The Shadow of Arms (8 page)

Interrogator: Was it Misova who dragged her out?

Ericsson: He dragged the girl out and tied her hands behind her back with vines. Clark said to hurry, that somebody might see us once the sun came up. Before we could get out of the village, a crowd of children started following us, crying. That girl was there. As we dragged her off with us to the west, we heard a woman wailing behind us. It was the girl's mother.

Interrogator: Then what happened?

Ericsson: We just told her to go away, shouting “
Diti miaoulin!
” Misova fired a few warning shots at the woman's feet.

Interrogator: Raphael, what did Misova do after that?

R. Gomez: The woman followed us, would hide, then follow us again, waving something like a scarf. When Misova went to kill the woman, we all stopped him. She ran up to us, out of breath, and waved. We figured she meant that the scarf was her daughter's and she wanted her to have it. Tears were streaming down her face and she was begging and we didn't know what to do. Clark took care of that problem. He took the scarf with a grin and stuffed it into the girl's mouth.

Ericsson: Clark gagged Miao to keep her from crying. It was still dark and there were no villagers around to stop us. We left the mother behind and kept on walking, threatening the girl, who was having trouble keeping up. Manuel, maybe because of some rivalry with Clark, made the girl carry a pack on her back.

Interrogator: Staff Sergeant Misova, give us your statement on the events from there up to your arrival at the destination that day.

Misova: We had breakfast at around 0800. I ungagged the girl.

Interrogator: Did you give her any food?

Misova: All we had was C-rations . . . you can't give that kind of food to the Vietnamese . . .

Interrogator: You starved her.

Misova: Her face was flushed and she kept coughing so I gave her some aspirin. Raphael started firing. He was shooting at buffaloes, so I warned him to be careful. At 1030 we were right below Hill 192 and there we picked a spot to serve as command center. It was an abandoned hut about forty feet square. There was a window on the east side and the door was on the west. Inside, there was a table and a long bench along the wall, bits of old cushions in the corners and some objects like pieces of iron or stones scattered on the floor. The place was a wreck and there were bullet holes in the walls. We piled up our ammo and food alongside the one wall that was still intact. I ordered Raphael and Ericsson to clean up the place, and then I went out with Clark and Manuel to reconnoiter the area.

Ericsson: The girl took off Manuel's pack and watched Raphael and me cleaning for a while and then, without being told, she got up and helped us.

Interrogator: Maybe the girl thought you guys had taken her to be a servant. Whose idea was it to rape her?

Ericsson: It was the sergeant's. They came back after an hour and were all smiles. At 1200 we sat outside the door and stuffed ourselves with rations. Misova, was lying on the ground resting and then he pointed to the hut and said it was time to have some fun.

Interrogator: Who agreed with him?

Ericsson: Clark whistled. Manuel and Raphael looked sullen.

Interrogator: Private Ericsson, was it your intention from the beginning to take no part in it?

Ericsson: I got married a month before being drafted. I realized that a very gentle and nice looking Vietnamese woman is no different from my wife or my sister. Misova asked if I'd take my turn. I said no. Misova got angry and pointed his gun at me. Unless I went along with it, he said, he'd have to report that one of his men died in action. Clark backed him up.

Interrogator: Raphael and Manuel, you didn't refuse as strongly as Ericsson?

Manuel: Misova made fun of Ericsson, calling him a faggot and a eunuch.

Raphael: Clark also made fun of him, called him spineless. We couldn't take that.

Manuel: If they told the others we were cowards, we'd be isolated in the platoon.

Ericsson: Misova took off his shirt and rushed into the hut. You could hear the girl screaming in pain and despair. The screaming went on and on. It only stopped when the girl gasped for breath. Then it turned into crying in agony. When Misova came out of the hut he was buttoning up his pants. He said the girl was very clean and not bad at all.

Interrogator: Who was next?

Clark: Misova gestured at me to go next so I went in.

Interrogator: You didn't draw lots?

Ericsson: While we were cleaning, they decided their turns.

