Letters from the Front Part 2

As promised in my last blog post, here's the second letter that my father-in-law received. First, the transcript

17 Oct 51

Hi Tom,

Well how is that rough Basic Coming along. Are they working the hell out of you, I hope. By now you should be about finished at Harris Island. But I’ll send this letter to that address because it is the only one that I have. I hope you get yourself a racket somewhere and don’t come to Korea. It is getting a little rough over here. When you start a push with a Batln (sic - possibly Battalion) that is a little over strength and *9 chips* (sic, unsure what this word is) late you have about 53 rifle men left. Also there was only one weapons squad left in the 3 rifle Co. When I go back in a day or two I can be platoon Sgt. But we only get a 4 man Platoon. At least we had 21 men left on the 17th. Maybe by now they have some replacements.

Were having quite a time here. We have about 1/2 of “Charlie Company” in this hospital. It is not even safe to be a cook in a live company *and* (not sure, could be something else) have a couple of the cooks in this hospital. We lost every officer & every non-com. So they made a platoon of the entire Co. and made them a part of “Baker Co.”

You *Glong* (sic) Happy So & So’s in the Marines and are going to be in for a surprise if you get over here. We killed at least 2 chinks for every wounded guy we had and still they kept coming. I picked up some shrapnel in the leg from a grenade, that night they “Bonzied” us from 4 AM till 9 AM. I got hit about 5:30 and was*dyled* (sic). You would be surprised how happy the guys were when they get hit.

Well let me know how things are in the Marines. I still want to know why you joined that outfit. I never could figure it out.

Well that’s about all

Your Pal

Eddie