Pvt William Sirtola's Request of his Sister for "Unit Morale"

On June 20th 1968 Private William Sirtola, serving in the Mekong River Delta region with the Army's 9th Infantry Division.

Pvt William Sirtola on patrol after this letters was written, he has changed from a Mortarman to a machine gunner replacing his friend who was wounded.

From PFC W. Sirtola

B Co. 6th Bn, 31st Infantry, 9th ID

He writes;

Dear Viv,

 Its getting later so Ill have to hurry and write this letter.

Things have been real good around here. We haven't seen a thing. We've been relaxing a lot. Were the bank of the Saigon river so we take in swimming.

An unfortunate accident happened today. A guy I knew in 3rd platoon drowned while swimming. They couldn't find his body and I doubt they ever will because the tide and undertow. He had just made sergeant 2 days ago.

Well you wanted to know what I'd like, so here goes.

A pair of shorts (not underwear) about size 35 or 36 (medium). A fews cans of soup (bean w bacon + chicken with rice, a pocket Bible (sometimes we can get them sometimes not) a box of Qtips for cleaning my rifle, 1 pkg of Oreo cookies, dental floss, Head & Shoulders shampoo (plastic tube), a pair of nail clippers.

July Playboy magazine, True Magazine, jar of 0ne a day vitamins, a pocket knife, 1 bottle suntain lotion, 2 sets of earplugs (for protection against the sound of the mortar) can opener and a cheap pipe.

Wow! Hey?

Well Viv I hav to sign off.

Take Care + I'll see you this spring. Say Hi to all

Love Bill

Well we don't know about the rest of the items but Viv did come through with that one very specific request. I can only imagine the embarrassment at the store as she placed this on the counter. It was certainly a help for the morale of the "Polar Bears" as the 31st Infantry was known as. The name eluding to their past service in Russia shortly after WW1.

As request by Bill and as supplied by Viv here is Ms July 1968 and some very appreciative GIs