The Worst That's Happened

SGT Marvin Dale Miller to his mother, 21 September 1971 — written on her own writing paper, fresh from a package. A direct follow-up to the cut thumb of the 14 September letter: it has healed, but with permanent nerve damage, and he is careful to frame it as the worst thing that has happened to him in-country.

21 Sep 71

Dear Mom,

I got your package as you can see by the writing paper. I got 3 packages in one week, all arrived in good condition.

Well I hope everyone is still okay back home. I'm getting along okay over here. My thumb's better now. I cut a few nerves tho so my thumb doesn't have any feeling in one part. I cut it with a razor blade. No, I didn't get the pinkeye. There wasn't very many in the company who did. That cut is about the worst that's happened since I've been here.

It looks like a very nice day coming up. It must be about 8:30 now. It's been raining about 2:00 every day for the last week but there isn't a cloud in the sky now.

I'll be looking forward to them pictures. I was going to send some pictures home but it turned out that the film was wet and couldn't be developed.

Well this is going to be a short letter. I want to write some other people I owe letters to while I have some free time.

Love Marv

Transcription Notes

• "tho" for "though" and "them pictures" are Marvin's own usages, transcribed as written.
• Blue ballpoint, two pages. All text clearly legible.

Archivist Notes

The cut thumb — resolved, with permanent damage: This letter closes the thread opened in the 14 Sep 71 letter, where a fresh cut on his thumb made writing hard and he predicted it would "probably be okay in 3 or 4 days." A week later it has healed enough to write normally, but he reports lasting harm: "I cut a few nerves tho so my thumb doesn't have any feeling in one part. I cut it with a razor blade." A permanent partial loss of sensation, recorded plainly.

Danger downplayed — explicitly: "That cut is about the worst that's happened since I've been here." This is the letters-downplay-danger pattern stated outright: with about ten weeks left in-country (DEROS 2 Dec 1971), he ranks a razor cut as his worst experience — the calm offered to his mother, read against the operational record rather than at face value.

Half-dialogue: "No, I didn't get the pinkeye. There wasn't very many in the company who did." His "no" answers an unseen, worried question from his mother; there had evidently been a pinkeye (conjunctivitis) outbreak in the company that she had heard about and asked after. A clean example of reconstructing her side of the correspondence from his reply.

Packages: "I got 3 packages in one week, all arrived in good condition" — and the letter is written on writing paper that came in one of them. Consistent with the 14 Sep 71 letter's two packages (from Mary Ellen and from Shirley & Buss); a steady stream of mail from home in mid-September.

Photography: "I was going to send some pictures home but it turned out that the film was wet and couldn't be developed." The develop-and-send-home routine continues, here thwarted by the wet season — an echo of the film troubles in the 28 Feb 71 letter.

Birthday just past: Written six days after his 22nd birthday (15 Sep); he does not mention it, as in the surrounding letters.

Cross-references:

• 14 Sep 71 — previous letter; the thumb cut this letter follows up
• 8 Sep 71, 3 Sep 71 — the September run from FSB Jeffries
• 28 Feb 71 — earlier film-development troubles
• 24 Oct 71 — next letter in the archive