Excerpts from Letters to Mom in italics.
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05 April 1967
I got clarification on the AG1 stripe. If I extend 6 months (bribery), I get it. If they can't promote on merit alone, screw 'em. I declined!
Last nite there was an USO show on base. It was a Filipino group with one little Huk girl. Did she look good! Since I've been here we've had about 3 or 4 Filipino groups and a Japanese combo.
Only 13 days til I leave on R & R! That sounds like a good note to close.
07 April 1967
I'm eating beer pretzels that a guy from Hershey in the company rcvd fm WEGE's pretzels. Taste good. The cheese went good with bologna. I'm gonna give the guy some of my bologna - he gave me a whole bag a pretzels - he got a crate of them.
P.S. I've since grown long hair.
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16 April 1967
I can't think of anything but R & R. I leave here on the 18th and from Da Nang the following day. [Fehr and Peterson were billeted overnight in a hootch along the Da Nang runway. Jets screamed off one by one into the darkness belching a trail of flames as they headed north. Then alert sirens went off and the two buddies hit the trench outside their temporary abode. The VC lobbed a few mortars toward the airfield. Oh well, no big thing. Just a wake up and then off to Taipei on R & R!] I bought a Vietnamese dress for hopefully CiCi. I f she doesn't come butterfly to see me, I'll find another girl about the same size.
I wonder what kind of curriculum is offered by the University of Taipei and if the GI Bill applies? I couldn't think of a better place for a student of political science to be educated than in a foreign environment, especially East Asia. I would be forced to learn a radically different language and writing system, and new cultural values, religions/social outlooks. We need to know more about this part of the world.
Well I gotta get back to the job. If you don't here [sic] from me, I'm on R & R.
24 April 1967
I just got back from Taipei and had a wonderful time. [Steve had schooled his protégé, Peterson, on the rudiments of barroom Chinese to avoid the inflationary prices tacked on to the R & R GI's. Pete masterfully masqueraded as a new "Linkou Navy" sailor. Before CiCi arrived, Steve took Pete back the alley to lighten his load with a quick double-header. A tad later, an introduction to the hygienic steam-job blow-bath establishment.] I hope to return one more time, either on R & R or leave, before I'm discharged. I feel like a new man.
I am not certain whether I'll get thru college, or what kind of job I'll find, but I do know I am going to marry CiCi! I've rearranged my priorities.
25 April 1967
I guess CiCi finds it hard to believe that I'm actually going to marry her. She is rightly proud of being Taiwanese, but sometimes I sense a feeling of inferiority toward Westerners. If there is any feeling toward Westerners you'd expect it to be resentment because of our high living standard and overbearing attitudes overseas.
She is so worried you won't accept her. I've told her the contrary and how you two can teach each other recipes and cooking secrets. I am encouraging her to take English courses and I'll correct all her letters and send them back. It ought to help a bit.
30 April 1967
By the way, I'm over 40 miles from the DMZ. That may seem like a little way when you're 10,000 miles away, but when you got to walk it like the VC it's quite a haul.
I can't wait to read the letter from American U. It's probably an acceptance letter. My mind is made up - CiCi uber alles!
07 May 1967
I am glad you took the news as you did. That is what I expected. I also got a letter of acceptance from American U. Guess I can't make it this fall. I got the other letter you sent from American U and the Playboy. TNKS. Also I received my IRS refund.
I must tell my C.O. of my intent to marry a foreign national and my clearance will be pulled. There is a slim possibility I could get a waiver, but I'll probably get orders to a ship until my discharge date.