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ledge. He had been a scout and had been
     ordered not to open fire, but to observe and report back on the size of the American unit. The NVA soldier had allowed his
     hate to take control when he saw the Americans and had disobeyed his orders.
    The infantry sergeant riding in the lead AMTRACK called for the gunships over his radio. Within seconds the first gunship
     made a pass at the cliff side, sending hunks of rock flying over the road. The gunnery sergeant stood over his Marine and
     looked down. He saw the blood bubbling around the young man’s mouth and his lips moving open and shut. He was still alive.
     The NCO checked the area once more for any more snipers and then laid his machine gun down next to the wounded engineer. He
     tore open the front of the Marine’s jacket and saw where the bullet had entered the young man’s lung. There wasn’t a second
     of hesitation as the experienced NCO covered the holes, both front and back, with small pieces of plastic from the large bandage
     packages and secured them. He paused to wipe the blood from the Marine’s mouth and then he looked into the man’s eyes and
     winked.
    “You’ll be fine … real fine…” He patted the youth’s arm and waved for the AMTRACK to call for a medevac chopper. “Now don’t
     you go passing out on me!”
    The Marine engineer private smiled and shook his head from side to side. He was still struggling to breathe.
    “Good … I’ll have a chopper here in a second to haul you back to the Navy hospital in Da Nang … a
direct
flight!”
    Night fell quietly in the jungle bordering the river that separated South Vietnam from Laos. The contingent of Marine AMTRACKs
     and infantry had formed a circular night lager site near a stand of mahogany trees where the underbrush was thin because the
     large trees had blocked out the light for rapid growth. The Marine engineer lance corporal who had earlier stepped on the
     mine walked around to the front of the command AMTRACK where the skull had been wired to the headlight. He paused and looked
     at the bleached white symbol of death, and a shiver traversed his spine. In the short time since they had arrived in Vietnam,
     things had changed. The skull had taken on a much more sinister meaning than it had when they had picked it up off a beach,
     before his buddy had been shot.
    He stared at the skull with the shiny white jaw gapped open and wondered who it had belonged to, what the person had felt,
     even how old the owner of the skull had been before he died; or maybe she had died.
    The Marine engineer could not take his eyes off the skull. He felt weird, as if the skull was trying to communicate something
     to him. The Marine stared harder in the half-light and then noticed that there were fillings in the teeth and that one of
     the front teeth had been capped. Very slowly it dawned on the young Marine that he was not looking at the skull of a Vietcong,
     but the skull of an American.
    “Fuck!” His voice was barely above a whisper. “Oh … fuck!” A shiver covered his body and he could feel the goose bumps pop
     up over his arms and legs.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “Gunny … this is an
American’s
head.”
    “What?” The gunnery sergeant slipped next to the young Marine. “Where did you come up with that shit!”
    “Look at the teeth!”
    The NCO tried lifting the skull so he could see the teeth, but the commo wire had been pulled tight. He went around to the
     side so that the moonlight could shine directly on the exposed teeth and saw the front cap. It was enough. He knew that the
     skull had to be an American’s. “You’re right…”
    “What the fuck are we going to do with it?” The lance corporal’s voice was about to break. “I don’t want that there all night
     staring at me!”
    “We’ll cut it loose and wrap it up…” The NCO used the sharp blade of his K-Bar knife to cut through the commo wire. He carefully
     removed the skull and looked around, then saw the crook