Informant38

There was no room for Christ there. If he had been there, we would have killed him.
We did not kill civilians, but we burned down their homes and destroyed much of the personal possessions of people who had nothing to begin with. I stood silently by on the perimeter of the village and wondered at the injustice of it all. I said nothing. I SAID NOTHING. I am through being silent.

Then I was shot and eventually was flown to Oaknoll Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. I was on an open ward with about 40 other Marines who had even worse wounds than I did. Most were amputees and many had lost multiple limbs. I especially remember one Marine who was blind, had 3 limbs blown off, and had shrapnel throughout the trunk of his body. He was 19 and was going to survive. His wife came to visit him and she was 8 months pregnant. Another young man had been terribly disfigured by a land mine. He had lost his lower extremities and had shrapnel throughout his body. His face was grotesque and he had seizures most days.
�Timothy J. McKinney, Jr.
3rd Batallion, 4th Marines 1966-68

Eleventh Hour Stories