As I mentioned in the last letter there was a disconnect with the pages. Here’s why. At some point after Sept 2nd and before Sept 6th I was medivaced from the field with malaria. The letter I am reproducing here says it is the second of two. I can’t find letter one unless it was the last one posted. So I’ll go with what I have and what I remember. I was digging a foxhole with one of my buddies, Ed I think, when I collapsed. From there everything is hazy. I remember an ice bath to bring my temperature down, but am not sure where that was. I will pick up with the letter.
“Dear mom & dad, Sept 6
As you have guessed from the envelopes of these two letters, I’m in a hospital at Long Binh.” I could have sworn from my memory that I was in a hospital in Cu Chi. We’ll just have to wait to see how the letters go. “I guess a female mosquito got sore at me, bit me, and gave me falciparum malaria. There are supposedly 3 types. The other two, one never entirely recovers from. This one, if not discovered in time, can kill, but I’m happy (not very happy though) to report the doc says I should be out of here in 10 days and will probably be humping the boonies in about 15 days.
“As you also probably guessed from the envelopes, I made sergeant. I feel pretty good about that. More money and less hassle when I join up again with the stateside army. This malaria will not get me a discharge.
“Also, as I’m sure you know, Ho Chi Minh died. The irony is that all this stuff happened on the same day. It was a day of firsts. First letter from Susan since the letter foul up. She forgives me – or rather apologizes herself for flying off the handle. Advantages of this hospital: 1. jungle rot is clearing up. 2. Crotch rot is clearing up. 3. Athletes foot is better. 4. Soft bed with sheets and blanket. 5. 3 good meals a day. 6. Plenty of sleep. 7. Hot showers.
“The fringe benefits include American nurses (some are quite nice looking). Our night nurse is from Brockton and knows Tom Alger, Dave’s brother.” My brother Rob was friends with Dave Alger at TCU. “Red Cross girls – American and Australian come in in the mornings and serve coffee. In the afternoon more girls – and these are beautiful – come around and play games with us. Yesterday a sharp chick got three of us into a Monopoly game – she was the banker. I started to get pretty weak and couldn’t finish the game. I feel weak all the time, but I’m not bedridden even though it takes a lot out of me to get up and move around. The guy next to me also with malaria seems worse than me. He only gets up to go to the latrine. He also gets sick to his stomach – which I don’t. I mostly feel weak. I get headaches, my neck muscles bother me if I’m up too long. And at night I generally alternate between high fever and chills. Would you believe that when I was medivaced from the field my temp was 105.6? Now it hangs around 102. This you won’t believe. I have to keep a count in cubic centimeters of my liquid input. That’s everything I drink, and I’m supposed to drink a glass of liquid every hour. The clincher is that I also have to keep track in the same way of my ‘liquid output.’ All this is recorded on a chart. For what reason – I have no idea.
“I got a letter from Dean. He seems to dig his chick and that’s cool. I’m happy for them both. Don’t bother to write me here since I’ll only be here for another 8 days or so. I’ll write again soon. Love Dave. Please don’t worry as I’m a lot better off here than where I was. Long Binh is only 10-15 miles from Siagon.”
I have absolutely no memory of my stay in the hospital in Long Binh. So for those who are still following my journey, we will discover my bout with malaria together. I think I do remember that we took several pills to prevent malaria. The big orange one was to prevent falciparum malaria. If I remember correctly, that pill gave me diarrhea so I quit taking it. Thus the angry female mosquito. Sen loi me dow. I don’t think I spelled that Vietnamese phrase correctly, but we used it to simply mean “it is what it is.” The difference mentioned about the envelopes was that they were air mail envelopes that I must have gotten in the hospital. Some of you may remember them. They had a red white and blue fringe around them. I think the next letter is from the same hospital, but I put the return address as my unit instead of the 3rd Field Hospital.The next letter is also a short one.
Oh yeah, I mean’t to tell you about Dean. He was one of my best friends in high school. We played hockey together and had a little garage band (the Novas) together. Dean had a little sailboat, around 12 feet I think. A catboat because they did not have a jib, but they looked pretty cool running downwind with the spinnaker wide open. They also had a centerboard instead of a keel, I think. I believe we called them ‘beetle cats’.We raced these boats near the entrance to the Cape Cod Canal. Dean was the captain and I was the crew. We stayed in contact for awhile, but stopped for some reason. I don’t remember why. I hope it wasn’t on bad terms. Dean has a Facebook account, but doesn’t use it. I did a friend request but there was no response. I know he lives in Florida, has a boat and still loves to sail. Bon Voyage, Deano.
Maybe Dean plays golf…. Do you want me to look up his contact info fir you?
Your parents must have felt relieved that you were in a hospital and not out in the field getting shot at! I have no doubt they trusted in the medical care you were getting to pull you thru malaria. Ten days of relief for them from extreme worry! Good to know you made sergeant! Whatever else it meant, it meant that your pay was increased! You mentioned that it could mean a bit of safety for you in your field position. Yea for that too! And for your integration into Stateside Army life. I can’t say that I remember you being hospitalized in Vietname for malaria, but I’m pretty sure when I went to Chelsea Naval Hospital to visit you, it was because you had suffered a bout of malaria.