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letter
Letter to Terrie, 4 December 1970 — sixty days on the XXIV Corps security platoon in Da Nang
Charlie's letter to Terrie dated 4 December 1970 (dad210 front, dad211 back of the same sheet). He gives his address for the next sixty days, Headquarters & Headquarters Company, XXIV Corps, Security Platoon, Da Nang, and says he has an easy and safe job there. He won't take R&R until after 4 February, when the detail goes back to its company; if the 10-month tour comes through he'll have 36 days left in country by then, hardly enough time to go back to the field, so the bad days are over. He expects to see Bob Hope, and says things are so good it is hard to believe, better than stateside duty could ever be. The only thing on his mind is money: a friend withdrew from the 10% savings program and the Army conveniently lost one of his $300 receipts, and Charlie is in the same boat. He'll write a few other letters today and send another tomorrow or so; it's hard to place a call from here, but he'll try before Christmas. Signed 'Love, Charles.'
What the letter is
The letter that opens Charlie’s rear-area winter. After the November field letters, with their rising water, the firebase and the “really hairy” days, he has a new address and a sixty-day posting to the security platoon at XXIV Corps headquarters in Da Nang. Every December letter after this one, the mess hall and the courts, the routine, the EM club, Bob Hope at Christmas, is written from the job this letter announces.
Transcription
Dec [4]
Dear Terrie,
My address for the next 60 days is
name
number
HHC XXIV CORP
SECURITY PLATOON
APO SF 96349I have an easy job and safe job for the next 60 days here in Danang. I won’t be taking R&R til after Feb 4 when we get back to our company and if the 10 month tour comes through I’ll have 36 days left in country when I get back. Hardly enough time to go to the field. So the bad days are at least over. I should be able to see Bob Hope and generally everything here is so good it is hard to believe. It is better than stateside duty could ever be.
The only thing on my mind now is money. A friend of mine has withdrawn from the 10% savings program and they have conveniently lost one of his receipts for $300 so he is out $300. I’m in the same boat and it worrys
[page 2:] me a little. Otherwise things couldn’t be brighter.
How is everything with you? I’ll be writing a few other letters today so I’ll end this now and send another in tomorrow or so.
It is hard to make a call around here but I’ll try before X-mas.
Love Charles
What the letter records
“The bad days are at least over.” The count is exact. Back with his company after 4 February, plus 36 days, gives about 12 March, the same homecoming date the 12 December letter gives for the 10-month drop and the one the 31 December letter treats as settled. On that schedule the field is finished. As it turned out, it wasn’t: Charlie chose to extend to June 1971, and by mid-February he was still in Da Nang, waiting on clerk-job orders.
“Better than stateside duty could ever be.” This comes from the man who, about a year earlier in training, had written “I hate this place.” The rear’s comforts are listed in detail four days later, in the 8 December letter.
R&R deferred. This is the first sign that the Hawaii meeting would slip into 1971. He won’t take R&R until he’s back with his company, and if the early drop came through, R&R might not happen at all. The 12 December letter says it outright: don’t count on Hawaii.
The phone call. “I’ll try before X-mas” is the first mention of the call he planned in the 8 December letter and made on 13 December (14 December letter).
Scans
