A.W. (Peter) Machen to Arthur W. Machen, Jr.

September 29, 1969

Vietnam

Dear Dad,

Well we went on that one day operation.  They choppered us across the Namo River and we swept the hills where the NVA had been spotted.  There was little contact with the enemy and they took off before the sweep was over.

Last night we were on patrol.  It was dusk we were on our way to Hill # 32 to set up an ambush.  While we were going through some marshy lowlands, the “tail end Charlie” (last man) spotted a silhouette of a man walking along a ridge.  We counted them—12 NVA.  They were spread well apart, well organized and probably weren’t the VC which were spotted earlier in that area.

We went up there to set up our ambush in hopes of getting them on their way back.  They never did.  But a VC walked right into us about 3 a.m. and we easily “blew him away.”

I was thinking about that comment that Bill Orrick made about the S. Vietnamese.  Well I'm beginning to understand now what he meant a little more.  We have “Arvons”, S.V. soldiers working with us, and they are hard to train.  There is a communication barrier and they just don’t use common sense.  When we were on that operation, one Arvon picked up a dud mortar round (the fool) and dropped it.  He killed himself, another Arvon, and wounded 7 Marines, one critically.  One Arvon found what he thought might be a booby trap he started poking at it blindly.  There could have been a hand grenade or anything in there.

I don’t want them around me.  They only want to carry water and rice and can't hack it out in the bush.  One even started crying when the going got rough.

In 2 days I get paid and in 2 weeks we go afloat.  We haven't let up at all.  We've been hacking the bush and jungles almost every day, traveling up to 6 thousand meters a day when the terrain permits.  The only time I get any sleep is when I can at random.  But, our morale is high and I feel fine.  During the day it's the heat, and at night it's the mosquitoes.  Time goes so fast out here; you can't even tell what day it is.

Here is a newspaper clipping from the Stars & Stripes paper.  It's about Rat Patrol – Kilo  Comp. 3 bn, 26th Marines.   You know the TV show Rat Patrol.  Well Kilo was the Real McCoy.

Have those allotments come yet?

Love to all.

Pete