Chapter 35
Lindstrom is lying on the ground in great pain, his
shirt beginning to show bright red from a bayonet wound
in the midsection. He swallows his agony but his mouth
lets a little of it out every time he breathes.
Egan forces him to take some sulfa pills and loosens
his belt so that the wound is exposed. Lindstrom is
fully conscious and smiles wanly and says, "Looks like I've
sprung a leak!" Whitney asks, "How does it feel, Sarge?"
and Lindstrom's eyes cloud over and his voice becomes thick
and slow. "Like I've been -- eating -- too many -- green apples."
His lips work for a moment and his eyes close
and he passes out with a little sign of leftover
breath. Egan applies the compress from his first-aid pouch
to the gash, wraps it around his waist and ties
the bandages securely at the hip. You say, "We've got
to get him away from here. This place is practically
Tokyo Boulevard." There has been no outcry, no alarm, but
you are afraid that the observation post might be a
rendezvous point for Jap counter-patrols. "Let's lift him up and
carry him over to less open ground." Whitney takes hold
of his shoulders underneath the arms and you lift up
his ankles, while Egan prevents his back from sagging downward
by bracing Lindstrom's body with his arms held stiffly outward.
You were second in command. Now you're in full charge.
You will make the decisions and carry the responsibility for
the success of the mission. The other two men will
look to you for leadership, and if you have it
they will follow you. Don't let them see how Lindstrom's
wound has affected you, don't let them see how frightened
and insecure you feel. No, you can't fool them into
believing that coolness and presence of mind is something that
you sew on with a corporal's stripes, but if you
show hesitancy or confusion you'll lose control. Be sure of
yourself, be calm, confident. Put on an act, a front.
You pause where the vegetation becomes more matted
mmmand tangled.
"Here's a good place. Let's put him down. Easy now."
You lower the feet first, and Egan and Whitney go
to their knees in order to let him down without
jarring him unduly. The blood has been drained from his
head and his face is white. The gauze pad is
darkening expansion of redness. You add, "One of us
will have to take him back to the command post
for medical attention. How about it, Whit? Think you can
handle him?" He replies, "Sure. He'd do the same for
me, wouldn't he?" "Okay, then. In a minute or so
the bleeding will stop and then we'll hitch him to
your back. Meanwhile, Egan and I will hide those two
dead Japs out there and recover our weapons." You beckon
to Egan and turn back to the clearing once again.
There are the Nips, dirty and repulsive, even in death.
You straddle one of them and stoop down and lift
it to your shoulder while Egan hoists the other. You
walk a few paces and lay the body down in
a patch of tall grass which conceals it from view. . .
"In serving on the seas, be a corpse that is
saturated with water. In serving on land be a corpse
that is covered with weeds. In serving in the sky
be a corpse that challenges clouds. Let us all die
close by the side of our Emperor with no regrets."
War is a Japanese industry. And these are the unemployed.
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