23 March
Dear Dad,

We found an old 8 inch Naval shell in a rice paddy today and blew it up with C-4. We also blew up one B-40 rocket, 2 grenades, 3 M-79 rounds and a 60mm mortar round. People are always turning in ordnance for us to blow up. I’ll have to admit I was nervous when we were messing with that 8″ shell. It looked huge to me.

The Courier isn’t getting here. I’ve gotten two copies. The last one I got was dated March 12. I got that on March 24. Maybe you’d better give my new address to the Courier.

The Seabees give me funny looks when I stroll down the road they’re building, with four pounds of C-4, 2 feet of safety fuse, and blasting caps, sticking out of my pockets. They must think I’m a mad bomber or something.

(At some point shortly after arriving, I volunteered to become the “demolition” man for CAP 2. That meant I carried our C-4, time fuse and blasting caps. I also got to make charges and blow things up. It was actually kind of fun, and broke the monotony.

Our company has had six medevacs in the last two days. One killed, five wounded.

Love,

Roch