Letters: April 24 and 27, 1951

        April 24, 1951 - Still no mail--goddamnit, are you writing? Probably so but it’s been a long time since I opened a letter from anyone. Of course my changing addresses so much has probably fouled up the works. I undoubtedly have mail scattered all over the far East.
        I’m now a member of the 25th Div and we are, or were until the attack started, at a place called Chanjang-mi, which is about twenty-five miles north of Seoul. The gooks are hitting fairly hard to the East and we’re not sure of our flanks or rear. What a war. Thank God I have an airplane.
        Korea is, to me and a bunch of other guys, nothing but one big latrine. The warmer the weather, the worse the smell. These rice paddies are beyond description. Ugh! Also--and this I think is funny--here there are a lot of pocket books of every description and the question everybody has to a person reading one is not whether it’s a good book or if it’s interesting but on what page does the girl get made and I’ll start from there. Sex, Sex, Sex. Rampant.
        Until I get a letter from you hon--bye for now.


        April 27, 1951 - Still no mail but I’m not particularly worried as I will probably get a whole bunch pretty soon. What is hard is to find something to write about other than the war. You may have some questions or maybe you wrote something about what you did in school or how much you drank at some party--those things I could remark about.
        The war is rough--believe me. We’ve been kicked off two strips (air) in the last three days--we’re in Seoul now and we expect to move back tomorrow. On one strip Chinese guerrillas (how the hell do you spell it?) infiltrated and we had to leave at one thirty in the morning. We’ll probably have to move back across the Han river if the Chink offensive keeps up. This moving back is bad because we can never get set to stabilize our lines. These damn South Korean troops aren’t worth the powder to blow them to hell. In fact they were responsible for this latest withdrawal because the Chinese hit them first and they turned and ran, leaving ours and the 3rd Div. flanks wide open. So now we’re hurting. God knows when it will stop.
        Well hon, guess that’s all for now. Hope you’re okay and knocking over the grades in school. And how about going up to the Fairmont and having a drink with and for me. Write real often.