Preparing for "tomorrow" | April 16, 1975
"I hope we still have time . . . It is sort of heartbreaking . . ."
As I mentioned in my April 6 Short Note to Readers, I will post more often this month to mark events as they happened exactly 50 years ago.
On this day in 1975, my father, James E. Welch, typed this letter in Saigon and mailed it to my mother, Nancy L. Welch, in Boise, Idaho, where we were staying with my grandparents. My mother would not receive it until May 9th.
Dear Nance,
Where do I begin?? The last two weeks are so filled with action you would never believe it. I have just received your second and third letters and understand your concern. We are going along day by day, doing what must be done and preparing for “tomorrow.”
I could write volumes about the last days—the bombing of the palace, the Bien Hoa shoot out, Xuan Loc and all---but that must wait until later.
Tomorrow, Bowman, Chanh, Gass, Tinh, and I are flying in a small plane to an offshore island to assess the possibility of relocating. We lost everything in MR I [Military Region One], and I don’t intend to have that reoccur here. I am ahead of the whole station in doing my own thing and intend to keep it that way.
I still hope we have time.
Naturally, more and more people are coming to me to get their relatives on the evac list. It is sort of heartbreaking to say I will do what I can, but I cannot promise. I would have half of Vietnam on it if I opened up completely.
I hope our household goods—together with those of Hal, Ed, Tom, and Mai Lan---leave on a ship that is sailing tomorrow. As far as I have been able to find out from logs it will be aboard. We may be horrendously overweight, but who cares?
Hal, Ed, and I are sitting here discussing tomorrow’s activities and all our problems. Ed has come over after curfew to discuss some very important problems. He will stay with us tonight.
It is now 11 pm and I must hit the sack. Tomorrow will be another big day as all the last days have been, and Jones and Bowman are giving me a hard time on all the things I am trying to say (Jones suggested I say this).
Give all my best to the kids and to Rab and mom. I will try to get a letter off to Moth when I get back.
Greatest Love, Jim
