Robert Dale Reem, USMC, author of these letters, wrote daily to his new bride at home, Donna, while aboard ship in the Mediterranean Sea. Bob was deployed in April 1950 from Norfolk, Virginia aboard the USS Worcester CL144. He was one of the FMF (Fleet Marine Force) Officers aboard with 97 Marines of the 3rd Battalion, 6th Marines. It was foreseen that the annual Sixth Fleet Mediterranean Cruse of 1950, would be a typically exciting five month cruse for Bob and his FMF Marines, incorporating daily training, landing maneuvers, educational lectures and of course, enjoying 'Ports of Call' throughout the Mediterranean Sea. Little did anyone know that in June 1950, North Korea would invade South Korea, sparking the beginning the Korean War.
This collection of daily letters, to his Darling Donna, unknowingly would contain his last words written to her, as he would never see her again. In August 1950, Bob transferred several times to ships redirected through the Suez Canal and onto Kobe, Japan, awaiting orders for the invasion at Inchon by General MacArthur in September. After the capture of Seoul, Bob's Company was routed by transport ship around the southern tip of South Korea to the eastern port of Wosan, in North Korea.
Bob was killed on November 6, 1950 in North Korea while advancing his platoon of men up Hill 891, defending the only road in the valley below northward to the Chosin Reservoir. He died saving the lives of several of his men, who were huddled together near the top of the hill, amid a fierce hail of Chinese machine gun fire and grenades. He threw himself upon a Chinese grenade that cascaded down the hill, landing at his feet. He was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor by President Truman.