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Letter to Terrie, 12 November 1970 — a short answer to ten letters, the Nov 13 stand-down, and 213 days left
Charlie's letter to Terrie dated 12 November 1970, reassembled from its scans (dad198 page 1, dad199 page 2). A short 'answer letter' to about ten of her letters, which all arrived two days ago. They go in tomorrow, Nov 13, for a one-week stand-down 'training,' after which it will be the lowlands again; another battalion is replacing them up in the mountains, but that doesn't solve the problem of being there in the first place. He's sorry about her apartment problem and tells her not to worry about what his uncle writes — the uncle likes her. He should get a chance to straighten out his pay, which he figures the Army owes him about $500 of; bond stamps sound like a good idea. On page 2: he got only one telegram from her, and was at Cam Ranh Bay (the September malaria hospitalization) at the time. There is nothing she can send to keep him dry, so don't waste money; it gets cold but only to about 60°. The monsoon rain and fog will last until about March 1 in this part of the country. He plans to extend and get out June 13, 1971 and be done with the Army then — 213 days left at this writing. She has his permission to use the $130 to send him goodies. The surviving page 2 ends without a formal sign-off.
What the letter is
12 November 1970, a “short answer letter” to a stack of about ten of Terrie’s letters that had all arrived at once, the backlog finally breaking after the long mail gaps of early November. It is a housekeeping letter, the stand-down coming tomorrow, the apartment problem, the pay the Army owes him, bond stamps, but it carries the clearest statement yet of the arithmetic the rest of the tour runs on: “I plan to extend and get out of here June 13, 1971… That leaves 213 days left at this writing.” The day-count is exact, and it dates the page on its own.
Transcription
Nov 12
Dear Terrie,
This letter will be a short answer letter to about 10 of your letters as I got the lot of them 2 days ago. We go in tomorrow Nov 13 for 1 week stand-down “training” and then after that it will be the lowlands again. Another battalion will be replacing us up here but I don’t know for how long and it really doesn’t solve the problem of being here in the first place.
Sorry about your apartment problem. You shouldn’t worry about what my uncle writes. He likes you so don’t worry.
I should have an opportunity to get my pay straightened out. I figure they owe me $500 or so.
Bond stamps sound like a good idea. Try it if you can.
[page 2:] I only got one telegram from you and I was at Cam Ranh Bay at the time.
There is nothing you can send to keep me dry. Don’t waste your money in this area. It does get cold but not very in the sense you’re used to, 60° is all, the colder it probably gets.
The monsoon rain & fog will last til March 1 or so in this part of the country. At least they did last year.
I plan to extend and get out of here June 13, 1971 and be done with the army at that time. That leaves 213 days left at this writing.
You have my permission to use the $130. If I wanted it [saved] I would have sent it home. Use it to send me goodies.
What the letter records
The mail backlog breaks. “A short answer letter to about 10 of your letters as I got the lot of them 2 days ago.” The fourteen-to-sixteen-day mail gaps the 5 and 8 November letters had complained about resolved the way they usually did, with the whole stack arriving at once, leaving Charlie to answer ten letters in one.
The Nov 13 stand-down, dated from the field. “We go in tomorrow Nov 13 for 1 week stand-down ‘training’ and then after that it will be the lowlands again.” The stand-down the surrounding letters reference from either side is here named the day before it starts, with Charlie’s standing verdict on the rotation: another battalion replacing them “really doesn’t solve the problem of being here in the first place.”
The uncle, and the apartment. “You shouldn’t worry about what my uncle writes. He likes you.” A glimpse of the family network around the courtship, an uncle whose letters had evidently unsettled Terrie, and Charlie reassuring her, alongside the “apartment problem” that places her in off-campus housing at Maryland.
Cam Ranh Bay. “I only got one telegram from you and I was at Cam Ranh Bay at the time.” The reference is to the September 1970 malaria hospitalization at Cam Ranh Bay, the rear-area medical evacuation that the unit-history thread tracks; a telegram from Terrie had reached him there.
213 days, and the money. The exact day-count against the June 13 out-date is the arithmetic the whole end-of-tour plan rests on. Around it sits the small steady accounting of the corpus, the $500 the Army owes him, the bond stamps, the $130 she has his permission to spend on “goodies” — every dollar tracked across eight thousand miles.
Scans
