Tucson, April 30, 1968

A GRANDSON “DECKER”

Dear Grandsons,

I wrote a “Granddaughter Decker” not long ago and I guess they did not like it as no one
answered. So now I write to the boys to see if I have better luck.

I am working on my life story. As I complete each page I give it to your Grandmother to read and
correct. Yesterday I completed an episode about my experiences in the Horse Cavalry and passed it on
to Grandma. She read for a while and burst out laughing. “What’s the matter?” I asked, I did not
remember writing anything funny in that page. “Do you mean that you were in “F Troop?” She
answered and laughed all the harder. She was thinking of that goofy “F Troop” on TV, which is an insult
to a good Trooper.

As I wrote of my Cavalry experiences I was reminded of many experiences I did not write about.
My horse was a little red mare. She was as sleek as a race horse and could jump like a bird flying.
Everyone was armed with a saber, not a curved sword as you usually picture a saber, but a long straight
double edged blade. To stab the “heads” as our horse jumped the wall. “Red” as I called my horse, went
over the jumps so smoothly that it was no trouble for me to get a hundred percent hits with my saber.
Well, one day she got careless and skimmed the wall too close. A protruding rock caught her front legs
and tore the skin form them. I never rode her again.

I was leading Red to the vets, heartsick because of her injury, when I passed a group of Officers.
I kept turning to watch Red and paid no attention to them. A captain rode over to me and started to
bawl me out for not saluting. Then I heard a deep voice shout, “Leave that Sergeant alone Captain!
Can’t you see his horse is hurt!” I looked up and saw that the man talking was the Commanding General.

I received a letter from Steven McKay not long ago. I would like to hear from the rest of you,
especially you Bob , John and Mike. Did you have fun at Disneyland? Mark, we would like very much to
hear from you. What are your plans for this summer. Tell your Mother and Dad that their subscription
to the “old Folks” Decker just expired and the only way they can get it started again is to write.

Scot, you owe me two or three letters.

Grandma sends her love and joins me in hoping and praying that those of you who go to church
will continue to do so and those of you who don’t will start going. In this day and age there isn’t much
that is stable to tie to. The older I get the more I realize that Education is a must – it is no longer the
same as when I was a boy. All you needed then was a strong back and a weak mind.

Vaya Con Dios

Grandpa