BooksBarbecue
Back Lost Soldiers Save as PDF
Chapters (48)
  1. COVER PAGE
  2. TITLE PAGE
  3. EPIGRAPH
  4. PRAISE
  5. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  6. MAP
  7. PROLOGUE
  8. CHAPTER ONE
  9. CHAPTER TWO
  10. CHAPTER THREE
  11. CHAPTER FOUR
  12. CHAPTER FIVE
  13. CHAPTER SIX
  14. CHAPTER SEVEN
  15. CHAPTER EIGHT
  16. CHAPTER NINE
  17. CHAPTER TEN
  18. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  19. CHAPTER TWELVE
  20. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  21. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  22. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  23. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  24. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  25. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  26. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  34. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  35. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  36. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  44. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  45. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  46. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  47. COPYRIGHT PAGE
  48. What’s next onyour reading list?

One of the victims in a recent gang-related shooting in the slums of Bangkok was identified today as Theodore Deville, a U.S. Army deserter from the Viet Nam War.

Dr. Hanson Muir of the Central Identification Labs, Hawaii (CILHI), which is responsible for the identification of remains of U.S. servicemen, issued a formal statement this morning indicating that the lab has “positively identified” the remains based on fingerprints obtained from the crime scene. Deville, who disappeared from an Army base near Sai Gon in late 1967, had been charged with murder as well as several drug-related offenses at the time he deserted from the Army. “Apparently, this individual made his way to Thailand in the massive confusion that attended the war itself,” speculated Dr. Muir. “And from the indications we have received from Thai authorities, he must have continued his earlier endeavors in the drug trade.”

Dr. Muir further indicated that a preliminary check shows there are no known family members who could be contacted regarding the recovery of Deville’s remains. “It is truly an odd ending to a tragic war,” said Muir. “And we are happy to return to our business of identifying the remains of American heroes who were lost on the battlefield.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT

Sai Gon

“Cong Ly! Cong Ly!”

He could hear them calling even as he left the packed shops and the sidewalk vendors of Le Thanh Ton Street and turned in to the park. He had been lost in thought, celebrating as he always did the fading memories in this special heart of old Sai Gon. He loved the old landmarks, and as he walked toward them he had been worrying that they might soon disappear. In front of him was the ornate, yellow and white government building erected empires ago by the French, and over its shoulder he could barely see the red spires of the Duc Ba Chapel. The moonlike old Opera House was far off to his left. Tall hotels and office buildings were shooting up all over Sai Gon, many of them ugly and egregious, and soon these relics would be lost among them, like quaint houseboats in a modern shipyard.

But as long as the landmarks remained, there would be memories. And it was important that they remain, he thought again, for Sai Gon would be nothing but a broiling, rain-swept city without the haunting reminders of its past.

“Cong Ly! Over here!”

He walked across the grassy little park toward the Rex Hotel, just as he had done so many hundred times before. He waved gladly to them as they left their cyclos to greet him, passing under the garish statue of Ho Chi Minh, pushing his way through the sea of vendors, hustlers, and gawkers, ignoring the oddly dressed foreign tourists, until he was standing in their midst on the street corner across from the front doors of the Rex. And it was as if he was truly coming home.