Friday, March 23, 2007

Letter from Vietnam

Continuing with excerpts from my uncle's tapes, here's a short two minute excerpt from one of his voice letters. He would send them on 3" reels of tape while he was stationed in Vietnam; on this one, recorded in August 1967, he couldn't think of much to say. So, he turned the microphone over to two of his fellow soldiers. I can't identify their names, but the first is Allen from Mocksville, North Carolina; the other soldier is from Youngstown, Ohio.

This tape was one of the few in the collection that had serious issues. It was improperly spooled and had suffered some deterioration over the years; the tape had buckled and wouldn't stay flat on side two. I gently held the tip of a cotton swap on the head of the deck as the tape played to flatten it out so it could be transferred. The sound still fades in and out a bit.

Voiceletter excerpt (2 mins, MP3 format)

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