A Wallet Just Waiting to Be Filled

Marvin Dale Miller to his mother, 3 January 1971 — his third letter home, written the day he received her New Year's Day letter. The mail had finally caught up after the Christmas rush. News from home of his brother Dan's deer, a request for pictures to fill a new wallet, and — for the first time in the collection — the camera he was carrying: "a real small Minolta," bought from a buddy in-country.

3 Jan 71

Dear Mom,

I got your letter New Year's day. I must say, it's sure nice to hear from home. It took about 15 days to get there and back, but it should get better now that the Christmas rush is over.

I'm glad to hear that Dan got a deer. He's probably a little disappointed because it wasn't a buck, but a doe is better than no deer at all. You didn't say if Buss got one so I take it he didn't. I'd sure like to have some fried deer meat about now.

Well it's still pretty hot over here but I spend most of my time in the shade so it isn't to bad. It hasn't rained in about a month so it's pretty dry too. I'm just thinking about all the good food you all probably had for Christmas. Oh well, I'll catch up on what I missed when I get home.

It would be nice if you could send some pictures. I got a wallet just waiting to be filled ha ha. I bought a camera off one of my buddies over here. It's a real small Minolta. If I go back by way of Japan I think I'll get a camera like Dan's.

I hope the cold weather isn't getting you down. If you keep the house good and warm that should help some.

Well I guess I had better close now.

Love Marv

P.S. I suppose you already know that it's only a ten month tour over here now, so I'll have less than 9 months when you get this letter.

Transcription Notes

• "It took about 15 days" — Marvin habitually writes "to" for "too" elsewhere; here the words "it isn't to bad" again show the pattern.
• "Buss" — Marvin's older brother Don, spelled "Buss" consistently across the letters (cf. 18 Apr 71).
• The body runs onto a second page; the postscript begins at the foot of page two ("it's only a ten month tour") and finishes on a third sheet ("over here now, so I'll have less than 9 months when you get this letter"). The third sheet holds only those two lines; the rest is blank.
• Blue ballpoint, clearly legible throughout.

Archivist Notes

The camera, identified — earliest evidence in the collection: "I bought a camera off one of my buddies over here. It's a real small Minolta." This is the first time any of Marvin's letters names the camera he was using, and it resolves the open camera-model question that runs through the collection (first flagged in the 28 Feb 71 film letter). It also fixes the camera timeline: he was shooting a small Minolta, bought secondhand from another soldier, from at least early January 1971 — the camera behind the early in-country photographs. By 18 April 1971 he had sold that camera ("I sold that camera yesterday to a guy who was headed back to the World") and picked up "a little Kodak 124." So the Minolta covers roughly January–April 1971; the Kodak 124 covers the balance of the tour. His aside — "If I go back by way of Japan I think I'll get a camera like Dan's" — places brother Dan again as the family's camera authority (cf. 28 Feb 71, where Dan advises on film stock).

The deer and the family hunting thread: "I'm glad to hear that Dan got a deer… a doe is better than no deer at all. You didn't say if Buss got one so I take it he didn't. I'd sure like to have some fried deer meat about now." A glimpse of the Kittanning fall hunting season relayed by mail, and of Marvin missing home cooking. Dan and Buss (Don) are his older brothers, both recurring figures across the letters.

Mail in the Christmas rush: "I got your letter New Year's day… It took about 15 days to get there and back, but it should get better now that the Christmas rush is over." A concrete data point on transit times — roughly two weeks each way at the holiday peak. This is also the first letter in the collection in which incoming mail has reached him; in the 26 Dec 70 letter, eleven days earlier, he had still received nothing ("I haven't gotten any letters yet").

"Only a ten month tour" — note the discrepancy: "it's only a ten month tour over here now, so I'll have less than 9 months when you get this letter." This is almost certainly one of the shortened-tour rumors circulating in the 1st Cavalry Division that winter as its redeployment got underway. The division's withdrawal was announced and in motion in early 1971; the bulk of the 1st Cav stood down and rotated home by that spring, leaving the 3rd Brigade (Separate) behind as the residual force. Marvin's 2/8 Cavalry was part of that brigade kept in country, so whatever talk of a reduced tour was going around did not apply to the men who stayed — his service ran the full twelve months, 4 December 1970 to 2 December 1971. Recorded here as his contemporary expectation, not as fact, and as a small window into the rumor mill around the division's departure.

Sequence: Third known letter, filling the gap between the 26 Dec 70 Christmas letter and the 28 Feb 71 film letter. The dry-season heat he describes ("hasn't rained in about a month") is consistent with the III Corps dry season and with the "unusually hot" stretch he reports seven weeks later.

Cross-references:

• 26 Dec 70 — previous letter (first Christmas in-country); mail had not yet reached him
• 28 Feb 71 — next letter; the camera-model question first flagged via the film troubles
• 18 Apr 71 — sells the Minolta, picks up "a little Kodak 124" (closes the Minolta chapter this letter opens)
• 12 Jul 71, 21 Sep 71 — the continuing develop-and-send-home film routine