Raymond Charles Burns
Born: Windsor, Ontario, Canada, 1947
Served in Vietnam, U.S. Army
2d Battalion, 35th Infantry
3d Brigade, 25th Infantry Division
Pleiku
Fire-Team Leader and Linguist, 1965-66
From the Artist
From two letters, 1966:
Dear Mom,
...I have only a few lines to let you know that I am alright. Due to the circumstances, I'm unable to write a long letter. For the past two weeks we've been on a mission whereas we've lost contact temporarily with the outside. Mail has gotten in about three times. To date this has been the worst operation. We've hit and been hit by everything. Even the bugs seem to turn on us. I'm still taking pictures. By the time I leave here, I should have quite a few. All of us here are hoping that [President] Johnson okays the sending of more troops. We can use as many as he can send. So far Johnson has nixed all proposals for more troops. We want to end this thing and go home. Be waiting to hear the news from home. On the map you can get some idea how I've been traveling. (Yes, we slipped into Laos.)
Your loving son, Ray
...My little Kodak has caught the only permanent thing this place has besides the smell: the stare in the eyes of the living and the dead. Those stares and the smell: they will stay with me when the Nam is only a TV documentary.
Ray Burns, Vietnam Vet (Still)
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