Transcript of the tape-recorded letters of Captain John Perin ("Digger") Barker, a Navy and Air Force veteran (1964th Communications Squadron, 620th Tactical Control Group, 7th Air Force), concerning his experiences in Vietnam (1967-1968). Barker discusses his tour at Dong Ha Air Base, 1967; comments about fighting along the DMZ; shortage of equipment; ongoing base construction; inter-service cooperation; his divorce appeal; health and sanitation conditions; contacts with friends from previous duty stations; searching for radar parts in Saigon, Da Nang, Japan, Thailand, and the Philippines; relationships with Vietnamese civilians; comments about ARVN forces; comments about mortar attack at the Marine base at Con Thien; base security precautions; command conference, Bangkok, Thailand, and shopping; comments about French occupation of Indo-China; comments on AID; decision to extend tour of duty; reassignment to Tan Son Nuht Air Base, Saigon, 1968; ongoing base construction; parts mission to Tachikawa, Japan, and shopping; Chinese/Vietnamese Tet Lunar New Year celebration; Presidential Unit Citation; off-base housing conditions; Tet Offensive; comments about 1968 presidential campaign; comments about communism; Battle of Saigon; base security and defenses at Tan Son Nuht; Tet kill ratios; sappers; Bronze Star awards and medal inflation; TARF and aid to Vietnamese civilians during Tet; comments on guerrilla warfare; comments about General William C. Westmoreland; comments about Southeast Asian history and the Domino Theory; comments about NBC correspondent Frank McGee and general news coverage of the war; economic effects of the Tet Offensive on Vietnamese civilians; inter-agency and inter-service security cooperation; comments on VC and NVA wartime atrocities; "R & R" in Australia; reassignment to the United States. The Appendix includes photocopies of various documents concerning Barker's service in the military, as well as a photocopy of a photograph of John Barker [5 leaves].