Clark: The truth is, we went by order of rank.

Interrogator: How was the girl doing?

Clark: She was naked on the table.

Interrogator: Was that all?

Clark: Her hands were tied behind her and there was a lot of bleeding. She was extremely clean and calm.

Ericsson: Raphael watched what Clark was doing through a hole in the wall.

Interrogator: What did Clark do to the girl?

Raphael: Because she kept screaming from the pain, he did it with a hunting knife pressed to her throat.

Interrogator: What kind of knife?

Clark: The handle was wrapped with tape and the blade about ten inches long. A wounded buddy gave it to me.

Manuel: Raphael and I, against our will, did it in turn with Misova and Clark watching us. The girl was still moaning in pain but by then she was really weak.

Ericsson: They kept going in and out of the hut, kept it up for an hour and a half. So that any enemies nearby wouldn't spot us, we all went into the hut and that was when I saw her. She was curled up in a corner, tied up and naked. She looked at each of us in turn, crying. Her eyes were so big. Then she was untied and dressed.

Interrogator: Who did that?

Misova: I did.

Interrogator: According to your file, you once took target practice on civilians while out on reconnaissance. Why?

Misova: I felt like it.

Interrogator: You also did that to the girl because you felt like it? What did you do after that?

Misova: I ate.

Interrogator: Did you feed the girl?

Misova: Since her coughing was getting worse, she didn't get any food.

Ericsson: While they were eating they compared the Vietnamese girl with other women they'd had. They also tried to remember exactly how long it had been since they'd last tasted a woman.

Interrogator: Was there an operation that day?

Misova: I told Ericsson to watch the girl and the ammo and we headed up to the highlands to patrol the opposite valley. There were three Vietnamese walking along the river. They were not in uniform but I figured they were Viet Cong. We all fired at once. We missed the targets, so we radioed platoon headquarters, asking for artillery support. Immediately there was shelling.

Interrogator: Private Ericsson, you were left alone with the girl?

Ericsson: I didn't know how to deal with her. Her crying broke my heart. By then I'd been with her all day, but there was nothing I could do for her. As I watched trembling in terror—she was so tiny—I even thought of shooting the four who raped her. I was furious. I made up my mind that if I ever got out of there alive, I'd make them pay for what they'd done. When I went inside, the girl must've thought I'd come to rape her too because she burst into tears and curled up in a ball in the corner. She looked worn out and she got worse and worse. I thought she must've been hurt badly. But she was wearing black so I couldn't see where she was hurt. I offered her some beef stew and crackers and water. The girl took the food and ate. It was the first thing she'd eaten since we'd taken her. It was the afternoon by then. She ate standing up, but several times stopped eating and moaned. She never took her eyes off me while eating. I guess she was trying to figure out what sort of game I was playing. After she finished, she said something in Vietnamese. She could have been thanking me. I said in English that I didn't understand her. I wanted to tell her how sorry I was for what happened.

Interrogator: The idea of rescuing her didn't occur to you?

Ericsson: The girl looked too weak to travel. I did think of slipping out of there with her. But I knew it would be dark soon. If we were on the run they might start shooting at us. I was the only one not an accomplice. I knew Misova would report me as a deserter and the others would probably take his side. They would all swear with a straight face that there had been no woman at all on the patrol and that I must be out of my mind. When I went back in the hut again, the girl seemed to have decided I was not going to hurt her. The moaning had stopped and it seemed like she trusted me. Trusted me! After I had already decided there was nothing I could do for her. It was the hardest decision I ever made in my life, and by no means the best. It was wrong for me to be a soldier in Vietnam. When the girl's fever worsened and she kept coughing, Clark started insisting that we kill her then and there.

Manuel: Misova talked him out of it, told him to be patient. He said after a good night's sleep Miao might be in better shape. Then, in the morning they could have one more round of fun with her.

Raphael: The moon was bright. We took turns standing guard and the girl, crouched in the corner, coughed all night through. So Clark starting up again saying we should get rid of her.

Clark: I was afraid her coughing might lead the enemy to our position.

