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My name is Paul O'Connell. I was a grunt in Vietnam back in 68-69. I served with Mike Co., 3rd Bn, 5th Marines.

My present stats are: 

      Age 46.  Married (25 years).  Father of two: Jen, 24; Brian, 21.
      I am a Deputy Fire Chief in the City of Quincy, MA (23 years).
      I was born and raised in Quincy, MA, but now reside Stoughton, MA.

In February 1968, at the age of 17, I enlisted in the Marines . I was trained as a rifleman (0311--grunt) and arrived in Vietnam in October 1968, four months after turning 18 years old. I was assigned to M 3/5 which operated from the An Hoa combat base. I participated in Operation Taylor Common, Muskogee Meadows, Pipestone Canyon, Durham Peak and in many other operations that never seemed to earn a name.

I was wounded on March 3, 1969, (minor/flesh) and awarded the Purple Heart. I received a Combat Meritorious Promotion to the rank of Corporal in July 1969. (I gave back that rank in the States--just wasn't able to hack being a "stateside Marine.")

I returned to Vietnam in 1990 as a member of the Full Circle Project sponsored by the William Joiner Center, UMASS/Boston. As a result of this trip I began to write poetry and short narratives about the war. Some have been published.

I have all 80 letters that I wrote home while I was in Vietnam. I yearn for the day that I can see all 80 in print somewhere, regardless of whether I ever make a single penny off of them. I believe their value is beyond the dollar. I believe that the young misunderstand what it was like to be a kid (in Vietnam.)

Paul O'Connell

You can email Paul at: Us0311mc@aol.com

This is the first of 80 letters. Hopefully I won't tire from doing this; and you, the world, won't get bored. I want to say that my father wrote me a letter everyday while I was in Vietnam. He thought he'd never see me alive again. He said out loud as I got on the plane in Boston, headed for California and Vietnam, "There goes eighteen years down the shit chute."

Letter #1

18 OCT 68

Hi everybody,

Well I've been in the Nam for over 24 hours, and it's been raining the whole time. I'm still in Da Nang so I don't have an address which you can write me at. I've been assigned to the 5th Marines, 1st MarDiv. But because of the rain the helicopters cannot get us into the area. It could be one day or one week before I get to my unit. There's no hurry anyway cause right now 1/5 is being hit very hard by NVA. We seen a chopper come in from 1/5 with medevacs.

Right now I'm sleeping on a cot with a roof over my head and a wooden floor, so I'm doing all right. The air field is right beside my hut and those phantoms and skyhawks fly out of here 24 hours a day. About 80 go out an hour.

On my flight out to Okinawa, we stopped in Hawaii for 45 minutes. What I saw of Hawaii was little, but it was awful hot. I can say I've been at least. Okinawa was real nice and the weather was a cool 90. The towns were worse than Mexico, so you know I had a real good time. I like places like that. You really learn a lot.

About 5:00 am today the lights went out on the Air base and Marine base. Then about three rocket rounds fell about 3 miles away. That's about the only thing I've seen so far.

I'll write tomorrow. I don't want ya to worry cause I'm all right and can handle myself. Call Sharon and tell her I'm okay.

Love, Paul

****************************************************************************

Looking back:

Sharon was a girlfriend.

Paul O'Connell
1996

All material in this Gallery is the Copyright © 1996, 1997, & 1998 of Paul E. O'Connell, All Rights Reserved.

(Editor's Note: We will be working on and loading Paul's other letters in batches of ten. Please check back.)

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LETTERS 71 THROUGH 80

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