Dear America: Letters Home from Vietnam Page #6

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my feet about to crack open,

my stomach knotted by hunger

and diarrhea,

my back feeling like a mirror made

of nerves shattered in a million pieces

by my flack jacket pack, and extra

mortars and machine-gun ammo...

my hands a mass of hamburger

from thorn cuts,

and my face a mass of welts

from mosquitoes,

I desired greatly

to throw down everything and sob.

I remember a captain,

an aviator, who observing

a group of grunts

toasting the infantry

in a bar said,

'You damned infantry think

you're the only people who exist.'

You're damned right

we do."

- How many men did you have?

- Ten, sir.

- How many came out of the battle?

- Four, sir.

- Four. Rest of them killed or wounded?

- One killed.

One killed, rest wounded. Some of the

wounded will be back for duty, I assume?

Yes, sir. We got them all out.

All of them came back.

- Uh-huh. All your weapons too?

- Yes, sir.

What were

you doing, lad?

Sir, I was a medic

on a point.

- Mm-hmm. Think you saved some lives?

- Yes, sir.

"September 1967.

David, morale's very high

in spite of the fact that most men think

the war's being run incorrectly.

One of the staggering facts

is that most men here believe

we will not win the war,

and yet they stick

their necks out every day,

and carry on as if

they were fighting

for the continental security

of the United States."

Were you men in the battle? I know you

were, weren't you, Fitzgerald?

- Yes, sir.

- What did you do?

What did I do? I ran around and shot

just like everybody else.

What did you shoot?

What type of weapon?

- I'm on an M-60, sir.

- An M-60.

"We were taking

a fierce beating over here.

They don't have

enough men.

We must have more men.

At least twice as many,

or we are gonna get

the piss kicked out of us this winter

when the rains come."

Ever since Hill 80-81 and 86-20

you feel something

in the air...

uh, about the build-up.

I don't know. You can almost feel them

working around you at night.

"Dear Ellen,

we really have been preparing

for this all-out offensive by the gooks.

I guess you might have read

about it in the papers.

There's supposed

to be a truce in Vietnam

during the Chinese

Tet New Year.

Khe Sanh is the only area

not observing it

because of the build-up.

I'll try to write again soon.

Love, Jim."

Incoming!

"Dear Mom and Dad,

I guess by now you're

worried sick over my safety.

Khe Sanh village

was overrun,

but not the combat base.

The base was hit and hit hard

by artillery, mortars and rockets.

All my gear and the rest

of the company's gear was destroyed.

I am unhurt

and have not been touched.

But with all the death

and destruction I've seen

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