Misova: The next morning we all got up a little before 0600 and I wasn't interested in the girl anymore.

Ericsson: Because she was totally worn out and her fever and cough had worsened during the night. They all said it was time to get rid of her.

Interrogator: Did Misova say he'd kill her himself?

Ericsson: Misova ordered me to get rid of her. He threatened me, said if I refused, he'd report me as killed in action.

Raphael: He also ordered us to do it, but we refused.

Manuel: Clark volunteered to do it himself, but Misova said no, and that we all had to be involved so nobody took the blame later on. Misova said he'd have us each stab her with knives, and Clark said he'd bayonet her in the back.

Raphael: And he said we could dump the body off a cliff on Hill 192, which we'd come upon while on patrol the day before.

Ericsson: We dragged the girl up to higher ground. She was struggling to breathe. But as soon as we reached the ridge, we discovered enemy down below us.

Misova: The situation became urgent and we found the girl's presence a hindrance to carrying out operations.

Raphael: I was the one nearest the girl, and Clark pulled her by the arm into the forest nearby. I saw he had the hunting knife in his other hand.

Interrogator: Did you hear anything when she was stabbed?

Ericsson: Well, I was a hunter back home, so I know what it's like to gut a deer. I remember thinking that the sound was like sticking a knife into a deer. The girl screamed, but it wasn't very loud.

Raphael: When Clark came back, Misova asked him if he'd taken care of the girl and Clark said she was dead. But then we saw her crawling down the slope. Misova pointed at her and shouted.

Ericsson: Clark muttered he had stuck the knife all the way in, twice. Misova ordered all of us to fire at her, but we didn't.

Raphael: I shot one time, but my gun jammed and I couldn't fire anymore. Clark ran down the hill and unloaded his M16 in the direction of the forest. Clark then started joking, asking if we wanted him to go get her gold tooth. Part of her head was blown off. Then we got focused on our own operation and forgot about the incident.

Interrogator: Did Lieutenant Riley meet you at that point?

Riley: No, I only received a radio report that a female guerrilla had been shot to death. During the operation Misova reported that they encountered a woman who took off running toward the top of the hill, so I ordered him to capture her. About two minutes later, he told me they weren't able to catch her and had no choice but to shoot her. I told him “Good job!” and reported it on up to company level.

Ericsson: I felt like I was going crazy, knowing that as long as I kept my mouth shut, the murder of that thin Vietnamese girl with the large dark eyes would be buried forever. I knew that, if I did not bring the murder into the light of day, I could never live in peace after being discharged and going home. I realized it was the very least I could do for that girl I'd betrayed. The only thing that could prevent me from carrying out my resolution would be if I became a casualty at the hands of my own unit. In fact, Misova and Clark fired at me twice when we were out on reconnaissance.

Interrogator: Did you report it to your superior?

Ericsson: I gave statements to the platoon leader and the company commander.

Interrogator: Lieutenant Riley, what is the reason for concealing this crime for over three months?

Riley: It wasn't a case of concealment. One thing all of us field commanders know well is that the nature of the civilian relations that US forces engage in in Asia are not at all like they are in Europe. Mishaps of this kind happen every day in Vietnam.

Interrogator: I am aware that there is a cultural difference. The question, however, is why you did not report it earlier?

Riley: Three years ago I lived in a black area. My wife went to the hospital in a white neighborhood in Alabama to give birth to our first baby. She was in a lot of pain. But the hospital, under a policy of severe racial discrimination, refused to admit my wife. She ended up having her baby in the waiting room. I tried to destroy that hospital, but they called the police and I ended up behind bars. Sitting in that cell I made up my mind that the moment I was out I'd shoot every single member of the staff of that hospital. I gave up the idea when I was got out. It was for the same reason that I did not report this case.

Interrogator: This is a case that could turn into an international problem. In any event, once the case is publicized the dignity of the US forces, which have been participating in wars around the world to safeguard freedom and justice, will be greatly stained. Consider transferring or sending Ericsson home as soon as possible.