On Base King

SP4 Marvin Dale Miller to his mother, 30 May 1971 — written from FSB King in the last days of its short life: "we're going to tear it down in a couple of days and go back to Fanning. King's not far from Ham Tam." A rare on-the-ground confirmation of the King / Operation Thunder timeline. He's just come from chapel service; the rains are nearly in.

30 May 71

Dear Mom,

I got a letter from you today and you said you had gotten two letters from me. I'm glad; I've been trying to write a little oftener. There isn't any secret about what I'm doing, its the same old thing, just alot more of it.

Well I hope everyone's fine. I'm glad to hear the summer weather has finally caught up with you all. It's terribly hot over here sometimes. It must be the humidity. It has been raining every day now, but not very hard. The K.C.S. say the rainy season will be here in earnest in about another month.

I just came from Chapel service. The Chaplain doesn't make it around to often. But he's got a pretty big job.

I'm on base King now. But we're going to tear it down in a couple of days and go back to Fanning. King's not far from Ham Tam.

Is Dan still driving around the old Ford? I hope I'm able to get a new car when I get back.

Well I wish there was more to say but at the moment I can't think of anything.

Bye bye, Love Marv

Transcription Notes

• "oftener," "its" (for "it's"), "alot," and "to often" (for "too often") are Marvin's own usages, preserved as written.
• "K.C.S." almost certainly stands for Kit Carson Scouts — former enemy soldiers who had rallied to the allied side and served as scouts and guides, and who would have had local knowledge of the coming monsoon. Transcribed as written.
• "Ham Tam" is Marvin's spelling of Ham Tan (the coastal town and airfield in Bình Tuy).
• Blue ballpoint, two pages. Closes "Bye bye, / Love Marv." All text clearly legible.

Archivist Notes

"On base King" — a primary source for a short-lived firebase: "I'm on base King now. But we're going to tear it down in a couple of days and go back to Fanning. King's not far from Ham Tam." This is independent, on-the-ground confirmation of the FSB King timeline assembled from other sources. King was a 1st Cav fire support base held by D Company, 2/8 Cavalry — Marvin's company — split off from FSB Fanning about 24 May 1971 and dismantled around 1 June. Writing on 30 May that they would "tear it down in a couple of days and go back to Fanning" pins the teardown to ~1 June from a man who was standing on it, and independently corroborates two points previously known only from Howard McGrew's calendar and Jim Garvin's photos: that King was torn down at the start of June, and that the unit returned to Fanning afterward (he is indeed "back on Fanning" by the 19 Jun 71 letter).

King and Ham Tan — and Operation Thunder: "King's not far from Ham Tam." King existed to fire-support Operation Thunder — the combined 2/8 Cav / Binh Tuy Regional Forces raid (~20–28 May 1971) on the Nui Be Mountains, for which D Company staged from Ham Tan airfield. Marvin's offhand geography ("not far from Ham Tam") is a soldier's-eye confirmation of the King–Ham Tan relationship at the center of that operation. (Worth flagging for the Operation Thunder / FSB King research thread — this letter is a citable primary source for both the teardown date and the Ham Tan link.)

"The same old thing, just a lot more of it": "There isn't any secret about what I'm doing, its the same old thing, just alot more of it." The closest he comes to naming a rising operational tempo — Operation Thunder was on — while still reassuring his mother there's nothing to worry about. The downplay-the-danger pattern, mid-operation.

Chapel service — a rare note of religion in the field: "I just came from Chapel service. The Chaplain doesn't make it around to often. But he's got a pretty big job." One of the few mentions of faith or chaplaincy in the collection, and a glimpse of how thinly a single chaplain was spread across a brigade's worth of firebases.

Weather: "It has been raining every day now, but not very hard. The K.C.S. say the rainy season will be here in earnest in about another month." The monsoon coming on — and his source for the forecast is the unit's Kit Carson Scouts. Consistent with the daily rain he reports three weeks later in the 19 Jun 71 and 27 Jun 71 letters.

The car, again: "Is Dan still driving around the old Ford? I hope I'm able to get a new car when I get back." The running car-and-savings thread (cf. 22 Feb 71, 26 Feb 71, 10 Jan 71) — brother Dan and the old Ford, against the new car Marvin is saving for.

Cross-references:

• 22 May 71 — previous letter in the archive
• 19 Jun 71 — next letter; back on Fanning after King is torn down
• FSB King; Operation Thunder (1971-05) — this letter corroborates both