“Dear Mom & Dad”: Vietnam War Marine’s 1967 letter discovered after Texas tornado

The Tet Offensive, one of the largest campaigns of the Vietnam War in which the Third Marine Division fought, began about four months after the date of the letter’s writing, September 27, 1967. The letter is addressed to “Mom & Dad.” Here’s a rough rewritten text, with dashes where it’s difficult to read:

How are you doing today, I guess I am doing O.K. I am soaked wright (sp?) now. We go swimming every day in the river we go in with our clothes and boots and splash around awhile. I got those papers from --. Hey about two days ago, as soon as I got them in the mail I went to our Lieutent (sp) and he signed them and --- it to me and I sent them back the same day. He said that if there was anything else just let him know, he would help me in anyway (sp) he could. Well what have you all been doing, besides working. I --- you to write and tell me -- you all do, because you said something about it in one of your letters the other day. I got a letter from --- the other day. Hope ??? kids liking school by now, tell --- to keep on writing, and I will write to him as often as I can. How is Dad [hay fever?] -- --- coming [END]

Ben Russell, an NBC affiliate reporter based in Dallas–Fort Worth, similarly tweeted other private photos discovered during the recovery efforts of what many are calling the Van Tornadoes, after the hard-hit town of Van, Texas: