Here in Vung Tau Now

SGT Marvin Dale Miller to his mother, 9 August 1971 — written from a Vũng Tàu stand-down. He's mailing it together with the 4 August letter he forgot to send, plans to buy prepaid mailers at the PX, hopes she puts up plenty of canning, asks after his nephew Dean's walking — and, unprompted, reassures her he isn't getting "on any drugs."

9 Aug. 71

Dear Mom,

Well I'm here in Vung Tau now. We just had a hard rain a little bit ago. Once a day is all it's been raining over here lately.

I found a letter I wrote you about a week ago. I thought I had already mailed it but evidently I didn't. I'll mail it with this one.

I think I'll go to the PX tomorrow and buy some prepaid mailers so I won't have to send all them bills home. I got a couple of rolls of film to take also.

I hope everyone is doing alright back home. There's epidemic of pink eye going around over here now. I guess you know what pink eye is already.

I hope you get a good many things canned this year. Eating canned stuff is better than not eating at all. I've always liked canned fruit pretty well anyway.

Tell me when Dean starts walking. Do you think he'll be walking before Jimmy did? He must be a strong little guy.

There hasn't been much happening to speak of. You don't have to worry about me getting on any drugs. They don't interest me.

I guess I'll say bye now

Love Marvin

Transcription Notes

• "them bills" (for "those bills"), "also" written "aslo," and "There's epidemic" (missing "an") are Marvin's own usages, preserved as written.
• Struck-out false starts appear on both pages ("go to to the PX"; "Do you think think he'll be walking").
• Blue ballpoint, two pages. Signed "Love / Marvin." All text clearly legible.

Archivist Notes

Vũng Tàu — the stand-down planned four days earlier: "Well I'm here in Vung Tau now." This is the coastal stand-down he announced in the 4 Aug 71 letter ("we should go to Vung Tau in four days"), arriving on schedule. One of several Vũng Tàu rotations across his tour (cf. the March stand-down, 22 Mar 71; the June company rotation, 19 Jun 71/27 Jun 71).

Mailed with the 4 August letter: "I found a letter I wrote you about a week ago. I thought I had already mailed it but evidently I didn't. I'll mail it with this one." The "letter from about a week ago" is the 4 Aug 71 letter — the two were posted together from Vũng Tàu. The same forgot-to-mail habit recurs at the very end of the tour (24 Nov 71b).

Prepaid mailers and film — the photography logistics: "I think I'll go to the PX tomorrow and buy some prepaid mailers so I won't have to send all them bills home. I got a couple of rolls of film to take." The beginning of the prepaid-mailer arrangement for sending film out — referenced again in the 3 Oct 71 letter ("I used pre-paid mailers this time"). Of a piece with the larger film-developing thread (24 Aug 71, the cheaper firm; 13 Apr 71, the Kodak 124).

"You don't have to worry about me getting on any drugs": Unprompted, he answers a fear his mother plainly carried: "You don't have to worry about me getting on any drugs. They don't interest me." The timing is exact — by mid-1971 the heroin and drug problem among US troops in Vietnam was front-page news at home (the Army had just begun mandatory urinalysis screening of departing soldiers that summer), and worried families wrote about it. His flat denial is a half-dialogue with her unseen worry, and a rare moment when the wider story of the 1971 war reaches into a letter otherwise about canning and a nephew's first steps.

Home — canning and the children: "I hope you get a good many things canned this year … I've always liked canned fruit." The garden-and-harvest thread (cf. the cherries and pickles of the 12 Jul 71 letter). And: "Tell me when Dean starts walking. Do you think he'll be walking before Jimmy did?" — his nephew Dean (a newborn in the 26 Feb 71 letter; walking by the 18 Oct 71 letter), measured against young Jimmy, another child in the family circle.

Cross-references:

• 4 Aug 71 — previous letter; mailed together with this one, and the trip planned in it
• 20 Aug 71 — next letter in the archive
• 3 Oct 71 — the prepaid-mailer thread continued
• 26 Feb 71, 18 Oct 71 — nephew Dean, newborn to walking