Letters Home: Vietnam 1968-1969

By Don Bishop

It is my hope that by reading these narratives from a lonely boy far away from home, that future generations might get a small sense of what survival is, what the love of a family can accomplish in the most desolate, desperate, lonely times.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Aug 30, 2009
• ISBN: 9781448690053

Don Bishop

A relatively new author, Don Bishop previously published a book about his experiences in the Vietnam War. His current book is crafted for children, relating the early years of "Sammy", a stray cat.

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YOU!

December 1968

December 7, 1968

Beginnings

Postcard from Kyoto Japan

Hi Folks,

Arrived about 20 minutes ago. It’s 1:15 PM December 7th here, 11:15 PM December 6th in New York. I sure do miss home an awful lot, especially being so far away. We’ve got about another twelve hours to fly yet. I hope you’ll be able to be proud of me by the time this year’s over. I’m gonna try my best. All my love to everyone.

My journey started with a cross country flight to Ft. Lewis, Washington. Due to bad weather, strong headwinds, and an unplanned stop for fuel in Billings, Montana, my plane arrived some 8 hours late in Seattle. Try finding a hotel room at 4 AM. I finally found a cab driver who pitied me, I guess, and took me to my accommodations for the next 3 hours. I was to report to Ft. Lewis at 7 AM, but I had to call home to tell them I had arrived, clean up a bit after trying to sleep in my clothes, and of course, shave. The Army frowns upon unshaven troops. Funny they didn’t apply the same standards in the jungle!

What a wasted trip!!!!! From Seattle, we flew to Anchorage Alaska to refuel for the long flight over the Pacific. The grandeur, quiet coldness and beauty of the Alaskan landscape were so wasted on a young man so caught up in confusion, uncertainty, and fear. I remember trying to find a phone to call home, half scared and half homesick, but everywhere I went the lines were hopelessly long, so I was unable to notify my family of my progress.

So it's on to the Pacific, the never ending expanse of ocean which separates freedom from captivity for we who are heading for a year in Vietnam. Mt. Fuji looms large out the window as we arrive at Kyoto, one landing away from our destiny. Again, the wonderful landscape and scenery are wasted, just another rock on the way to my final destination. I have the unfortunate pleasure of sitting next to a grisly old (probably 40 ish) E-6 who has done two tours in Vietnam. You would think he would be try to counsel and console a rookie, but true to the Army way, he fills my head with images of a prehistoric lifestyle that I am about to enter. His ringing words of wisdom, take a shower when we land, because it may be the last one you'll have for a long time, sound so ridiculously absurd that it has to be true.

Funny how something so insignificant sticks in my memory today. He was right!!!

December 8, 1968

Cam Ranh Bay, South Vietnam

I hope you got my postcard from Japan, cause right now I haven’t got too much time to write. We’ve got a formation at 1 PM, in which they’ll probably assign us some stupid detail. This morning I raked the area for 3 hours. Cam Ranh Bay is the safest place in RVN (Republic of Vietnam). It’s also the crummiest, being almost exactly like the Reception Center at Ft. Dix. All you do is pull details, including KP, while you’re here.

I don’t know how long I’ll be here, but it might be for a week or more before I’m assigned to a regular unit. There’s a lot of harassment here, just like in the good old training days, but that all ends once you get to a regular unit. So I guess I’ll just have to put up with it until I leave here. In the Army you have to keep telling yourself that whatever you’re doing will be over in time (Little did I know that I would probably set a record for staying at the Reception Center).

It’s pretty hot here. I’d say between 85 and 90 during the day, but that’s another thing you have to put up with. Running water & toilet facilities aren’t too hot, but they’ll be worse yet in the field. The barracks are crummy, too, but at least you have a place to sleep.

I don’t know whether you should write me here or not. You could always try it & I could notify you whether or not I got the letter. You can send packages (if they’re not too large) by regular mail. Just put SAM (Space Available Mail) on it & it should travel just as fast, & without the added cost of Air Mail. All this stuff I’ll know more about later.

Gotta get going now so I can slip these in the mail. Give my love to everybody, & a whole bunch goes just to you, my wonderful parents (& Spot). (our dog)

Even after being briefed that we should NOT give out the Reception Center address to those at home, I am already hoping that somehow, some way, miraculously a letter will appear from home, anticipating my arrival and filling me with hope and a sense that everything will be OK.

Wishful, empty headed thinking, but hey, you gotta have something to hang on to!

December 10, 1968

Cam Ranh Bay

Well, Here I am checking in again with the family crowd. I swear if I don’t get out of this place I’m going to go crazy. All we’ve done is pull details since I’ve been here, & Sunday from 8 PM to 7 Monday morning I had KP (Kitchen Police). They did give us most of yesterday off, but I’m still tired today.

