Letter to Terrie, 22 June 1970

What the letter is

Dated 22 June 1970 — the year confirmed by Chuck in 2026 from the family archive. Charlie writes Terrie a quick note from the field as an unscheduled helicopter is coming out; this is the kind of operational detail that doesn’t appear in the eulogy and only appears in the letters. The last two days have been “hectic”: “We ran into our first action. No one was hurt and it is really weird. You can only see 15 feet ahead through the brush. I was close but wasn’t really in it.”

What 1-506 was doing in the Ripcord AO on 22 June 1970

A clarification first: the published Ripcord literature draws a sharp line between 2-506 Infantry (which garrisoned and defended Firebase Ripcord on the hilltop under LTC Andre Lucas) and 1-506 Infantry (Charlie’s battalion, which operated in adjacent terrain east and south of the firebase under LTC Robert Roberts). Most of the celebrated Ripcord narratives — the Hill 902 and Hill 1000 attacks, the firebase defense — track 2-506 companies. 1-506 companies appear in the chronologies mostly as maneuver units operating in adjacent terrain — Firebase Kathryn (the rear staging base) in June, the Triple Hill area, the country east of Ripcord, and south toward Hill 805. Specific positioning of C Co, 1-506 on this calendar day is not in the public record.

Phase context. Late June 1970 is the pre-siege buildup. The 2-506 unit history records that “during the latter part of June it became apparent that the NVA were preparing for a large offensive in the Ripcord area” — intercepted radio traffic, captured documents, and agent reports all pointing the same way. On 30 June 3rd Brigade received the formal intelligence assessment that Ripcord would be hit by 1 July. The After-Action Report records that from 16 April through 1 July the battalion “continued construction and conducted security operations around the firebase without significant stand-off attack” — the late-June calm was the deceptive last days before the mortars began landing. On 23 June, the day after this letter, Col. Benjamin L. Harrison formally took command of 3rd Brigade — the brigade commander who would, four weeks later, order the evacuation.

What was happening to 1-506 specifically. Nolan’s Ripcord places photographs of 1-506 soldiers at Firebase Kathryn in June 1970 (the rear refit base). Sgt. Rossetter of D/1-506 is photographed “at Camp Evans before the insertion into the Ripcord area” in July, confirming 1-506 was still in the rear at Kathryn/Evans in late June, not yet committed forward. B/1-506’s Sandy Porter would be killed by friendly fire two weeks later (6 July) “on the far south east flank of the Ripcord Area of Operations,” confirming 1-506 was patrolling the periphery in this window.

The “first action.” Charlie’s “first action” on 20–22 June — brush so thick you could only see fifteen feet ahead, no one hurt — was almost certainly a contact engagement on a 1-506 patrol somewhere east or south of Ripcord. The visibility detail is consistent with the dense secondary jungle of the eastern A Shầu approaches the 1-506 was working through. He was not on Ripcord itself when he wrote this letter; he was patrolling the periphery while the firebase eight or ten kilometers away was running through its last quiet week.

Sources: After-Action Report (AVDG-CS 23 Jul 1970, Wikisource); MACV Command History 1970 Vol. III; Keith W. Nolan, Ripcord: Screaming Eagles Under Siege, Vietnam 1970 (Presidio, 2000); 2nd Battalion, 506th Infantry Unit History — 1970 (Ripcord Association); Wikipedia: Battle of Fire Support Base Ripcord. Specific 22 June 1-506 grid coordinates would live in the 3rd Brigade S2/S3 Daily Staff Journal at the National Archives (College Park, MD).

The June 1970 date places this letter in the central month of the buildup to the Battle of Firebase Ripcord — the 23-day siege that would, within two weeks of this letter, become the last major US ground confrontation of the Vietnam War. The 101st Airborne Division (Screaming Eagles, the patch on his right shoulder in the Vietnam club photograph) operated in I Corps from Camp Eagle near Huế. The “first action” Charlie writes about — the brush so thick you could only see fifteen feet ahead, his calm understatement that it was “really weird” — sits in the pre-siege probing window on Ripcord.

By 20 June 1970 — two days before this letter — he had received twelve letters in one mail call but only one from Terrie. The imbalance is the source of his question to her: “What is wrong?”

Transcription

June 22

Dear Terrie,

Just a quick note as an unscheduled chopper is coming out. The last two days have been hectic. We ran into our first action. No one was hurt and it is really weird. You can only see 15 feet ahead through the brush. I was close but wasn’t really in it.

20 June I got 12 letters and only 1 from you. What is wrong? I’m glad to hear you are doing well and that your father’s attitude is better. Now if everything comes off right everything will be all right! Years from now.

How did you do in school? I hope you have enough cash because I’ve put most of my money toward the 50% deal the army has. That will give me about $2000 when […]

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Three things in one page

First action. The closest the letter gets to combat: the brush so thick you can only see fifteen feet ahead, an engagement nobody was hurt in, and his observation that the whole thing is “really weird.” The understatement is its own tone — the dark humor of his later years tracking back to this.
Mail and her father. He got twelve letters on 20 June and only one from her, and he asks her directly what is wrong. He’s then glad to hear her father’s attitude is better. The father is Robert Earl Wildermuth — Chuck’s maternal grandfather, the B-24 navigator who had himself shipped to the Pacific theater twenty-five years earlier. Robert Earl was not initially in favor of Terrie’s relationship with a soldier currently in Vietnam. That his attitude had warmed by 22 June is the first evidentiary trace of the eventual approval that would produce the marriage and Chuck.
The 50% deal. The U.S. Army’s wartime soldier-savings program let servicemembers in Vietnam deposit a portion of their pay at 10% interest — significantly higher than civilian rates. Charlie put most of his money toward it and expected about $2,000 when he rotated out — roughly $15,000 in 2026 dollars. The fact that he is already, in his first weeks of action, planning for after the war is the through-line.

This is the first letter placed in the Vietnam collection. Year confirmed as 1970 by Chuck Eesley, 2026.

What the letter is

Transcription

Three things in one page

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