7 August 1967:
“At present, the heat (120 degrees F) is the greatest problem that I have to contend with, but this is only because lately our contacts have been light and consequently so have our casualties. We seem to have finally forced the North Vietnamese our of this coastal area, although there are still small groups of extremely aggressive VC plaguing us.“
"Probably next month we will return to the central highlands along the Cambodian border, where last Nov. the battalion lost over 100 men but killed close to 1000 VC. The situation has grown worse and the units operation in that area are in need of reinforcement. Aside from the DMZ, there is no worse area in the country and none of us are looking forward to it. The problem of course is that we’re fighting a war over here with our hands tied, and even then we don’t have enough men for it. Perhaps if we doubled our troop strength here, something definite could be accomplished. In spite of what anyone in the White House says, we are on the defensive and will continue to be until we are sizeably reinforced.”
8 August 1967:
“The temperature is back up now—about 120 degrees F.“
"… [W]e may be moved to the Pleiku area the first of Sept…. We may stay here. It depends, I believe, on the meager reinforcements Uncle Bumpkin [President Johnson] & Edsel [Secretary of Defense Robert] MacNamara are sending sometime in the future….“
"I forgot to tell you that [George Armstrong] Custer was scouting for the 14th inf[antry] [my regiment] when he made his ‘last stand’….“
"I have to defend a guy at his court martial tomorrow who has refused ‘to kill again.’ It seems he shot a Vietnamese who may not have been a VC & is rather shook up. I think he’s rather weird but the Task Force Oregon psychiatrist says he’s all there. If we didn’t kill some civilians we wouldn’t kill any VC since they all pose as civilians. I think we should kill more—like the Koreans do. But as much as I hate that line of thought, I’ll have to try to prove that he’s justified in his fear to kill civilians—of course I won’t succeed, which is good. Will let you know how it turns out.”
