After the cleanup, we directed the villages to head back to the nearest army base before continuing down the route. The once serene village sitting in the valley at the foot of the mountain now sat in an inferno of red flame and slowly smoldering ruin, slowly turning the world red. Black, dark smoke crawled lazily into the crimson afternoon sky. The world darkened above as it slowly slipped into the evening.
As the trucks lazily crept up the valley, the village burned in the distance. Skeletons burnt to smolders shivered in the cold. Our joyful mood lost somewhere in the burning fields of the village. We were no longer happy and energetic, but now evermore determined and grim.
The morning slowly rolled into the world, a red sky stretched across the world until the sun finished its kiss with the horizon. One hour remained before we attacked An Lao. One hour before my regiment would rush down the mountain and attack the base. I couldn’t sleep but craved the soft, comfortable hole I had for a bed. My clothes were covered in mud and our food today only consisted of two bowls of rice, some vegetables and small pieces of oily fat.
I was anxious for the battle and images of the horrors of the air strikes still haunted my mind. Every time I closed my eyes, I would always picture the horribly burnt body as he stumbled around the field trying to fight of the fire and the blood curdling scream as the inferno boiled his soul. I will never be able to forget that image or of the body halved by shrapnel.
The battle began with the deep bellowing of cannons as their shells screamed down on the valley. In a crying cheer, attacking squads rushed towards the base, lobbing grenades at defending troops. Running beside my squad mates, I felt my heart beating loudly in my chest, my gun shivered in my hands.
Reaching the perimeter of our goal, I felt a sudden weightlessness and was thrown into the air. On the ground by my feet, a white light appeared, slowly building to enclose my legs. I saw Truong and Vinh at the corner of my eyes, slowly floating away through the air by the power of the explosion. My mind went blank as I thought this was the end. I thought about my family back in Hoa Binh, shivering from the winter winds, scared all night from air raids by the Americans.
I am finally put to rest. I closed my eyes and let the white light cover me, slowly soothing me into an eternal sleep.