This morning I raked sand again, the same thing I did Sunday. I suppose they’ll have something cool for us to do this afternoon, too. I guess I’ll just have to do what I can, which in this case is just grin & bear it. I said this was just like Ft. Dix at the Reception Center , but I was wrong. It’s worse than that. A lot of the time they treat you like nothing, and I’m sick of being treated like that. I didn’t go through 4 months of training just to come over here & be yelled at & put to work for 7 days. Oh, how I wish I would leave pretty soon.

I don’t want to leave just because of the work, I’d also like to get to a permanent unit so that I could get a mailing address that I could send you. If you’ve written to me here, I wouldn’t write but one letter, just in case I can’t get it here. I can always let you know whether or not I got the mail you sent here at a later date.

So far I haven’t seen many guys that I know here. There were 1 or 2 from D-1-3 (my training unit at Ft. Polk, Louisiana) that came over on the plane with me, and there’ve been a few more that came in on later flights, but there’s probably only about ten or twelve that I know. I guess a lot of guys went to Oakland to report in, & they’ll be going somewhere else for replacement. Then again, there’s probably somebody’s (excuse the grammar) that stayed at Ft. Lewis (Washington, where I began this lovely journey) for awhile for various reasons. I was pretty lucky to get out when I did, because that place is just like here, except worse. They make you do all kinds of stuff that you don’t want to.

Well, Dad, I guess you’re back from your trip by now. I hope you had better luck with your plane connections than I did with mine. I hope you enjoyed yourself as much as possible considering the circumstances, but I imagine they kept you pretty busy with meetings & tours of the factory & all that stuff.

(Originally, as I remember, Dad and I were to take the same flight to Chicago, but his got delayed and rerouted to Detroit because of weather in Syracuse. The hardest thing I ever had to do in my life is say goodbye to Dad under those circumstances) Anyway, good luck on your new job when you finally start it.

I guess it’s time for me to get going now, cause I’ve gotta mail this & go to the PX before the formation at 1PM.

Take care, & remember me to everybody back home. I’ll write again as soon as possible, & I just hope I’ll get shipped out soon. Love to everyone.

The wonderful, exhilarating stay at the Reception Center does anything but give anyone hope that things will eventually work out. Among the challenging details (Army for stuff to do) are 24 straight hours of KP (an Army travels on its stomach?), raking sand between boardwalks that connect various buildings, guard duty (I pulled this in a bunker overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Do the North Vietnamese and Viet Cong have a big Navy? Geez, I hope not!!!), and the ultimate in humiliation, the burning of human waste!!!!

After this adventure, I carefully monitored relieving myself, so as not to put the burden on some other poor soul of having to dispose of MY bodily by-products.

December 12, 1968

Cam Ranh Bay

Well, today marks the 5 month anniversary of your only son coming into the Army, & I’m still here at Cam Ranh, & I really don’t know how much longer I’ll be here.

I’m so depressed staying around here that it’s unbelievable. I’ve been here for almost five days now & my name hasn’t been called off for shipping yet. Every guy I came here with has left, & even those who got here after me are gone. There’s not more than 10 guys on my floor in the barracks, and they’re all new guys who either came in yesterday or the day before.

I went to formation this morning to see if maybe they might call my name, but again no luck. They usually ship to around the Cam Ranh Bay area in the morning, & the last four guys that I knew from Ft. Polk left then. So, here I am, all alone in this stupid hole just awaiting any fate that Uncle Sam might want to slap on me.

I went to the Operations Building to see if possibly they might have skipped over my name or if I might have missed it. They didn’t have my name down, but one of the guys told me to go to Battalion Operations to see if they had any record of me at all.

One of the clerks checked & said that they had my records, & that I might get shipped tonight or tomorrow. I guess until then I’ll just have to wait & hope that I can get out of here.

Well, that’s about it for now, I’m afraid. I’ve got a 1 PM formation to make, & maybe something’ll happen there. My best to everybody, & love to you, & of course to my old mutt Spot.

The old Army adage.. Hurry up and wait has never been applied so perfectly and completely.

December 14, 1968

Cam Ranh Bay (still….see I told ya it was gonna be a record)

I’m checking in again, & as you can see, I’m still here in the Replacement Center. It’s hard for me to think of anything to say, because of the fact that nothing really happens around here. Guys come in, stay a night or two, & then their names are called & they leave. Meanwhile, I stay here, it’s been a week now, & I get more nervous with every day that goes by.

I wish I knew something that could help me calm down, but so far I’ve haven’t found anything. I’ve been all over the place trying to find out when I’ll be leaving. All I could discover is that they’ve got my records, & they say I’ll be getting out of here sooner or later.

It’s getting hard for me to sleep nights lately. I keep having dreams that I’m standing in formation and they call out my name to leave. It wouldn’t be bad if there was something to do, but all I do is sleep, eat, read, & write letters. Once in a while I go to the EM (Enlisted Men’s) Club or the snack bar, but there’s really nothing there that’s too exciting either.

I wish somebody could say or do something that would cheer me up, but right now I don’t think that’s possible.

