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letter
Letter to Terrie, c. 8 November 1970 — the stand-down, day 180, and a Sydney R&R idea
Charlie's two-page pencil letter to Terrie, written from a firebase in early-to-mid November 1970 (undated on the page; inferred c. 8 November from the 'sixteen days without mail' count following the 14-day count in the 5 November letter, and the coming Nov 13 stand-down), reassembled from its scans (dad176 page 1, dad177 page 2). After a one-day pause on the firebase, the unit is now going in on 13 November for a one-week stand-down. He apologizes for the mail gap: sixteen days since anyone out there got mail, and it may stretch to twenty-one. After the stand-down they're scheduled to move down to the lowlands while another battalion comes up to the mountains. The days are dreary but go fast; sunny for three days, now raining and socked in again. He's at day 180 in-country with 217 to go, 'not even half way yet.' He's thinking he'll take a Sydney R&R sometime in January or early February, summer down there, the beach and food a welcome change, though that's still a long way off. No contact with the enemy in nearly a month. Nothing he needs right now except a few letters. Signed 'Love, Charles.'
What the letter is
Early-to-mid November 1970, written in pencil from a firebase in the mountains. It sits a few days after the 5 November letter, the mail-gap count having climbed from fourteen days to sixteen. The texture is the same field misery, rain, no mail, the slow grind, but the horizon is opening: a stand-down on the 13th, a move to the lowlands, and the first floated R&R idea of the tour, Sydney in the southern summer. The day-count, “day 180 over here. Just 217 more to go,” is the arithmetic that the extension letters would soon sharpen into a fixed out-date.
Transcription
Dear Terrie,
Well after the 1 day [pause] on the firebase it seems we will now be going in on Nov 13 for 1 week stand-down. I’m sorry if you haven’t received any mail but it has been 16 days now since I or anybody else out here has received any mail and I will probably stretch to 21 days without mail. I know they are having problems but they couldn’t be that bad in the rear. At least after the stand-down we are scheduled to go to the lowlands and some other poor battalion is supposed to come up to these mountains.
The days are dreary but seem to go very fast. It was sunny for 3 days but is now raining again and we are socked in. Today is
[page 2:] day 180 over here. Just 217 more to go. Heavens I’m not even half way yet!
I think I’ll go to Sydney for R&R sometime in Jan or early Feb. It will be summer down there and at least the beach and food should be good for a change. That too is still a long ways off.
Well, no contact with the enemy now for nearly a month thank heavens. If it can just keep up everything will be fine. There is nothing I need right now except a few letters. I think I’ll close now and add more tomorrow or so.
Love Charles
What the letter records
The mail gap, growing. Sixteen days now, maybe stretching to twenty-one, up from the fourteen in the 5 November letter. The apology to Terrie, “I’m sorry if you haven’t received any mail,” is for a silence he can’t help; the mail simply wasn’t moving to the firebase.
Day 180. “Just 217 more to go. Heavens I’m not even half way yet!” The mid-tour low point, named in the arithmetic. The 217 days from here land in mid-June 1971, the out-date the 5 November extension plan had just laid out.
The Sydney idea. The first R&R destination Charlie floats, Sydney in the southern summer, before the plan settled on the April 1971 Hawaii trip with Terrie. A glimpse of the road not taken in the R&R thread.
Scans
