Charlie in Hawaii — the April 1971 R&R

Charlie Eesley on the balcony of a Waikiki high-rise hotel in Honolulu during the Hawaii R&R of April 1971 — the meeting he and Terrie had spent the entire spring of Vietnam letters planning. He stands at the railing in a short-sleeved shirt, the Waikiki skyline and the green of the Ala Moana behind him, flown in from Vietnam for the one week the Army’s R&R calendar allowed.

This is the trip the letters build toward: the 29 March 1971 booking letter (“Please get your ticket under (Mrs. Eesley) to save money… arrival the 12th of April and leave on the 19th”), the 24 February cost letter, and the 15 February letter working out the budget (“we could always eat hot dogs and stay in bed for the week to save money”). Terrie stands on the same balcony in her own photograph; a few days later she is home with the pineapple souvenir bag. Charlie would rotate home from Vietnam that June and marry Terrie in August.