November 27, 1966

Dear Lorraine,

Hi Honey! I hope you’re doing OK. I have some spare time tonight and thought I would catch on writing. You are always first on my list then I need to write my parents since it’s been over a week since I last wrote them.

Things around here have been pretty quiet. Still flying each day dong re-supply and other stuff. Today we went on one CA and dropped a bunch of ARVN’s (Vietnamese) troops off north west of Pleiku. We have been told not to trust them and to check the ship before they get off. They have been known to steal things and also leave things like a hand grenade with the pin pulled. When we got to the LZ we couldn’t land and had to hover about 10 feet off the ground. You should have seen them trying to get out, it looked like a little kid crawling over the side of his bed. The GI’s jump out when you can’t land but I had to throw these guys out. One of them left his rifle in the ship so I threw it out when wee took off. We have another CA planned for tomorrow.

Not being home for thanksgiving is a real downer. I’m trying not to think about Christmas. If you don’t mind I’ll send you a money order for Christmas instead of trying to find something over here. That way I know you will get something you want.

Not much else to tell you right now so I’m going to start a letter to my parents.

I Love You
Tom
S.W.A.K.

Tom GAtor 851