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Marine Lance Corporal Louis Boudreau has written several letters to the TRIBUNE from his duty station in South Viet Nam. Boudreau’s latest letter was mailed October 19, and stated: “Tomorrow, I am being transferred to Okinawa for duty until February when I am scheduled to return home. I am truthfully sorry that I cannot stay in Viet Nam with my friends, but my three Purple Hearts will keep me out of combat for at least six months. I would like to continue writing stories for you if it is wished. Thank you once again . . . Lou Boudreau.” Along with Boudreau’s note of explanation came the following summation of this young Marine’s feelings about the war effort. “WHEN MEN are brought together for a single cause, such as the Viet Nam war, it doesn’t matter if they speak a foreign lan guage, wear different uniforms or believe in different ideals. There is one common thought and that is winning the war and returning home. “The men in Viet Nam watch the home front as much as we possibly can. Hometown newspapers are a little slow in reaching us and sometimes arrive a month late. This cannot be helped. When they do arrive here, they are great morale builders and let us see what is going on in our schools, businesses and with the people back home. “When the papers are filled with such things as murders or race riots, it is difficult for us here to understand. We live and fight side by side against a common enemy over here, for the free people back home. “I CANNOT write a plea to certain people. I do not have the right to make my views public or to give solutions of problems such as racial prejudice. “But, to the men in my company, to the men all through Viet Nam who have given their lives for others, to the severely wound ed who return home without the use of an arm or leg, this prob lem of prejudice and riots is mentally disturbing and heartbreak ing. “To leave a conflict after many months and to return to an other conflict in your own nation has a weakening effect on a soldier, as you might imagine. “WHEN the enemy strikes and the chips are down, you do not stop to see who is huddled next to you. You don’t go to a certain part of the foxhole to do your fighting. You fight together: white, black, brown, French, Puerto Rican or Japanese; united together in the toughest phase of life . . . faced with death. “T could give many examples of men dying while trying to save the life of another. There is no finer example of harmony in hu man beings than when they are faced with a common crisis. “There is a Communist aggressor who is threatening the free dom of the Vietnamese people which in turn presents a threat to us. We have united from all parts of the world to defend our free dom. “THE BIG question is: Can we stay united when peace comes once again, bringing with it, the beautiful valleys, the busy cities and the clean fresh air of America? “God bless America, the land of the free. Where a man, no matter who or what, can work for what he desires, express his ideals and views through many ways and live together in the greatest land of all — the United States of America.”
Newspaper Details
Harvey Markham Tribune
Harvey, Illinois, US
Sun, Nov 13, 1966
Page 3
Full Page
Clipped by
Lou B.
USA 24 Aug 2026
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