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Show Soldier writes home Editor's Note: The following is a letter reprinted from the Millard County Cronicle, Delta, Utah, and is a letter written to a resident of that city. The name is left off for obvious reasons because of the content of the letter which expresses what many believe to be true. South Korea 8 February, 1968 Dear Mother and Dad: I'm sorry that I have been so long in writing this letter. This crisis over here has added a few hours each day to an already busy schedule. I guess that you have been reading about the tense situation that we have over here. We have shipped in enough equipment and men to prepare for open conflict which could begin at any moment. They sent us so many men that we have them sleeping in the motor pool and supply room on cots. Our site here is the one that gets all the work because of our location and the fact that we are over three other sites along the DMZ and we are responsible for the area. Ever since this thing started we have been working many long hours and just waiting for things to start. The waiting is one of the hardest things not knowing just when it may break into a fight. We fly along our side and they fly along their side just waiting and watching for that moment that may never come and yet is so near at hand. We are getting a little tired of waiting for the diplomats to get finished talking. talk-ing. The military people here are pretty angry about the way the North Koreans have been harrassing us and getting away with it. They have 83 of our boys up there and our ship and our government still wants to talk when all those people understand or respect is force. We would surely like to go up and get those boys and then talk about it afterwards. The North Koreans have been violating the DMZ almost every day this past six months. They come down in guerrilla raiding parties, bombing and killing innocent people and last month they made an open attempt to murder the president presi-dent of South Korea. Then they capture our ship on open seas and want us to apologize because it was too close to their shores! I'd send them an apology alright, right on the end of a big bomb. I don't see why we even fool around talking with them. We should just tell them that they have twelve hours to give us the men and the ship and if they don't then we will be up to get them ourselves. I don't know why our diplomats think that it is okay for the "bad" guys to break all the rules and then when we want to do something to retaliate and protect our selves they seem to think that we must say we are sorry because it isn't nice. The same thing goes on in Vietnam. "They" have invaded another country and they murder civilians in a most brutal manner every day and yet when one of our bombs happen to land near a farm house we are so terrible. So what do we do? We promise them that we won't bomb near the cities and a dozen other places because we might hurt some of their civilians. This makes it rather simple for them to . put all their military installations in the middle of the cities and they are safe and sound. What do they care if we drop thousands of tons of bombs out in the country where they won't hit anything except maybe a truck or train here and there? Another thing that gripes me is the politicians always saying "We must be careful what we do because China may come into the war." Well, I've got news for them, China is in the war. She has been supporting North Korea and North Vietnam all along and she is our real enemy and the source of our problems. Anyone knows that you don't remove a problem until you get rid of the source. We were saying this same thing sixteen and seventeen years ago when we were fighting the Korean War the first time, and sure enough China did come into this war. Now that was our chance to get rid of the source of our problems, but no, what did we do? We said, "we are sorry for invading North Korea now, why don't we sit down and talk about this?" So we drew a stupid line across the middle of the country, which turns out to be the same line that we had before the war started! After millions of dollars and thousands of American Amer-ican lives had been spent, we still had what we started with and the source of our problems remained. We must face the fact that if we intend to stay in Southeast Asia or anywhere in Asia then we face the risk of China coming into the war and we must fight to win like we should have done years ago. If we had only listened to General MacArthur, then we may not have this problem today. Well, I've surely bent your ear, haven't I? I didn't mean to sound off so loud but it is hard for a soldier to see his comrades suffer and endure bitter and savage conflict while our leaders will not let us fight to win. We love freedom free-dom and believe in the cause of our country and are willing to pay what ever price is necessary, even our lives, but, please, let it be for victory and not for a compromise with those who have sworn to destroy us. There is a time for talking and a time for fighting. We promise not to interfere with the diplomats while they talk. Let them promise not to interfere with us while we fight, if no solution can be reached and our leaders feel it is necessary to fight. To his brother leaving soon for a mission, Sergeant writes, "What a great blessing it is. Labor with all your heart, mind and soul because those principles which you shall teach come from God to His children and He has given them to us because of His great love for us. Yours is a noble calling and requires a noble heart full of faith and humility. Always remember whom you work for and speak with Him often that He will be in your heart always. You are a fine young man and I'm very proud that you are my brother." With love, (The ajiove was excerpted from a letter from a Deltan to his parents. The 32-year-old technical sergeant is now in Korea. His wife and three children are in Florida while he is in Korea. A younger brother was recently discharged from service and he has another younger brother in Vietnam. Viet-nam. His youngest brother is leaving soon for an LDS mission. mis-sion. The letter was written by a career serviceman.) |