The Nicest Time Since I've Been Here

SP4 Marvin Dale Miller to his mother, 22 March 1971 — newly back from a three-day stand-down at Vung Tau, "the nicest time I've had since I've been here." A long, easy letter: the Ali–Frazier fight, the family's growing roster of babies, a care-package wish list, and a count of his own milestones — a year in the Army in two more days.

22 Mar 71

Dear Mom,

Well how's everything back home. I hope everyone is getting over the flu by now. I haven't answered any letters lately so I better get on the ball.

I just got back from Vung Tau where we just took things easy for three days. It was the nicest time I've had since I've been here. I hope I get a chance to go again.

It rained a little a few days ago, but it hasn't rained since. I guess the rainy season starts sometime in April. All in all the weather hasn't changed much since I got here. In the last letter I got, you said you had temperatures in the 70's. It certainly sounds like spring is there to stay.

Yes, I heard the outcome of the Clay–Frasier fight. It really didn't make much difference to me who won. What kind of shirt is a CPO? I meet guys occasionally that I knew back in the States.

Well I hope Mary Ellen gets what she wants. You did tell me Judy was going to have another baby already.

Mary Ellen told me about the knitting kits you and her got. It's something to pass the time and do something useful at the same time.

Well I need some more writing paper. I thought I might get a chance to get some in Vung Tau but I didn't. If you can find some instant Quaker's Oats in little packets, send a bunch of them too. That pudding was sure good. I wonder if they make butterscotch. Send some more cookies too. Make sure you really wrap the box good because they go through a lot of rough handling. I'll see if I can send some money home one of these days. I imagine it takes a good bit to send packages.

I hope them pictures come in soon so you can send them. I got some stuff I'm going to send back like letters and pictures. I can't find room to keep it all. You can put it up for me somewhere.

Well by the time you get this letter it will probably be May. The time seems to go pretty fast over here. In two more days I'll have a year in the Army. May 7th and I'll have four months over here.

Well I'll have to get ready for bed now.

Bye bye.

Love Marv

Transcription Notes

• "Clay–Frasier" — Marvin's spelling of Frazier. The reference is to the 8 March 1971 Ali–Frazier bout (Marvin uses Ali's former name, Cassius Clay).
• "Quaker's Oats" — written with the possessive 's, transcribed as he wrote it.
• A struck/retraced word appears in the CPO sentence ("I [strike] meet guys"); final reading clear.
• "it will probably be May": a comment on the pace of the mail rather than a literal forecast — letters did not move in or out on a consistent schedule, so he is allowing for a long, uncertain transit. Transcribed as written.
• Blue ballpoint, three pages. All other text legible.

Archivist Notes

Vung Tau stand-down — corroborated by McGrew's calendar: "I just got back from Vung Tau where we just took things easy for three days. It was the nicest time I've had since I've been here." Howard McGrew's contemporary field calendar dates this precisely: Mar 17 (St. Patrick's Day) — "flew to Vung Tau / Stand down" and Mar 20 — "Back to FB Fontaine." That is the three-day stand-down Marvin describes, and he wrote this letter on the 22nd, two days after the unit returned. McGrew was Range Platoon and Marvin Cat Platoon, so both men were on the same brigade stand-down rotation — independent primary sources for the same period. The 3rd Brigade commander's debriefing records that the Vung Tau in-country R&R center opened in March 1971, with each rifle company and recon platoon rotated through for a three-day standdown on roughly a 45-day cycle; this was among the first such rotations. Distinct from Marvin's later out-of-country R&R in Hong Kong (June 1971), and from the company's June Vung Tau rotation (see the 19 Jun 71 letter).

Same-day coincidence — the bee incident (noted, not linked): This calm letter was written on 22 March 1971, the same date as the bee incident at FB Mace, in which Range Platoon soldiers were stung and medevaced — among them RTO Howard McGrew and Capt. Jim Bedsole, whose reaction is believed to have contributed to his relief from command. Marvin was Cat Platoon, not Range, and had just returned from the Vung Tau stand-down; he makes no mention of it. Recorded as a same-day coincidence in the record, not as evidence he witnessed or was involved.

Family news: "I hope Mary Ellen gets what she wants. You did tell me Judy was going to have another baby already." Mary Ellen was an older sister; Judy was Marvin's youngest sister (the youngest of the eight siblings) and already the mother of Julie — so "another baby already" tracks the family's expanding next generation. The knitting kits "you and her got" are his mother and Mary Ellen.

Care-package economy: A detailed wish list — writing paper, instant Quaker Oats packets, the well-liked pudding (he wonders about butterscotch), cookies — with packing instructions ("wrap the box good because they go through a lot of rough handling"). Paired with the recurring note that he will "send some money home one of these days," the domestic supply line in both directions.

Service milestones — biographical anchors: "In two more days I'll have a year in the Army." Two days after 22 March is 24 March, placing his Army entry at ~24 March 1970 — consistent with the family record that he entered basic training (Fort Dix) around the time his brother Dan was finishing service in West Germany in early 1970. He also writes that by 7 May he will "have four months over here" — simply a miscalculation on his part (by May he would have been in-country closer to five months). Dates of this kind are governed by his DD-214, not by an offhand count in a letter; the established in-country arrival at FSB Mace ~15 December 1970 stands, and this is not treated as a discrepancy.

Cross-references:

• 28 Feb 71 — previous letter in the archive
• 26 Mar 71 — next letter (four days later)
• Event: bee-incident-1971-03-22 — same date, Range Platoon, FB Mace
• McGrew calendar (primary source) — Mar 17 Vung Tau stand-down / Mar 20 return to FB Fontaine
• 19 Jun 71 — later Vung Tau rotation