Excerpts from Letters to Mom in italics.
22 June 1967
As I've mentioned before, I am hoping to remain on Taiwan a year to consolidate my marriage, paperwork and finances. Unfortunately things ain't workin out right. I've been referred to the Civil Service Commission to acquire a rating to get a job with the US Government on Taiwan. The Officers club in Taipei had no administrative openings. I hope my other feelers produce positive results, at least one.
I'm overdue a letter from CiCi but it is very difficult for her to write in English. She indicated she thought she was pregnant, but I'm hoping she is just late as usual.
Even without the possibility of a baby arriving, I am worried about money. I can travel home to the states within one year of discharge on a government plane, but the other expenses and travel will be very expensive. If I can get us both back to the states with just our clothing, I'll be thankful.
The letter from A.U. was to inform me that an $800 N.D.E.A. loan was approved for the first year. I wrote a letter tonite thanking them and declining.
28 June 1967
Thanks much for all the help. I hope to send off my application for passport and Chinese visa to the US NAVCOMSTAPHIL Legal Office by tomorrow.
The other day CiCi mentioned that she got a letter from you and that she wanted to answer. Quote: "few days ago I got a letter from your mother. I do like to answer to Her, but you know I can't write so I didn't wrote to Her, I will get some lady write to her, if the one do better." Unquote. She wrote something about going to a hospital but I'm still not clear yet whether she is pregnant or not.
Where I work is about as safe as can be and still be called a combat zone. There are more injuries suffered here at the bar of the club than anywhere else. The only casualties are guys returning from R & R with the clap. (It's next to impossible to contact it in the Phu Bai prison.) That's all for now. [Ink fades; pencil employed.] Besides the blinkin pen blinked out.
08 July 1967
The past few weeks I've been working 12 to 16 hrs a day and I haven't answered any letters. This will necessarily be short.
The letters I receive from CiCi are not very clear since she can't write English. I inferred from the last letter that she did receive and certainly should have gotten the IMF [money order].
13 July 1967
As a rule I work 12 hours per day; recently I had been putting in 8 on and 8 off. This necessarily put an abrupt halt to letter writing.
When a member of the US Naval Security Group intends to marry a foreign national, they usually conduct a background investigation on her. I didn't expect them to do it in my case because of the proximity to my separation date. However, they made me fill out a form giving information on her background.
Because I met her working in a bar etc, they are trying to discourage me. You see enlisted men are immature and incapable of making decisions regardless of their age. To test my determination, they may not grant me an overseas discharge, forcing me to pay about $1200 on a roundtrip from San Francisco. This would make me extremely bitter since even with an overseas discharge, my savings would be thinly stretched.
The other day I went over to Marine Division and had some [passport photos] taken. [ Fehr, attired in usual combat gear, got a ride on a "duece n a half " carrying a white shirt on a hanger with a borrowed tie for the passport photo.] They should be back soon. I hope I have enough time to get a passport and visa or that will keep me from the overseas discharge too.
I haven't gotten any word yet on a job being lined up in Taiwan, so I may return to the states when a visa is granted for CiCi. (Providing I ever do get to Taiwan.) That I hope will be by late November (67) at the latest.
18 July 1967
I just got a letter from CiCi that was misrouted through Hong Kong. It did confirm that she received the money. So far, the war goes on all around us, but luckily keeps passing us by. The shorter I get (43 days) the more I tend to worry. So, all that praying doesn't make me mad at all!
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I finally got some passport photos from the Marine Corp's 3rd Div. I sent everything to the San Miguel, P.I. legal officer. I got some extra photos and I'm enclosing one. I have to sign off now, I got work to do.
23 July 1967
Do you know anything about a Vietnam bonus for Pennsylvania GI's? Somebody mentioned that one was passed amounting to about $45 per month spent in Vietnam. That would mean at least $375 for me.
In the letter that was misrouted to Hong Kong from Taipei, and also another later, CiCi said that she was not pregnant. This sure helps things a bit. I hope to be back before Christmas this year and CiCi is looking forward to her first snowfall. What in the world will I do when I do get back? I would like to have the want ads from the New York Times and the Washington Post. Certainly I will need a job and quick.
In a letter to Uncle Shun I inquired about the possibility of going to a State Teachers College. CiCi also said she thinks it is a good idea for me to go to school. Once she is literate in English, I may have to put her to work to get through college, even if it is a STC. A STC would be considerably cheaper but I don't know how well you are educated to prepare yourself for something else. A career in teaching doesn't appeal to me, especially since it pays so little and also requires overtime.
30 July 1967
I will be discharged by 15 September, probably, but not certainly, in San Miguel [Zambales Province, P.I.]. I don't think the Navy will be able to learn anything about CiCi that I don't already know. I have never known her to lie or mislead me about anything and she has never hid anything from me.
01 August 1967
You've made me the most popular guy in the company! I'm not pretending I have enough time to read the Playboy, but I did manage to read the captions of the cartoons.
Pete [Ted Peterson] gave me a color snapshot he took of CiCi and I [sic] in Taipei [while on R & R]. We are sitting on a bench in the zoo! Would you believe a zoo! I'll send it home after I get back to Taiwan. [Subject color snapshot was not found with the box of letters.] Thirty more days in Vietnam!