My DEROS Date Is December 4th

SP4 Marvin Dale Miller to his mother, 26 July 1971 — written near the end of July, this letter fills the long gap between 12 July and 4 August. He names his DEROS date — December 4th — the first time he puts his rotation home on paper, explains why he's been quiet ("I've had my nose stuck in a book"), looks ahead to another Vũng Tàu stand-down on 8 August, and runs through the garden, baby Dean, his film, Buss's porch, and the living-room floor back home.

26 July 71

Dear Mom,

Well here it is, almost the end of July. Time doesn't seem to go very fast, but when I look back it's hard to believe I've been here almost 8 months. I'll be starting my 9th month Aug. 4th. I can't say how much more time I've got over here. They haven't been sending any new people over here lately so that stopped the short tours. My DEROS date is Dec. 4th so that would be the best thing to go by if you're counting the days.

How's everyone back home? I haven't been to busy lately. I've had my nose stuck in a book so I haven't written as much as I should have. Really everything's just about the same. I guess we're supposed to go to Vung Tau again on the 8th of next month. That's always something to look forward to.

Have you canned any fruit yet? I hope you get alot from the garden this year. I don't get many vegetables to eat over here.

Dean must be really growing the way Shirley talks. She thinks he'll be walking before I get home. He must be pretty strong.

It hasn't rained much in the last week. Must be building up for some big ones. How's the weather back there? I hear it's pretty hot in just about all the letters I get.

I sent in some more film awhile back. I should get the pictures pretty soon. I don't know how many will turn out. I was more or less just clowning around with my camera. I'll be sure and send some tho.

Did Buss ever get anymore done on his porch? Shirley probably wants a porch pretty bad.

Did you ever figure out what it would cost to put plywood on the living room floor? And also get a little more done in the attic.

Well I can't think of much else to say. So I guess I'll get this letter ready for mailing.

Love Marvin

Transcription Notes

• Blue ballpoint, three pages. A blue lens flare runs up the lower-right of pages one and two; all text is legible.
• "I don't get many vegetables" — there is a short struck word after "don't"; transcribed to his evident meaning.
• His own usages preserved: "to busy" (for "too busy"), "alot," "more or less" (written "more o less"), and "tho" (for "though").
• DEROS — Date Eligible for Return from OverSeas, the Army's term for the scheduled end of a soldier's overseas tour. Transcribed exactly as he wrote it ("DEROS date is Dec. 4th").

Archivist Notes

His DEROS date, in his own hand — December 4th. "My DEROS date is Dec. 4th so that would be the best thing to go by if you're counting the days." This is the first place in the correspondence where Marvin sets his rotation home down on paper, and it doubles as a primary-source anchor for the whole tour: counted back, a 4 December 1971 DEROS confirms an arrival in-country of ~4 December 1970 — the same date the profile timeline carries. The month-count he keeps for his mother runs off the same day: "starting my 8th month" in the 27 Jun 71 letter, "I'll be starting my 9th month Aug. 4th" here, and "I'll be starting my 9th month tomorrow" in the 4 Aug 71 letter.

Why he'd gone quiet — and a filled gap. "I haven't been to busy lately. I've had my nose stuck in a book so I haven't written as much as I should have." This letter lands in what had been the longest mid-tour silence in the collection — the stretch between 12 Jul and 4 Aug 71 — and explains it in his own words. With it, that gap closes.

The short tours stopped — the drawdown reaches D Co. "They haven't been sending any new people over here lately so that stopped the short tours." By mid-1971 the U.S. was drawing down in Vietnam, and the slowing flow of replacements meant the early-out "short tours" some men had counted on were no longer being granted — which is exactly why Marvin tells his mother to "go by" his full DEROS instead.

Vũng Tàu again, 8 August. "I guess we're supposed to go to Vung Tau again on the 8th of next month. That's always something to look forward to." The coastal stand-down named here is the same one the 4 Aug 71 letter places four days off, and which the 9 Aug 71 letter confirms he reached ("Here in Vung Tau now"). Three letters converge on the 8 August Vũng Tàu trip.

Film — still clowning with the camera. "I sent in some more film awhile back… I was more or less just clowning around with my camera. I'll be sure and send some tho." The same thread that runs from the 8 Mar 71 letter to Dan ("Don't bother sending another camera… I doubt whether I'll take any more pictures") through the developed rolls of 12 Jul and 4 Aug — and the proof that, his March grumbling aside, he kept shooting and mailing prints home all summer.

The home front: garden, Dean, the house. The familiar Kittanning threads close the letter. The canning and garden ("I hope you get alot from the garden this year") echo the cherries and pickles of 12 Jul 71. Baby Dean — Don "Buss" and Shirley's son — "must be really growing… she thinks he'll be walking before I get home," a tender counterpoint to the 7 Mar 71 worry that "little Dean surely won't [remember me]." And the house projects continue: Buss's porch (proposed 7 Mar, photographed by 18 Oct 71) and the plan to "put plywood on the living room floor… and also get a little more done in the attic" — the same living-room floor and attic he is still asking about in the 20 Aug 71 letter, parts of the long rebuild of the family home.

Location: Unnamed. In late July the company was in the FSB Fanning / King area of III Corps; the Vũng Tàu stand-down was a rear-area break on the coast.

Cross-references:

• 12 Jul 71 — previous letter; the gap this one fills
• 4 Aug 71 — next letter; the 9th month and the 8 Aug Vũng Tàu trip
• 9 Aug 71 — Vũng Tàu reached ("Here in Vung Tau now")
• 27 Jun 71 — "starting my 8th month"; the month-count thread
• 8 Mar 71 (to Dan) and 12 Jul 71 — the camera/film thread
• 20 Aug 71 — the living-room floor and attic; the house rebuild
• 7 Mar, 18 Oct 71 — Buss's porch; baby Dean growing up