Chapter 18: Chapter 17 – An American Marine Working behind Enemy Lines

At a creek, the water gurgles as if someone is wading in it. Hoa, Tin, and I follow the gurgling sound to a culvert on the opposite side of the creek. We sit down on a low pile of smooth rocks along the creek's edge. The Skyscraper Tree is nearby.

More bubbles come to the water surface, tall grass stirring and then having been parted, then a face with glinting eyes pops through the opening in the parted grass. The face is camouflaged with each eye underlined with a thick black stroke, and with curving green stripes all over the face. We run away.

After running a few paces, I say, "Stop! The face looks familiar, and I want to find out about something. I was trapped in fishnet and pulled up into a fig tree in the Assassin Jungle. A POW was lying in a hammock hanging on the tree, restrained by hand and leg cuffs. He talked to me the whole time. The face coming through the grass looks like the POW's face."

As we turn around to go back, shouting voices rise from the woods, and the face sinks back into the water. We dash towards the Skyscraper Tree, snatch at the low-hanging branches and swing up them, and crash into the tree. The birds cease their chatters, monkeys rush about, snarling and waving their front paws at us, and dogs ferociously bark from the woods.

Hoa says, "I hope the noises from the animals and birds will not attract attention."

The noises quiet down in a few moments. We sit on the branches and watch for the face to reappear.

The face reemerges from the reeds at a different area in the creek. I say, "Here it comes again."

An army man stands up in the water. He makes a small movement and looks toward the Skyscraper Tree.

Savage roars come from the direction of the cemetery, and guerrillas wearing truck tire sandals rush forward. 

The army man turns his head to look in different directions, and bolts away in the direction of the American Embassy, identified by the American flag billowing on the flagpole.

Red tracer bullets flying in one single line trailing him, he runs to the stoop and flings himself into the Gold Nuggets River. Bullets strike at the water around him as he swims, and they pass close above his head each time it comes out of the water.

Hoa says, "Oh my God, do they have to use so many bullets on one man? Dirty VCs."

"The VCs are surely dirty," Tin says.

The man mostly keeps his head in the water as he swims, bubbles coming out of a hollow grass stem that comes straight up from his head. The VCs run along the riverbank, shooting into the water.

Long streaks of blood expand in the water, turning it red, and the man sinks out of sight, vanishing in the water. When he comes directly under the Skyscraper Tree, he turns his head sideways and looks up at the tree. We wave to him, but he doesn't wave back.

The VCs trot along the riverbank, looking at the red water. The leader says, "Cease shooting and retreat. We can't see him shoot him dead."

They turn around, swinging their rifles over their shoulders, and march away along the riverbank, still looking at the water. 

We slip down the tree and go in search of the escaping man.

A head bobbing up and down in the waves, I say, "That may be him."

We jump into the river and swim out to him, but he is dead, floating face down.

I move over and touch him, and detect light twitching in his arm. I poke him at his armpit and feel him stiffen up. I say, "He is still alive. Turn him over on his back and shove him to shore."

We turn him over. As I tilt his head above the water to keep him from choking, he opens his eyes and stares in my face. "You again. And what are you kids doing around here?"

"Trying to find you," Tin says.

"Are you really OK, with so much blood loss?" I say.

He says, "I released red dye in the water so that the VCs could not see where I was."

I say, "You were unharmed, so why did you lie face-down in the water?"

"I thought the VCs were coming for me," He says, turning to look at me. "I tried to play dead, but couldn't because you tickled me."

Then he says, "Thank you kids for saving my life by turning me over on my back."

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Tin says, "We didn't save your life. You were in no danger of dying or drowning."

The army man says, "You turned me over, and that prevented me from being choked to death if I stayed longer in the water."

"You are full of it," Hoa says.

"Tell us what you are doing here," I say.

"It's secret," he says.

Tin says, "I think you are a Marine and you spy behind the enemy lines. You try to detect the positions of the VCs, their bases, and their infiltration routes, so the Marine Corps can block them up."

The army man says nothing, just smiling.

I say, "What with all the bullets whizzing around you, you wouldn't swim around here again to save your life, would you?"

The army man says, "I'll think about that. He points to a wall that has the same make as the high wall at the side of my house. "It's dangerous around here now. You kids should get out of here by climbing up the trees and get over that wall."

We get down to the other side of the wall, crawl through a barbed wire fence, and plop down onto a field of dry grass. At the sound of an airplane taking off, I look around and see the sign on the top of a building, "Tan Son Nhat Airport." 

The American Army Base is next to the airport. Fighter airplanes and helicopters are gathered on the ground. It looks like the Allied Marines are preparing for combat.

At the entrance gate of the American Air Force Base, an American Marine stands by his jeep parked halfway on the sidewalk and halfway on the road. "Hi kids. Come over here for a moment."

We cross the road and come over to him. I stare at his face. "You're still alive! What happened to the other POWs in hammocks hanging on trees?"

"I escaped," the Marine says. "But the other POWs were moved somewhere else." 

I look at his clean-shaven face, and Tin and Hoa are looking, too.

The Marine smiles. "Don't you recognize me? I was also the escaping Marine in the red water." 

Seeing him now makes me think of my dad. "Excuse me, Sir. Do you know of an American Army Officer who is looking for his daughter?"

He looks at me, shaking his head. Then he pats my head, "How old are you?"

"I am sixteen years old," I say. 

He says, "I have a daughter, and she is living with her mother in America. When my tour of duty is over, I'll leave the Army and go back home to the United States." Then he raises his brows. "POWs in a cage! Immersed in the Mekong Delta River! He is there!"

"Who's he? Do you mean my dad?" I say.

But he only shakes his head.

Hoa says, "He's going crazy. Let's get out of here." She pulls Tin and me to go away.

The Marine puts out his hand to stop us. "Wait, I have something for you all."

Tin says, "Watch out. He may try to do something crazy."

The Marine reaches into the back of the jeep, picks up cans of food, and drops them into a bag. He hands the bag to me, saying, "This is for you all to share."

In the bag, there are cans of army foods: pickled hot dogs, ham and cheese, egg and ground pork, fruitcake, fruit cocktail, peanut butter, and chocolate.

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