Silent Heroes: A Recon Marine's Vietnam War Experiences by Rick Greenberg

Author:Rick Greenberg [Greenberg, Rick]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rick Greenberg
Published: 2016-03-09T17:00:00+00:00

Chapter 21

Remember the Fallen

January 9, 1970

I wake filled with panic and covered in sweat yelling out, “Blood!” I look around in the dark, and everyone is asleep. It was a nightmare about Gordie, and I’m chilled as I recall the dream. Gordie is sitting on the ground covered in blood. His head down, he looks dead. Bullets flying, bombs exploding, but there was no sound. Gordie slowly raised his head until our eyes met. I looked into them and trembled as I saw his fear and pain.

His hand reached out to me, asking for help. His lips moved slowly, and I understood what he was saying, “I don’t want to die.”

Even though my fan blows a cool breeze, I sit and sweat. The silence around me is broken from the distant sounds of artillery rumbling through the night. I reach to the floor for my canteen of water and take a cool drink. I lay back down, staring at my rifle hanging above me and think, I’ll never see Gordie alive again.

As morning arrives, Alpha Ace once again has twenty-four hours off. The circumstances surrounding the reasons are not something anyone wants. Free from working parties and guard duty is always welcome. We’ve had days off like this before, but this time it’s different. This time, one of our own, is KIA. I didn’t know Gordie very well. He was a good Marine, did his job, and didn’t complain any more than the rest of us do. When told to go out on patrol with only two weeks left in country, he followed orders. He did his job-- his last patrol-- and now he’s dead.

Chief walks over, sits next to me, and asks, “You hear anything about Hippie, man?”

“Negative. You?”

“Na, not a word.”

As the whole team begins to wake, I ask aloud, “Anybody hear anything about Hippie?”

No one has. Black walks over to my rack and tells us, “Hippie will be back. My guess it will be today.”

“Roger that, Corporal,” I answer. Then, looking at Chief, I ask him, “Do you think Gordie’s folks already know about him? Do you think his body is on its way back to the World?”

“I don’t know, Greeny. Maybe.”

“When you were with Bravo, did anyone get wasted?”

“Some guy died right after I got in country, but I didn’t know him. This is the first time a guy got wasted on a patrol I was on.”

“Hey, ain’t nothing but a thing, right?”

“Fucking A, man. Nothing but a thing.”

I write all this down in a letter I address to no one. Maybe I’ll send it to my brother, Roy, but not now. Don’t think I want anyone back home to know these details. Not yet, maybe later. I tuck the letter away and prepare for the day.

We’re all together chowing down breakfast when some guy walks up and says, “Alpha Ace, what’s up?”

I turn in my seat and see it’s Hippie. With a giant smile on my face, I stand and give him a hug “What the fuck, man.

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