Letter from my brother Steve when he was in Viet Nam as an Army Combat Engineer tasked with building roads. (To save you from trying to decipher Steve’s handwriting, I have it transcribed below for you.)
Dear Mom,
Well it is the 26th of May and it is raining, and raining. It is supposed to be the monsoon season now. So the work on the road is slowing down and so is time.
But next week I’m going to find out when I can come home. I talked to the clerks and one told me to go to Cam Ranh Bay and buy my ticket. I will either make it home for Donna’s birthday or mine. I don’t know yet. I’m on standby for any flights to the States. I am going to take the first one. But what’s taking so long now is because the flights are booked two months in advance. So the first empty seat is mine. But now at least I know I am coming.
In your letter you asked if I gained any weight. I think I have lost some. But I am still handsome. I don’t want too many clothes but just a couple pairs of blue jeans and a couple of short sleeve sweat shirts. Well I will write you as soon as I get back from Cam Ranh and let you know what day I should be home by then.
Love,
Steve
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Memorial Day song for you and the 58,200 U.S. troops who died in Viet Nam. My brother Steve survived Viet Nam; but once back home he was sorta like that Bruce character in “Born in the USA,” “Like a dog that’s been beat too much…I’m ten years burning down the road, Nowhere to run and nowhere to go.” Call it PTSD or write it off to his drinking and drugging, but whatever the reason, Steve never really got his post-service act together. I don’t blame his time spent in Viet Nam as the main reason for how his life did or did not play out. However, let’s just say that the time he spent there did little to help him manage his life here any better than he experienced. It was all very sad. Blame it on the rain maybe. Creedence used it as their war metaphor.