In this episode of Dearest Suzie, Popi writes on May 18, sharing a quiet day in Vinh Long marked by a short operation and a long-awaited letter from home. His tone is warm and affectionate, filled with light updates about insurance policies, family visits, and his role as an instrument instructor. Though officially recognized by the Army as an aircraft instructor, he jokes about being “scared to death” of autorotations. It’s a letter that captures the slow tick of time during deployment—no new orders yet, just steady anticipation and the emotional labor of staying connected across distance.

While Popi reflects on training, checks, and missing mail, the world around him is shifting. In May 1965, President Johnson temporarily paused Operation Rolling Thunder in hopes of bringing North Vietnam to the negotiating table. But behind the scenes, diplomatic efforts were unraveling, and military escalation was quietly accelerating. In China, Ho Chi Minh secured support from Mao Zedong—with conditions—and by the end of the month, tens of thousands of Chinese personnel were quietly assisting in the North. Meanwhile, in Washington, a now-famous warning appeared in a memo: if the U.S. went further into Vietnam, it risked stepping into a “quagmire.” That word would echo across decades of history, but in Popi’s letter, the future still feels uncertain and unwritten.

What’s Covered:

• Popi’s letter from May 18, filled with everyday reflections on family, flight training, and counting the days
• His candid thoughts on autorotations, instructor duties, and the emotional pull of home
• A look at the pause in Operation Rolling Thunder and why it failed to bring peace
• Behind-the-scenes diplomacy between Ho Chi Minh and Mao Zedong
• The first emergence of the word “quagmire” in U.S. internal memos and its chilling prescience

📷 Featured Photo: A Huey helicopter in flight. A door gunner leans out beside a mounted machine gun, scanning the ground below. Beneath the aircraft, a river winds through a green countryside.

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