, but I won’t believe it until I’m on the plane headed for Japan or home. What happens then, I have no idea. Maybe they’ll cure it in time, maybe not. I hope they do and it won’t affect my DEROS.” I forget the what the actual letters stand for, but DEROS is basically my date of departure. “But I just don’t know the answers. Right now I’m at the 15th Med. Bn at Tay Ninh. Tomorrow I’ll be medivaced to Cu Chi – and from there, I have no idea. I doubt that I’ll get any more mail while I’m over here unless they hold me over DEROS (Dec 2nd). There’s a lot of junk going through my mind and I’d be lying if I say I’m not scared. I’m tired of malaria and I don’t want it to follow me all my life. Do me a favor, please – look up falciparum malaria for me in the encyclopedia. I want to know what the hell I’m getting into. The doctors don’t tell me much. I ask too many questions. The army stinks and I blame them for this whole mess. I suppose its partially my fault, but I won’t accept all the blame. I’ll explain that when I get home.” Actually, it was all my fault. To avoid malaria, all I had to do was continue to take the orange pill like I was supposed to. I took the smaller white one, but stopped taking the bigger orange one. “
“I don’t know what to tell Peni. I suppose I really love the girl – I couldn’t be her burden for the rest of my life. But maybe fate has intervened here. The November gook offensive is due to begin anytime. Some rocket rounds hit the airport today, did some damage. The whole base is on red alert. A Company and B Company made enemy contact last night. B Company had 10 wounded. They made contact again this morning and one GI was killed.
“I’ll be at the 12th Evac Hospital in Cu Chi.That’s the only thing I’m certain of right now. Crazy, huh! Well, I’ll try to write every other day or so, but it depends on how I feel. It depends on how I feel. I’ll keep you posted. And when I do finally reach either Japan or the states – I’ll give you a call. I still expect to be home early in December. But only these crummy butchers they call doctors know for sure. ‘Keep the faith, baby.’ I’ll see you all soon. Love to all, Dave. PS. I did receive the Bronze Star, but I left it with the company rear for safe keeping. I imagine they’ll forward all my junk to me.”
I remember spending my last three months in and out of hospitals and the enjoyable stay at Cam Ranh Bay. What I don’t remember is sequence of when I was where. I don’t remember going back to Cu Chi. I think that’s where they took me when I was medivaced from the field and where I received an ice bath to bring down my temperature from that first 105.6 reading. My letters indicated otherwise and that’s ok. I’ll also remind you that when I was in the field I was with A company. Had I not gotten malaria, I would have eventually become the RTO for the Company commander. Two more letters. See you next Monday. Would you like another picture? Sure you would.
This is RTO I replaced when he got wounded and the other guy was our medic. Can't remember their names
