Friends, Romans, countrymen; Lend me your ears or something like that. Shakespeare isn’t it? I know that Jennifer will know. Anyway, I’m down to the last 4 letters. Three more after this one, and I peeked ahead. The last letter will be Nov 21. Today’s is from Nov 12. Laid low by malaria and fighting for his life, Dave still manages to put pen to paper. Let’s see what he has to say.
“Dear Mom, dad, Rob & Sue. Tay Ninh Nov 12
“Would you believe – 18 days!” Are you sensing the excitement? “I’m not sure I do. Received two letters from you dated 19th and 20th of Oct. I don’t know where they went.
“Dad, you mentioned nerves in your letter. I’ve always had what you called ‘St. Vitus Dance’.” Today we would probably say that I had ADHD, but to continue. “Vitus is Latin for ‘live’ so I’m a little lively. I’ve still got such little habits as picking at my pants etc. But I think I’m serious now. I think I kicked the bed rocking bag. Yes, I know – a miracle. Of course I really can’t be sure until I get home and my old bed brings back those old memories. Sounds like you’re really going to town on the house.” Dad was building an addition on to the house. He, with the help of a friend, built both the house we lived in when we lived in Norwell and the house we lived in on the Cape. Dad was pretty talented, especially not being a builder by trade unless you count his ship building days in the Boston ship yard prior to WWII. “I’m anxious to see it. The doc told me I have nerves. I don’t expect them to be bad when I get home. Let’s just say I’m jumpy.
“I did manage to get a little of my tan back, but not much. It’ll probably be gone when I get home. I don’t tan as much as a lot of guys. But I still feel pretty good. A relapse now and they wouldn’t let me come home. So mosquitoes make me very paranoid. The nights are cool now so there aren’t very many mosquitoes around anyway. But I still sleep under a mosquito net. I hate mosquitoes. I also hate cats. I saw a movie ‘Eye of the Cat’ while I was in Cam Ranh Bay, and if you don’t hate cats before you see the show, you damn sure will hate them when it’s over. It was a wild flick.” Actually, when I eventually went back to Texas and TCU, my first pet was a cat which I got from a fellow vet in the VVAW (Vietnam Veterans Against the War). Absalom was her name, but I called her Abbie, a long haired, black cat with a little bit of white. I had her her whole life except for a three month period when she disappeared. But she came back and died in my arms much later. I don’t remember how old she was, but she was pretty old.
“I agree that my malaria was a blessing. But I still have 18 days to go. Hard days – but enough on that. Sorry to hear that Green Bay is just plodding along, ha! But my Boys are still on top. They were upset by Cleveland last week, but you can’t win them all. TCU may have a respectable team after all. They beat Tech and all they have left is Texas and Rice, I believe. I don’t expect them to beat Texas. The Bruins haven’t looked good lately, but as of this writing, they were still tied for 1st. Maybe they’ll make it. According to the papers, Orr is sensational.” That would be Bobby Orr, one of the best defensemen to ever play the game. “I’m glad because it’s been a long time since the Bruins have had a super player.
“Not much else to write about. Guess I’ll sign off. Got a letter from gram. She didn’t mention coming up for Xmas, but that’s ok. I guess it doesn’t make much difference as long as we’re there. I hope Peni will be there. Love to all, Dave”
Well, this was another short letter so I’ll throw in another picture. Again, sorry that I have nothing from this time period. I hope all three of my readers had a great Christmas and I wish all of you a Happy New Year! (Three was just a guess).
