I have added some comments below the letter.
You guys in the Bunker are invited to do the same - email me. MK.
Letter of 28 Nov 2000 to Poe
Note: Thanks, Poe, for passing along
this great (unedited) letter.
I have added some comments below the letter.
You guys in the Bunker are invited to do the same - email me. MK.
MK add-on: This letter revives many memories of the Captain and incidents in which he was involved. Now I remember watching the patrol to retrieve Jones cross the Imjin in front of my bunker, being glad that I was on guard in my down sleeping bag instead of going along, and how damn cold it was that night. Now I remember the Quad 50 Halftrack; once in a while, it'd pull up about 20 feet to the left of my bunker and light up the whole valley as its tracers bounced off rocks or whatever - all okay except for the worry that it might draw artillery or mortar fire in return. Now I remember returning from a no contact (whew!) "contact patrol" and, being so dog tired (and overburdened with the gun, a box of ammo, grenades, and all the cold weather clothes) and being so naturally clumsy that I fell into the new fence and gashed my leg - no, no application for a Purple Heart was warranted. Most of all, the letter causes me to remember my sadness when Captain Pearson left us at the POW camp. Although I did not know him so well personally, I did know from experience that he was a fine Company Commander; and, as I might have guessed when he left, he would be sorely missed later on. When we returned to the Imjin and Kelly, I did indeed wish that he were back. Finally, I also remember the events at the POW camp, some of which the page The POW (and how!) Place) in the "Can Do" Photo Album relates. MK.
