When it was declared that Ho Chi Minh, who is very photogenic, was communist and therefore our enemy the US decided that they had to stop him. Stop him from doing what, I don’t know, but I do know that I didn’t like it at all. When Vietnam was split into two countries, N

r soldier walk out of my shack with my cameras, film, developed pictures, undeveloped pictures, and many of my own personal belongings. I wasn’t sure what was going on until he just walked up to the fire and dumped all of my belongings into the fire. I got mad at that point. I tried to attack of the soldiers that was holding me back and lets just say it didn’t work out the way I planed. I ended up with the butt end of a rifle hitting me square in my stomach. I knocked the wind out of me as well as everything else inside me. So any way I decided that a violent route would get me nowhere. I calmly sat down and asked what was going on? Why were they destroying all my stuff? They said that it was just orders and they had to do it. You know how military men are. You tell them to jump and they say how high. So I figured that these people had no idea what was really going on. So what I did was track the order back to the original person who sent it out. That was Major S!

What I am about to tell you is what has caused me a lot of sleepless nights and is probably the single worst moment of my life. Let me tell you what led up to it first. Well Diem, my favorite leader, was a catholic in a mostly Buddhist country. Then Diem set laws that made Buddhists obey catholic laws. This was a serious problem for the Buddhists who lived in South Vietnam. And on a beautiful June day I received a note that I should go to Saigon. I did what it said since I had received tips before and they had always been good, but this was the first time it had been anonymous. So I was in Saigon with my camera looking around talking to some of the locals. It was all the same as it always was. The only thing that was out of place was the monk that was doing his daily pray. I stared at him and flashed a picture and just like that I returned to my conversation. Then it was only 30 seconds later when it had happened. The monk had set himself on fire in protest to Diem!

ward Steve and then just jumps on his lap. It was great. Steve was dumb founded because he thought he had just said “I have to go to work so please leave.” So she is on his lap and he just jumps up he dam near jumped 5 vertical feet. It was very impressive. She falls right on the floor and starts crying and that is when 5 big guys start walking over yelling to Steve “You should not get around that one because she is crazy.” I tell him that they are yelling that there going to kill him in the most painful way possible. So he looks around to asses the situation and then he just takes off running all the way back to camp which was a good 2 miles away. When I got back to the camp and saw Steve I told him exactly what had happened with everything. It didn’t bother him. He just laughed as much as I had. Steve was such a good friend. I really miss him. He was killed by the Viet Cong. He was one of the eight who died at the battle of Pleiku. He didn’t even have a chance!

done. They would shoot themselves in the ass or leg so they could go home on disability. A lot of them left like that. It wasn’t a really manly thing to do, but what can I say I just take the pictures. All I know is that I’m going to get called home one day. And that day is going to be the sweetest day ever. Everyday I stay in this hell hole is just something that makes going home that much better. At the end of the day I know I have a home to go to. I have a bed to sleep in. And a mother who loves me. If I have to stay here then I will stay here. I will watch another man die. I see another soldier get shot. And I will be there for a new My Lai Massacre. But at the end of the day I know it’s the end of the day. And that is one less day I am here. One less day in hell. I know there not going to keep me here forever. So when the call is made for me to come home, Oh Happy Day. I will stand on the top of the tallest mountain in Khe Sanh and I will scream “I am

Some topics in this essay:
Viet Cong, South Vietnam, Steve Steve, Lung Shane, , Tonkin Resolution, Heller Basically, Dinh Diem, Khe Sanh, Nick Williams, south vietnam, day day, love day, life magazine, catholic laws, considered ones, war american, soldiers interviewed, day home, vietnam war,