In this episode of Dearest Suzie, Bill writes from Quang Ngai on July 8, 1965. He’s recently been relocated and is settling in for what he assumes will be a 30-day extension. Still no mail has arrived, and the heat is nearly unbearable, so intense he nearly collapsed from heat exhaustion. But despite all that, this letter carries a more playful tone. Bill daydreams about sitting on the front porch with Suzie, feeling the ocean breeze, and coming up with “little games” to keep themselves entertained at night. He jokes about his buddy’s flirtatious back-and-forth with his wife and imagines his own return home. With fewer than 50 days left, the countdown is on, and the distance between longing and laughter is razor-thin.
This episode opens the door to a larger conversation about sex, desire, and intimacy during wartime. For many soldiers, flirtation and humor were essential lifelines, ways to remember there was still something waiting for them beyond the war. But intimacy in Vietnam was complicated. It didn’t always wait back home. It was present in-country, too, often in ways that blurred the line between comfort and coercion. From brothels in Saigon to myths that would be passed down through generations, sex became part of the war’s fabric, visible, unspoken, transactional, and sometimes profoundly sad. Through that lens, Bill’s longing for Suzie feels all the more human. Not just romantic, but physical and real, a tether to something that feels like home.
What’s Covered:
📷 Featured Photo: A nighttime scene inside the officer’s club. Vietnamese women in sparkling dresses dance as American soldiers clap along. It's a snapshot of the off-duty world and the quiet tensions it carried.
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