Well, as usual, I’ve run out of news, just as I’m running out of patience with this whole operation. The Army really stinks, when you get right down to it. It hasn’t been that bad up to now, but now I know for sure that this is one of the most shabbily run outfits in the world. Better go now, before I burn up the letter with my anger. Love to everybody.

(Forty years later, I wonder why I was so anxious to get into the dangerous part of my tour)

December 15, 1968

Cam Ranh Bay (the last day)

Well, it finally happened! They finally called out my name for shipping. The only problem is, I really don’t like where I’m going too much. I’m going to An Khe to the 1st Air Cavalry Division. They’re probably the most active group over here.

I can’t write anymore cause we expect to be leaving soon. Don’t write me anymore to that other address. I’ll send you my new address as soon as I get it. WISH ME LUCK.

From your son,

PS I think the APO I’m going to is 96490.

I have no idea whether anyone ever wrote me in Cam Ranh Bay, because I never got any letters forwarded. Mom probably did, and maybe Laura did, but whatever news they had to share or feelings they were trying to express were wasted like a letter to Santa sent to the North Pole. Hey, maybe Santa got them, ya think? If you're reading this Santa, maybe you could drop them off next Christmas on your way through town. I still marvel at my naivety, thinking somehow a letter addressed to Donnie, APO 96490 would somehow make its way to me.

Hope DOES spring eternal in the heart of a scared and bored PFC in his first days leading to combat.

December 16, 1968

An Khe

Well, I got here safe and sound, although for awhile I thought I might not. We flew in on an old C-130 cargo plane with no seats, and it was a pretty bumpy ride all the way. The trip only took about 45 minutes, however, so it was pretty easy to adjust to the roughness.

We got here about 11:30, and they sent us to dinner, after which we started processing. They gave us a brief orientation all about the 1st Cav, which, by the way, moved out a short time ago and is now down near Saigon, & the Cambodian border. They then handed out the 1st Cav patches, and a cool wallet that you can put all your stuff in so that it won’t get wet. They then briefed us on the types of savings you can have, allotments and so forth. Later, in fact in about ten minutes, we’re going to have a detailed briefing by the Finance Section on pay scales and the like.

I’d better get going now, because a formation is due in about 5 or 10 minutes. I’ll send you my address as soon as I can find out what it is. My best to everyone.

Admittedly, I hadn't really kept up on the war while at home, other than the biggies like Khe Sanh, Tet, and the like. But I somehow had the feeling that if they had sent a group as big as the 1st Cav down south near Cambodia, that the proverbial shit was hitting the fan there. Hmmmmm, I should maybe send that idea to the brass in Cam Ranh Bay?

Instead of burning it, put it through giant fans and blow it out into the ocean! I seem to come up with these great ideas after the fact.

December 18, 1968

An Khe

Here I am, waiting in line again ( I think the Army invented the word line), so I might as well write a few letters. I’ve already turned out my correspondence to Laura, & now it’s your turn to hear what I’ve been doing.

Actually, I haven’t been doing much of anything but waiting to go through various personnel stations. I’ve gone through orientation, & the personnel stations, & now I’m waiting to go through the travel section, which I know nothing about. After this, I’ve only got one more station to go through, & that’s Finance. However, that takes the longest to go through, sometimes 1 ½ to 2 days. They’ve got so many guys to process through, it takes that long to go through something that should only take about 30 minutes.

As it stands right now, I don’t have any idea when I’ll be leaving here & going to my unit. I still have to go through 2 ½ days of training after I leave this processing center, before I get shipped out. I think I’ve figured out how I’m going to work my financial situation while I’m here. I’ll be making $221 gross earnings, minus Social Security, insurance, & bond. I’m taking $25 net pay each month, and that would leave me about $181 left. (Pretty high finance, huh?) Twenty five of that will be put into an accrual fund & kept here for things like R & R. The other $156 will be sent to you in check form via a Class E allotment. This you can put in the bank, or you can even spend it if you want to, because it’ll be made out to you. I warn you, it better be socked right in the old First Trust & Deposit Co., or I’ll instruct the Army to zero a round in on 260. I’m joking, of course, but it would be nice to have a little loose cash around when I get home.

I think we’ll possibly be getting our unit orders tomorrow, so I might have an address, a real, permanent one, to send.

I’d like to write to people like Aunt May, Aunt Margaret & others, but I can’t seem to remember their addresses, so you can send me those too, if you like.

That’s about all I have to put out for now. I’ll write when I get some news or assignment & all that. Love to everybody.

I find it quite humorous today to think that I spent so much time dwelling on my finances. $221!!!!! Woo hoo!!!!! In retrospect, it was more of a way to keep myself and my mind occupied. The days at An Khe blur against my whole year in Vietnam. I remember having to try to rappel from a tower on a rope. I don't think I did very well at that. This technique was put out as something we would have to do quite frequently to get from a hovering helicopter to the relative safety (??) of terra firma below.

After flailing about on the towers in An Khe, I NEVER used this technique, EVER again in my year's stay, even during hundreds of Combat Assaults in Huey helicopters. But I tried, remembering the dreaded days at Ed