ITS NOT A DREAM, I'M REALLY
HERE
Cu-Chi, Saturday, March 15,
6:00 pm:
Chao
Ba! I
owe you a long letter after all that's happened so
here goes.
First, I was so happy to
talk to you today even though what I
said must not have made much sense at all.
It was a miracle that I was able to talk to you at all. Last
night, before the movie, I went over
to the MARS station (Military Assistance Radio Service) to see what it was
all about. They had a
sign posted that there was no contact with the States at that time but
maybe at 10:00 pm that night (last night). So after the movie I went back over to see if they were busy or
not. I wanted to tell you not to
worry about me because
I was the Generals barber and
wasn't suffering too much except that I
don't get any
mail. Well, there were
4-5 guys waiting so I went back to my hootch and wrote to you. Today I started my new job and by noon I
had cut about l0
heads and made $6.50 in tips, so I felt pretty good. At lunch, I went over to the PX
and bought me a thermos to keep ice water in. On the way back from the PX I was going down
the side road back to the barber shop
to avoid some gook
that asked me to get cigarettes
for him, when I passed right by the MARS station, so I stopped in to see if they had made contact. The guy walked out and asked me what number
I wanted, showed me to a booth and there
you were. I had
so much I wanted to tell you but when I heard your voice my mind
went blank. You do that
to me you know! You must cast a spell on me.
Anyway, I
told some of the officers as I cut they're hair and they said that they
have been waiting for months to
call but have never been able to catch them. The good Lord is still taking care of #1.
Tomorrow I'll go to
church and count
my blessings: first, that I
came here to HQ because of my scores on the Army tests; secondly, that I
can cut hair which kept me from going to a combat unit; and thirdly,
that my tip money will help us get
out of debt before I
come home; and fourthly, that
I'm with a unit
that might be moving to Hawaii this summer. I guess that will
cover one Sunday's worth. The Lord must need me for something important, he sure
looks out for us both. But me
especially because I found you and married you.
Now for the interesting
part. The PX sells:
Chinaware: Fukagawa,
Noritake, Seyei, Soma (About $23-26 for service for 8 and
customs free)
Lacquer ware: All kinds
Korean Brassware
Silk Paintings
Pearls: Cultured by Maruwa, Furuya, and Mikimoto
And lots of other things but
I couldn't get a catalog to
send you, sorry. You
can go and look at the one you
want and tell me or do you want
me to just pick out
something? I made over $10 in tips today alone so it won't be any financial
burden if I send you a service
every week. Services for
12 are also available but about
twice the price. I searched and
searched for a gift for you the
other day but nothing was good
enough for you except a diamond ring
I saw for $700 or
so. Maybe later.
But meantime I'll think of something.
So my precious
don't worry about your fast shrinking husband. He's got it pretty easy. The
shower is right outside my door and
the mess hall right across from
the barbershop. I'll take some pictures and
send you next week.
Meanwhile, write
to me. I really miss all those "I love
You's" that you always send.
Oh yes, if you get a chance
call 83l-7060 and tell the Honor
Guard that I'm the General's barber in
the 25th Div. They ought to get a good laugh out of that.
That's
about all for now. Stay
loose and say your prayers. Your husband thinks of you constantly.
p.s. Hi Jonette and Nikki
p.s.s. I need a Photostat of Nikki's birth
certificate.
p.s.s.s. Here's
some funny money (script) They won't let us have any greenbacks.
Me and Lan Ngan, my hootch
maid. She washed my uniforms
And shined my shoes besides
sweeping out the shop and all
For only $1.00 a day and an
occasional box of Tide.
Cu-Chi, Sunday, March 16,
7:30 pm:
My first Sunday in
Vietnam. Tomorrow marks the end of
my first week here and it seems like it’s been an eternity already. I guess I'll be here for awhile since my
haircuts aren't too bad but I'm not as
fast as the other barber so I don't cut as many people as he did. It's
not bad though. I made $l6 in tips in a day and a half. I ought to be able to send you more each
month if this keeps up. This is
the first hobby that paid off. The old barber went to Saigon to buy some
barber equipment but couldn't find any
so he's leaving his. I should take
over the barber hootch next week sometime. Please send me a big picture
of you three girls to hang on my wall near the barber stool to
remind me of why I don't want to
go to the field. I think
this barber job is
going to be awful hard on me, mentally, and on my feet physically. But
for love and money
I'll do anything.
It's raining here right now. The first in several months and wow does it come
down. This place turned from dust bowl to mud pie. I could have
gone outside and taken a bar of soap and showered it was coming down so hard.
I went to
church this afternoon
(the barber gets Sunday afternoon of f) and met the
rest of the members around here. There were about 35-40 guys there so we had
a good meeting. I
have to go
see about becoming a home
teaching district leader tonight. It
was nice to be able to
go to church and take the sacrament here in the middle of all this
conflict. I felt like giving a
talk today but didn't for the sake of harmony.
My
watch stopped tonight at 6:55 pm for no
reason. I'll have to go get it fixed tomorrow.
Oh yes, any package sent regular
mail up to 5 lbs goes air mail
to Vietnam anyway and from 5-30 lbs packages go space available. So keep
them small and many. I
don't really need much right now but lots of love and prayers."
Cu-Chi, Monday, March 17,
9:00 pm:
Hi there you all! Lonely Jake the barber here. Well I've been here a week now but it
seems like a year.
At least the day
goes fast while I'm cutting
hair. I don't get any breaks except for
lunch but I still only work 8 hours
a day. That's a little better that the 24 hours a day in the
field. I made $ll.40 in tips today so
it wasn't a total loss.
If I keep this up we might be able to get out of debt someday.
I still haven't spent
any of my combat pay yet. I
just don't buy anything but stationary and soda.
Ahh - a cool breeze
just came blowing through the door. I just
took a shower and am laying here on my bed writing while lounging in
my shorts. The only reason
I wear shorts is
because of modesty. There aren't
too many people here that really care anyway.
Off in the distance some
big artillery is going off and around
the perimeter flares are floating down here and there, but since I got here
everything has quieted way
down. The only way I could get hurt
is if the VC overrun Cu-Chi, which isn't very likely with the big air bases
so near, or if a
mortar round lands right on top of me while I'm asleep. Otherwise I'm safer than on
the freeway but not close enough
to come home nights.
You would enjoy it here right now. It's just cooling off after a very hot,
humid day. The gentle breeze
is so refreshing and
the stars are
bright overhead and the crickets
are chirping here and there among the
hootches. It's that
time of the evening when you just lay down and look
up at the stars and think of home, glad to
forget about the toils of the day.
Well, I've
just been talking to a LRRP (pronounced Lurp - for Long Range Recon
Patrol) and he's telling me about some of his missions. It sounds like a dangerously exciting thing but not for me at the
present time.
p.s. Send me some hair clipper oil (2 cans) when
you get a chance.
(Editors note:
The shower room had showerheads around the outside walls fed by a pipe
from a large water tank on the roof.
Each night a big water truck would come from the water
purification plant and fill up the tank.
The tank was painted black so the sun would heat the
water in the tank to warm by the end of the day. If you got there
too late in the evening and the water was all gone, you
had to wait until about midnight for a cold shower or take a
spit bath. The thought
of going to bed
covered with other people’s hair forced me into many spit baths.
I kept a 5-gallon water can
in my shop and could shower on my front porch with those 5 gallons in a
pinch.)