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7 Jan 71
Dear Family,
The tree was a huge success. We rigged up the lights with dry-cell batteries, and it was the only “formal” tree in the small camp. Christmas out there was really something. At midnight on Xmas eve, the mortars and the trucks and tanks and all the 1st Cav artillery sent up a barrage of high altitude flares - - all red and green star clusters. We were in a valley. It was quite a show. The whole area calmed and hushed and we could just hear one of the firebases start singing “Silent Night”. It was picked up by everyone. It echoed through the valley. I’m positive it has seldom been sung with more gut feeling and pure homesick emotion – a strange and beautiful thing in this terribly death-ridden land….
Love,
Peter
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Sp/5 Peter C. Elliott was assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 20th Engineer Brigade, attached to the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile), based at Bien Hoa. He served in Vietnam from January 1970-February 1971. When the Memorial was dedicated in 1985, he was living in Dallas and operating a construction company.
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