Description:

VIETNAM WAR ARCHIVE OF S/SGT. NEAL RICHEY, K.I.A. AT PHU BAI
Heart-wrenching archive of sixteen letters exchanged between U.S. Marine Corps SSgt. Neal Olin Richey and his wife, Sally. The letters span from Richey's time in basic training, beginning in 1956, to his deployment to the Phu Bai Combat Base in central Vietnam, in October of 1965. Most notably, the collection includes Richey's final letter to Sally before his death on Oct. 20, 1965, in small part: "I've been taking notes ever since I left you at El Toro... I want you to write down all the little excitements you and the kids I have together too. Plus all the heartaches you have... I'll stop at S-1 and see about a Power of Attorney made out for you... I guess you've read about the new $10,000 government insurance the U.S. has given us haven't you. It didn't come as surprise to me but I didn't expect it this soon. No matter though we won't be taking advantage of it anyway..." He closes by noting that he will be accompanying the battalion doctor and chief corpsman to several neighboring villages, to provide medical care for local civilians. Accompanying this is Sally's final letter to Richey, dated the same day. The transmittal envelope of this letter notes that it was returned to Sally as undeliverable. The reason for this return is noted by a facsimile of Richey's death report, 1p. 4to., stating that he was killed on Oct. 20, 1965, in the vicinity of Phu Bai, "…as a result of fragmentation wounds of the head sustained from an unknown explosive device while in an ambush position." The many additional letters present with this group express the depths of the couples feeling for each other, as exemplified by Richey's letter of Oct. 14, 1965, in part: "When next I see you I will break down and cry when I hold you in my arms once again... I had a dream last night. You and I were out in the country riding our bicycles. Nobody else was around. It was a nice sunny summer day. We had a picnic lunch and a blanket and we layed down on a grassy slope and whispered sweet nothings in each others ear. I would like very much to make this dream a reality when I get home... This is the 2nd time we've been apart, separated by time and space... when you really stop and think about it we haven't had the time to really enjoy each other for any length of time since 1959. But believe me baby, this will all change when I get home. I'm going to make such hot, torrid love to you you'll think you're going out of your mind..." Much more good content besides. The collection is rounded out by Richey's Vietnam Service Medal, showing two stars on the ribbon, as well as two well-worn Vietnamese "Dong" notes. Certainly, worthy of further research, this grouping constitutes a singular testament to the needless waste of the Vietnam conflict.

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August 1, 2018 10:00 AM EDT
Elkton, MD, US

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