Letters to home

[39mto39g]

As I read my letters to my mother , Memories come back. In March 1968 we were north of DaNang , The rest on the div was over by Dak To , 1/8 1/14 2/35 and these guys were having a real time on some hill 7 something (to faded) still in OPERATION MAC ARTHUR.
The rumor is that we are going to link up with the rest of the Div.
That will be a real change . we have been with the 1/10 cav and some 101 unit now for awhile. To have our BN back with the Golden Dragons will be a good thing.
Oh yea, I told my Mom that we were not in any of the fighting and the weather was nice.. WOW.

Ron

[splummer]

Did your mother save all your letters like mine did? I didn't know she had done that until I got home and it was many years later before I read them. While I'm on administrative leave this week, I'll have to read through some of them to determin a time line of where I was at certain times. Sure is hard to remember. I never said much about what was going on.

[39mto39g]

Splum
Yes Mom saved all my letters, and She had a door sized map of VN that she would stick a pin in every time we would move somewhere. She would put a date next to place, "Pleiku 6-19-67"

Ron

[splummer]

They had a map too. I don't know what happened to it,

[DMZ-LT]

Was a writing fool. Every night just before it got dark I would write someone. Woman I wrote to kept all my letters and gave them to me a couple of years ago. I read them every other year or so. 3 months of Lam Son 719 I wrote a bunch of letters and would throw them on resuppy or medivac choppers to get them out. For 3 months I never got a letter and after it was over I got back all the letters I had written. All my Moms letters were returned to her and they were freaking out too.

[39mto39g]

LT
While roaming around the net looking for info about what cav unit it was that was N of Hue , I came across a site that has a CD about 719
it says.

"Get the full text with pictures of histories compiled by Mike Sloniker on Lam Son 719, History of the 1972 Easter Offensive and this year's all new Helicopter Units North of Da Nang. These histories contain first person accounts as well as back ground and details about the activities of helicopter units normally left out of Vietnam War books."

The site
http://www.vhpa.org/cdrom.htm

Ron

[DMZ-LT]

Thanks Ron. Looks like mostly heliocopters stuff but would fill in the blanks for me about day to day Lam Son 719 . I knew what month it was usually but not what day. We stayed out from early Feb71 till mid April71. I helped write a book for the Army about Armor in Viet Nam , I will look to see what Cav. units were around Hue during Tet 68 and let you know.

[Boats]

I never was a great writter of letters. I did write my little Sister and we would exchange jokes (clean ones). I would always tell her positive things (whether they were good or not) never wanted to worry the family. The news did plenty of that.

In fact I was gone almost two years and never wrote a letter to any one back home. Sounds bad but I had reasons (of my own) for not writing and really didn't have that much to say. I was a pill back then. Mom and I had a falling out that lasted decades and she died before we could rectify those issues. Life is often times what you make it. I was't happy about all of the family issues going on back then and now that they are all gone I have my regrets but can't fix them now just have to carry them along like all the other baggage we must carry from our decisions made during our lifetimes. Am I a bad guy? Most likely - do I make friends (real friends easily) nope - don't know why?

I can write to you guys on line but may have little to say in public. Issues? Sure I have them - my wife often times tells me I should have seen a shrink along time ago. But as I get older I see more and more of the reasons why I was like I was then and even now.

Writing home? I would do that in my head rather than on paper. Always thought of them and still do. End of subject - time to move on.

[39mto39g]

Boats
you Ain't alone.
Truth is truth no matter what side of the cone you fall on. Friends will except you for who you are no matter what. others will question your motives . Take a guess on who the real friends are?
A lot of our guys were the same way when it came to writing letters, some just didn't do it. for what ever reason. personal business is just that, personal.

Ron