Today is Sunday. I had my elbow operated on Friday to help with ulnar nerve neuropathy. So far, no significant difference. But I seem to be able to type a little faster, so time will tell. The letter of September 15 finds me still in the hospital, so let’s pick it up there.
“Dear mom, dad & Sue, Sept 15
Still sitting here in the hosp. The malaria is gone, but a fever remains. I’ve been here 10 days now. I’ve also got some ring worm, so I may be here longer than I expected. They forwarded some of my mail here from the company, so yesterday I got a letter from you dated Sept 1, and now I have 77 days to go.
“That Wash.-Detroit game you mentioned was shown on the tube here yesterday – station AFVN out of Siagon – which is where I am by the way. I believe I told you Long Binh in my first letter, but I was wrong. The 3rd Field Hospital is located in Siagon about a block from the French and German embassies. I was glad to hear the Cowboys beat the Jets. I imagine the Jets say it’s because Namath wasn’t playing, but Morton and Bob Hayes weren’t playing for Dallas either. This year will be the year of the Cowboys, even without Meredith. I noticed that TCU has a bugger of a schedule this year. The first 3 games pit them against Perdue, Ohio St (No 1 in nation) and Arkansas (also rated in the top 10). I see a bad year for the Frogs. Texas is in the top 10 and SMU is a possible break through. I wish I could be there to see some of the games – but college football will be over when I get home, except for the Bowl games. But hockey and basketball seasons will be in full swing. Maybe I can get into the Garden with Rob and Steve to catch a few games. I think it would be nice if you and dad would come too.
“I expect to be home about the 8th or 9th of Dec. I don’t know about going to Canada to see Peni – she hasn’t written lately. But I do want to stop off in Texas for a few days to see Steve, Ray and Susan. If my last pay voucher is correct, I’ll only be coming home with about ½ of what I said I would. It doesn’t really matter though. It would be nice to save something. But it’s not that important. I don’t expect any difficulty in finding a job, perhaps not on the Cape. And remember – I still will have 5 ½ months to do in the army. And as a Sgt – E5, I’ll do ok. It will probably cost some heavy bread to stay in Texas for those few days, but I should get a pretty good travel allowance from the army depending on where they station me. If they dared to station me at Ft Lewis, I believe I would commit murder. That is the only place in the country that I would really hate to be. I figure I’ll have about 40-50 days in the field and rumor has it we’re going back to LZ Ike, so those 40-50 days will undoubtedly be the longest days of my tour. Ike has been hit two or three times in the last month. For all I know the company may have already moved. I don’t know if they are still in Phuoc Vinh or not. Last year there was a lull during Oct. & Nov. So let’s hope for another one. The gooks are supposedly enjoying a Fall offensive right now. I’m sure glad they resumed the B-52 strikes. They’re beautiful. Remind me when I get home to tell you about defoliation. It’s amazing what that does. If Rob still plans on meeting me at Ft Lewis, tell him that’s fine, but I still plan to go to Texas for a few days, and he’s welcome to come.
“Oh yeah! I meant to tell you there is no ‘Mc’ I front of Hopkinson. You foxtrot uniformed (army talk). Sorry Dale’s leg is bothering him. Viet Nam has hurt a lot of people for life. Yes, I remember Jannice – a real hot ticket. Wouldn’t mind seeing her again someday. I hope Dick Sassone will be home for Christmas. We could get together and tell war stories. Sure glad he made it ok.
“The First Team magazine comes out once a month – free of charge to every Skytrooper. We’re called Skytroopers. Isn’t that exciting?
“Wrong – on Australia. It’s very inexpensive to go there. Cheaper than Thailand or Bangkok, but it’s very difficult to get there on stand by, which is what I’ll be flying on my leave. I could fly full fare and get a reserved seat, but I’m not about to do that. Standby to Bangkok should be no problem, and this time I’ll try to get some pictures. This time I’m going to get a polaroid. If Rob still wants me to pick up a Nikon he’ll have to send me the money as I won’t have enough to spare to pick it up.
“If Sue reads this, she won’t like it, but I’ve always said that – spare the rod, spoil the child – and you have succeeded marvelously. I got hit and when I deserved it, I learned from it.” What a crock this last statement was. I never said that spare the rod bullshit and when I was “hit”, all it did was make me angrier. “When I didn’t deserve it – naturally I became apathetic. And I still say I didn’t deserve it all the time. I used to get the switch merely for fighting with Steve, or breaking a window or some foolish thing like that. When I got it for disrespect – I deserved it, and I don’t believe that I was as ever disrespectful to you or dad as Susan is. And dad, I don’t see how you can stand by and let Sue be as disrespectful to mom as she is. Ok, she’s a girl. I think the whole problem lies there. That fact that she is the only girl in an all boy family. I’m sorry Susan, but you are a spoiled brat – and someday I hope you will appreciate mom & dad. I did, too late perhaps, but maybe I can still make up for it in some way. And Sue, mom and dad are both a lot smarter than you think they are. When they so ‘No” that you can’t go out with a certain boy, they have their reasons, and I’m sure they are good ones. You know very little about boys and how devious and rotten they can be. Believe me, if mom and dad say you can’t go out with a certain guy, it’s because they know that trouble will result. Remember, mom and dad raised three sons – all different and they know what boys are like. You’ve got to trust their judgment and take their advice. I didn’t – and look where I am. I had to learn the hard way, but I’ve learned. Enough of that garbage I’ve got 78 days left and anything can happen. One more thing – now I hope you will stop comparing me to Sue. I never even tried beer until I was 17 and didn’t start drinking it until my second semester at TCU.
“I hope the Abbots can come down again while I’m home. Why don’t you invite them for me? I’ll try to answer your questions now, but I am in the hospital. As far as I know our Battalion is still at Phuoc Vinh. Our company runs patrols near suspected rocket and mortar positions outside of Phouc Vinh proper and we rarely see any of the civilian population. Sometimes we get lucky and pull a mission near one of the villages, but it’s rare. We work from 2-6 miles out. I’m still a radio operator. I carry a 26 pound radio on my back. I’ve been recommended for RTO for the Company commander. I don’t know if being in the hospital will change that or not. But if it doesn’t, I’ll be his RTO by the end of the month. I’ll be senior RTO in the company in early Oct. Guess that’s it for now. Take Care, Love to all, Dave.”
Well, that was one of my longest letters. Everything from my fever and ringworm to reprimanding my sister, and sports, and some army stuff thrown in for good measure. I only Dick Sassone one more time, and that was at a high school reunion years later. We did not talk war stories. I don’t remember who Jannice was at all and the Abbots were family friends whom I really liked. Dale Hopkinson was the boyfriend of a girl I used to like. One of those summer loves. She remained a friend for years and married Dale, who I thought had a screw loose. I never did become Company RTO. And never went back to Ft Lewis. All I remember about Ft Lewis was that it was cold and wet. That was in 1968. We left from there to go to Viet Nam. I never got that Nikon for my brother either. In the next letter, I am still in the rear, but I don’t know where. I’ll just have to go with that. There is no date on the letter, but I think I wrote it about 10 days later. Hopefully it will be available late next Monday. See ya later!
I’ve just read you have 77 days to go. I’ve always liked the numbers from 11 to 99 that are divisible by 11! After reading that you’re down to 77 days, I scrolled to the bottom of the entry to write my reaction, and, wow, was taken aback by the picture of your youthful face! –handsome youthful face!
All of your advice to Susan was good advice, but given that you told her she was “a spoiled brat,” I doubt she took anything you said to heart! Obviously, she hasn’t held any grudges against you because she’s helpful in your present life!