Roch Thornton’s letters home
My parents kept the 80-plus letters I sent them from Vietnam, and I went 25 years without re-reading them. Now I have read them and I’m shocked at how callous and unsympathetic they were. I showed no concern for the fears or feelings of a parent with a son serving in Vietnam.
Oh well, here they are. My contemporary comments are posted in red type.
Roch Thornton
Letters dated Feb. 1970 — Bullshit and bravado (6 letters)
Letters dated March 1970 — Whining and complaining (11 letters)
Letters dated April 1970 — Reality begins to sink in (12 letters)
Letters dated May 1970 — In for a tough fight (7 letters)
Letters dated June 1970 — Heat, dust, boredom and death (8 letters)
Letters dated July 1970 — Learning a tough job (7 letters)
Letters dated Aug. 1970 — Information and mis-information (9 letters)
Letters dated Sept. 1970 — Accidentally dead is still dead (7 letters)
Letters dated Oct. 1970 — Running out of steam (8 letters)
Letters dated Nov. 1970 — Typhoon Kate – the rains begin (5 letters)
Letters dated Dec. 1970 — R and R in Hong Kong (9 letters)
Letters dated Jan. 1971 — Leaving “home” for the World (6 letters)
Letters dated Feb. 1971 — Friends still in danger (1 letter)
Letters dated March 1971 — Last days of the CAPs (2 letters)