Encoded for for the Veterans History Project, August 26, 2020.
All letters in the Richard Miller collection were digitized.
The following letters were transcribed from the handwritten originals by Veterans History Project staff. No alterations to this transcription has been made, although spelling errors are indicated with [sic]. Any special emphasis (i.e. underlining) is presented *between asterisks*.
19-Oct-‘66
Hi Billy,
Well it’s been a while since I’ve written you about what has happened on our operations. I’ll start with the one before last. That’s the one where we went to the Bo Loi Woods. It was a twelve day problem for our paltoon[sic]. The rest of the company was out for two days longer. I’ll explain why later. We started out by going through the plantation across the river. You see the plantation leads to the Bo Li woods and the Bo Li leads into the Ho Bo woods. So “Charlie” comes to the plantation through the Bo Li. We were at the edge of the plantation near the Bo Li for a few days. We got sniper fire and one night we received some mortar fire from Charlie. We were set up with the rest of the
batalion[sic]. We moved from there to the Bo Li and set up. We stayed in this position for I think It was five days. They had us set up the mortars and the other paltoons[sic] used our trucks to go on sweeps during the day. We entered them with our mortars. Well on my birthday Sun. 25th Sept they went out on a sweep. A truck with eleven men on it hit a mine when they where out after about an hour. It wouldn’t have been bad except the mine went off under the gas tank. Eight men where killed and the other three suffered burns. Our paltoon[sic] had three men riding on it. They where out there to call in mortar fire incase it was needed. One guy had just got here and they where going to teach him how to will in the fire. Two where killed and one got out. The one that got out use to be my squad leader for a while.
It was pretty shocking. We could see the P.C. burning from our position where we were set up (the smoke) On the same day a truck from another company also hit a mine in the same place (gas tank) Nobody was killed there where a few injured The ammunition in it was exploding for hours. It’s extremely unusual that something like that to happen. And two in one day is unbelievable. There have been three such happenings. Those two and one a few months ago. When we where set up in the position. Just about every night we would get mortared. We could just about set our watches by it. We would mortar them right back and call in artillery That would usually silence them. No one was injured in any of the mortarings. We moved from
our position and where moving to our next position when a truck in our paltoon[sic] hit a mine. Nobody was seriously hurt just a few cuts + bruises. Our paltoon[sic] along with two other trucks had the job of towing the truck back to base camp. While we were in this position just about the whole day We had a lieutenant from artillery with us. He use to call in the artillery fire incase we needed it. Well he decided to take a little walk by himself around where we where. He only had a .45 on him. He was spotted a “Charlie” and got killed. It was mostly his fault. He diddn’t[sic] have a helmet on and shouldn’t have been walking around, especially alone. They couldn’t bring a chopper in and we had to carry the body in the disabled truck. We started out just five trucks including the disabled one
We kept getting stuck in mud. The ground is real soft because of all the rain. We had to set up in a rice paddy that night. The next morning we had to wait for a chopper to take out the body we where carring[sic] It took the rest of the day to get the trucks out of the rice paddy field we were in. Also the truck I was in wouldn’t start It took the mechanics a while to fix it. We started moving and then everybody got stuck at once. Nobody could move. It was getting dark. So we set up right where we were. There were trees and bushed all around. It was a pretty scary night. If “Charlie” would have hit us we would have been in a bind. We were on a bad position and all stuck. The next
day we finally got the trucks out one by one. We would get hooked up and then get stuck again. It was real frustrating. But we had a chopper look over the cloud and he found a good route for us to take and we finally got out. We diddn’t[sic] get to base camp but set up at an artillery site. We were pretty lucky “Charlie” diddn’t[sic] hit us, not even a sniper round. Three days and two nights it took us to do something that could be done in the day season in a half a day. The next day we came back to base camp. The rest of the company stayed out for two extra days. There was another man killed when “Charlie” set off a Claymore mine near the truck he was in. He was on top of the truck. He shouldn’t have been up there. A lot of guys got injured + killed because there careless. The truck that
hit the mine under the gas tank was just one of those things. But the other two men maybe would be alive if they would have been a little more careful. That’s the most men that have ever been lost on one operation since Ive been here. All together in the operation which included the 27th ^[unclear]^ we accounted for 88 “Charlies” killed.
Our company had to destroy two trucks out in the field. Because they were stuck so bad they couldn’t be moved. We also lost the one that hit the mine, and the one we towed in has to be completly[sic] repaired.
We got some new trucks today There run on diesel fuel. Which is good because they wouldn’t explode if they should get hit near the gas tank. Also we can mount on mortar right inside the trucks instead
of outside like we use to. No more sandbags to fill. All we do now is aim the truck in the position we want to fire and were ready to go. There a lot better than the other ones. Only thing is that the batalion[sic] has only six of them right now. We’ll probbly[sic] get two. We need three for a complete mortar section.
We have been in base camp for about a week now The reason is because we don’t have enough trucks to go out on a big operation. Also because it’s so wet. Last night we sent out an ambush near base camp and we set up our mortars incase they were needed. They also sent out one paltoon[sic] to support a bridge operation. They said we would be just doing small things like this for a little while until we get enough trucks and until it gets a little dryer.
The last operation we went out
on was for five days. It wasn’t far from base camp. We only took four trucks to carry the mortars and the company commander. The line paltoon[sic] took trucks and walked some of the way. It was just a company sized operation. We diddn’t[sic] run into anything on that one. Comming[sic] back in everybody had to walk to the highway because we had all the equipment in the trucks and there wasn’t enough room. You really appreciate them ^(trucks)^ more after you have to walk a little. It was hot and wet walking along. We took trucks back to base camp. Along the highway there’s a rubber plantation. You can see a dead “Charlie” hanging from one of the trees. He tied himself in the tree and was sniping at convoys that use to go by.
They spotted him (not^our company^) and killed him and left him hanging in the tree. You can see it everytime you pass the spot.
Im now gunner on our number three gun. Where getting a lot of new men in because the old ones will be leaving in about a month and a half. We haven’t been doing much during the day. Cleaning up equipment etc. Tomorrow Im going on shotgun detail. I think its to Saigon on convoy. You asked me once about how the colored guys are over here. There just the same as the white guys as fighters and in everything else. I can’t see any difference. We had a guy in our paltoon[sic] (white) who was thrown out of our company because he was a coward out on the field. Everybody is scared but this guy just wouldn’t do anything. He’s lucky he wasn’t court martialed.
They had a little hockey summary on radio tonight. They evaluated the Rangers + Boston. I don’t know about the Rangers. They have plenty of fighters and not enough hockey players. I see that theres at least one good defense man on the team
How’s the new car getting along? Pretty soon and the new baby will be here. Still riding in the car? (police) That’s about it for now. Im
going to get a little sleep. Ive still got letters to catch up on. Every once in a while I remember I owe somebody a letter and start writting[sic]. That’s about it take care and give Lisa a big kiss for me.
Vincent
P.S. Like Ive said before Im not writting you and telling you about the men we loose and the trucks that hit mines because I want you to worry. I just want you to know the general situation. I’m glad now that I told you before anybody else knew what was going on. That article was bad enough. If you diddn’t[sic] know anything about it. It would have even been worst than what it was. I’m sure you understand.