(Editor's note: This is the final letter in this series. My six month
extension with the 528th Quartermaster Co. in Vung Tau produced 18 letters. I did
not take my audio cassette recorder with me so no audio tapes were made. Also,
(regrettably) I did not take my camera with me either. Only a few Polaroid photos
(given to me by others) exist of my experience with the 528th. My time in Vung Tau
was very enjoyable. I worked as a baker in the mess hall and spent most of my free
time (of which there was plenty) at the beach or downtown in the bars. I never
contacted the girl from Saigon who wanted to move to Vung Tau. The 528th moved from
Vung Tau to Phu Bai (just south of Hue) when I had 55 days left in country. I cried
the entire flight from Vung Tau. Phu Bai was just "a cup of coffee" for me
- so short a time that I hardly got to know the place. My Mess Sargent, Robert
Nault, was from my hometown of Portsmouth. Small world.)
Dear Mom & Dad,
Greetings once again from Vietnam. I am writing this letter from Blackhorse.
I got in country yesterday morning at about 9:30 and came straight to base camp.
I completed my processing yesterday and I am now waiting for them to type up my
orders. Personnel is not open today so I probably won't be able to leave for Vung
Tau until tomorrow.
They are giving me the run-a-round. The orders should have been typed long ago
but they just didn't bother about it. They have got only one guy who cuts orders and
he is not working today. It only takes about an hour to cut the orders. It
seems kind of ridiculous to me but that's the way they work.
Oh well, I guess I will get out of here one of these days. My time (six months)
started as soon as I got in country so I should get home sometime around November 18th.
I went looking for my footlocker in the supply room and found that it had been
broken into and most everything was gone. I reported it to the company clerk and he
said that a lot of other ones were broken into as well. A nice welcome back present,
huh?
A lot has happened since I have been gone. My old CO, Captain
Palma got killed and a buddy of mine in maintenance got killed, too. There have
been a lot of other guys in K Troop killed or wounded. K Troop is really messed up.
They are still in the field. Base camp is quiet as usual. Not much
happening here as far as enemy activity goes. I won't be happy until I get to Vung
Tau. The rains have come and things are starting to get muddy.
We had a pretty good flight coming over. It took 25 hours. We stopped in
Alaska and Japan. We had Airlift International as our airline. I never heard
of them but they weren't too bad. I didn't have any trouble getting to base camp.
I only had to wait two hours to get a flight here. When I finally get out of
here I won't have much trouble getting to Vung Tau. I will have to leave base camp
and fly to Tan Son Nhut and from there to Vung Tau.
The next letter that you get from me should be from Vung Tau. I thought that I
should write and let you know that I arrived in one piece. Things are going pretty
well, all considered. I'm just kind of anxious to get to Vung Tau.
Oh well, I'll write when I get there and let you know how things are down there.
Take care and . . .
By for now!
Love,
Bob
(Index of Letters)
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