I Did Have a Nice Christmas

Marvin Dale Miller to his mother, 26 December 1970 — his second letter home, written the day after his first Christmas in Vietnam. No mail had reached him yet. Thoughts of a car when he gets back "to the World," the bank loan he means to clear first, and the new furnace keeping the house warm back in Kittanning.

26 Dec 70

Dear Mom,

Well how's everyone back home? Feeling OK I hope. I hope you all had a nice Christmas. You'll have to tell me if you had any snow. We didn't have any snow over here, but I did have a nice Christmas. Now everyone's getting ready to welcome in the New Year.

I haven't gotten any letters yet, but I should get some within the next week if the mail isn't too messed up. I hope you got the ones I wrote.

I wonder if Dan got a car yet. If he did tell him to send a picture of it. I'm still thinking about getting a car when I get back to the World. But I want to pay off that bank loan first. I'm going to try and send some money to you if I can get a money order or something.

Well how's the furnace keeping the house warm. I hope it isn't costing any more than it did last time. Even if it does, it's still a big improvement over that coal furnace.

Well tell everyone I said "Hi" and that everything's going OK with me. I really don't do that much so I'll try and write a little oftener.

Love Marv

Transcription Notes

• "to the World" — period soldier slang for home / the United States.
• "to messed up" — Marvin writes "to" for "too," a habitual spelling seen across the letters.
• Blue ballpoint, two pages. All text clearly legible.

Archivist Notes

Second letter; first Christmas in-country: Written 26 December 1970, eleven days after his first letter (15 Dec 70) and the day after Christmas — his first away from home, spent in Vietnam. "We didn't have any snow over here, but I did have a nice Christmas." As a new arrival he had not yet received any mail: "I haven't gotten any letters yet… I hope you got the ones I wrote." The Bob Hope Christmas show passed through the 1st Cav's area that week (see Joe Kint's account of pulling duty as a "cherry" while veterans attended), though Marvin does not mention it.

The car and the bank loan: "I'm still thinking about getting a car when I get back to the World. But I want to pay off that bank loan first." A characteristic note of financial prudence — clearing the debt before the want. He also asks whether his brother Dan got a car yet, and to send a picture if so, continuing the photo-trading thread that runs through the letters.

The furnace — the rebuilt house: "how's the furnace keeping the house warm… it's still a big improvement over that coal furnace." The Miller home had burned in 1960 and was rebuilt incrementally over the following decade; the replacement of the old coal furnace is one visible step in that long rebuild. Home-improvement updates recur in the letters (cf. the living-room floor and attic in the 20 Aug 71 letter and the stairway in the 9 Mar 71 letter).

Cross-references:

• 15 Dec 70 — first letter (arrival); this is the next in sequence
• 9 Mar 71 — the income-tax refund earmarked for a stairway (the same rebuilt house)
• 20 Aug 71 — money home for the living-room floor and attic
• kint-joe biography — the Bob Hope show the week of the new arrivals' Christmas, 1970