Editor's note: This is a letter written by my uncle as shared by my cousin Shannon Haynes. Private First Class (PFC) Robert (Bob) Haynes wrote this letter to his older brother, Ross Haynes from Korea during the war in 1952 where he was fighting on the front lines and as a company bugler. The Korean war lasted three years and one month from June 25, 1950 to July 27, 1953.
The following is a copy of the original letter written to his brother from the war zone. Following the war he returned home to marry, losing his first wife to illness and marrying the second time, becoming a father of two beautiful daughters. His legacy lives on in them. He was a warm-hearted, professional business man in California and remained very close to his brother until the end of his life.
Dear Brudder,
Today is a beautiful day in Korea. Tomorrow it will be raining again, but it still does not take away the beauty of today. As I look around me right now, it is hard to tell I am out of California. I am in one of the large rooms of the American Red Cross here in Pusan. The big windows that take up most of the big walls are just high enough to let me see what is pleasant to see. The grand canyon type mountains that imprison this port city. The deep blue skies that remind me of the old days in Kansas.
Oh, my spell is broken. A little Korean girl about 12 just took my empty coffee cup away. Now I must remember that I am in Korea. Now I know that if I stand up and look out the window, I will not think it's a beautiful day in Korea nor is it a beautiful day in any other Country in the world....
Love, Bob
Daughter, Shannon Haynes writes: I don't need a national holiday to remind me of how beautiful my father was nor how ugly war is, but today I honour him. I honour his sacrifice for a nation he once believed in. He was a lover, a gentle man who believed in personal freedoms. A man I loved more than any other in this world. Lest we forget.
