When I was in elementary school in Illinois, my grade five teacher organized a letter-writing campaign to soldiers then serving in Vietnam. Whether all of them wrote back to us I can no longer recall more than half a century later. But I recently found the letter my GI had sent me, dated May 1, 1966, and I've posted it below:
You may or may not be able to make out the handwriting, so here is a transcript:
Hi, David.
How are you? Fine I hope. I'm a lance corporal in the Marine Corps. My name is John Fox.
You had a few questions for me to answer, so I'll do it now.
First of all you want to know what the Ho Chi Ming [sic] Trail was. That is a section of land the Viet Cong use to come down out of the North into South Vietnam. It's not really a trail.
Secondly you asked what's my job over here. I'm a demolition team leader. We blow up caves, tunnels, enemy trails, & etc. [sic] We also dig up & disarm mines of the Viet Cong's. There are 4 of us in the demo team.
Thirdly you asked who is winning the war. Well, I'm glad to say that, I believe we are.
Fourth you asked if the war is being only fought in the Central Highlands. No, it's not. The war is being fought both in the South & North sections of Viet Nam as well as the Central Highlands.
Well David that's it, so I guess I'll close. Thank you very much for writing. Be good & God bless you.
A friend always,
John Fox
After this exchange of letters, we never corresponded again. Did he survive the war? The Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC, carries the name of one Corporal John William Fox, who was killed in action in 1968. But that John Fox was in the Army, while mine was in the Marines, so these may be different persons. I would love to hear from him if he is still alive, or at least from someone in his family.
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