"Local Soldier With 'Chopper' Unit In Vietnam" — Jim Garvin in his hometown paper
Local Soldier With "Chopper" Unit In Vietnam
PFC James P. Garvin, the son of Rev. and Mrs. Glenn S. Garvin of Good Hope, is a rifleman with Delta Company, 2nd Battalion, 8th Regiment, 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) in Vietnam.
Garvin joined this outfit the first of August, right after their return from three months in Cambodia. Since then his unit has been working its way south to the South China Sea, where they are presently located near the delta southeast of Saigon.
In a recent letter home, he told of a mopping up operation, following several days of B52 bombing and systematic artillery shelling, in a certain area where he came across a Vietnamese farrowing crate not unlike those we have. It was a 3' x 7' structure, with sides of split rails, and a slatted floor of split logs, together with a thatched roof. His comment to his ex-farm-adviser dad was, "Look how long it has taken us to catch up technologically with a civilization 2000 years behind our own!"
He also drew a picture of a flour mill made from a hollowed out stump, plus a heavy beam to pound with, balanced by a cross beam hinged on a taller stump.
He has commented briefly on his many Scouting and camping experiences leading to Eagle Scout as not only having been a great help in basic, but that these have played an important part in his serving as "point man" with his company.
PFC Garvin is married, his wife being Ruth Ann (Hayden) of Pittsfield. She is waiting out his return in Decatur where she is employed in youth rehabilitating work with the Adolph Myer Zone Center there.
