A Soldier's Letters

      Our initial reunion, as well as the remainder of my Leave time, was an incredible emotional, roller coaster journey for both of us.  We spent as much time together as we could.  We reassured each other that we loved one another, and we talked and then we talked some more.  It was tearful.  It was intense.  Each of us was trying desperately to convince the other why we felt the way we did.  Vi believed that we ought to seize the moment and be together regardless of what decisions the military might make concerning our lives, and to her that meant going ahead with the wedding.  Conversely, I tried to justify the need for us to wait based on the likelihood of my being assigned to Korea in a heavy weapons infantry company.  In my mind that meant there was a possibility that I might not survive the experience of a Korean assignment.  Then too, there was the possibility of my being wounded.  When these possibilities were alluded to, Vi simply said she would be willing to take her chances.

      Several times Vi asked me to take back the engagement ring, but each time I told her that I did not want it, that I still loved her, and that I wanted to marry her when I was separated from the service.  Under the circumstances, Vi said that she could not wear the ring.  That disappointed me greatly, but I told her if she did not feel like wearing the ring then she shouldn’t.  I asked her to keep it anyway, in hopes that one day we could get our lives back on track . . . together.

      All too soon the Leave was over.  It was Vi’s suggestion that she would go with me as far as Chicago.  I was happy that she decided to do that even though I knew she was in anguish.  I, on the other hand, felt terrible for making her feel so miserable.  That is the way we parted at Grand Central Station on a late afternoon in July, 1951, with Vi weeping at the gate.

      I had obtained a ticket on a Northern Pacific train which took me all the way from Chicago to the west coast.  That trip provided me my first exposure to flatness of the northern Great Plains, the rolling hills of Montana, and the startling grandeur of the northwest.  In truth, however, I remember very little of the three-day trip to Seattle.  I was still very much in turmoil with my feelings for having greatly disappointed Vi and for being resolute in my thinking that it was not right for us to get married at this time.  And, in addition, there was the “great unknown” of what lay ahead of me in the Far East.  If anyone was a basket case, I was.

      I was temporarily assigned to Fort Lewis for processing to the Far East Command.  There was a lot of unoccupied time at Fort Lewis, but we were forever in some state of processing with a lot of “wait” time in between the various sessions.  Consequently, we dozed on our bunks and milled about our barracks, waiting to be called.  There was very little Leave time for us although one evening we did get a pass for a quick trip into downtown Seattle where we found there was nothing there to do. 

      I was finally issued Orders and was scheduled to “ship out” on July 30, 1951.