22 Aug 68
Dear Mom,
Well I got a letter from you yesterday dated Aug 14. It was the first we got mail in three days because we have been moving around so much, building landing zones for helicopters up here in the mountains. I'm sorry I can't write you as often as you would like me to, but sometimes I just don't have time to write. Because I am always busy over here. I don't know where Camp Carroll and the Rock Pile are located. All I know is it's up near the DMZ in the Mountains.
Tell dad he will get all the money I owe him next month.
You asked me how I liked VietNam. Well I hate it. I don't sit around all day like Billy does down in Da Nang. I'm out all day and night beating the bush. I live like an animal twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. I sleep on the ground with all the bugs and rats.
Well Mom I started this letter yesterday. Like I said I don't have very much spare time now-a-days. Yesterday I climbed four mountains before we set in on the one we are on now. We are going around in circles trying to find the NVA. We are in the mountains around Cam Lo which is down in the valley.
Please excuse my writing but I have sores over my arms and hands, so yesterday I got the corpsman to put some bandages on them. They go from my elbows to the half of my fingers. So it makes it hard to write.
Tell grandma if she wants to send me something she can send me some cookies instead of kool-aid. OK.
Well I get paid $235 in September. I am keeping $10 and sending $225 home. I want you to give dad the other $75 I own him and put the other $150 in the bank for me. Make sure you have them put Junior on the bank book so it shows its my account and not Dad's. OK. If you need any of the money for anything just let me know and I will let you use it.
Well I better go now. We may be leaving pretty soon.
Love your son
PS Tell M I will write as soon as I can. My arms just hurt too much to write any more today. OK.
