Word of Honor (25 page)

It's flying an enemy flag, and you're focusing on that. But did you see any written signs on the building, in English or in French? Do you know French?"

"As you know from my file, I have a working knowledge of it. There were no signs-written or otherwise."

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She handed him a slip of paper. "What does that mean?" Tyson looked at the Vietnamese words. Nha Thuong. He threw the paper on the coffee table. "I told you I didn't know the written language. I spoke a few words and phrases, most of which had to do with getting me laid." He smiled.

Major Harper smiled in return and sat. She said, "Well, that means hospital, of course.

"Does it?"

She pointed to the map on the coffee table and observed, "The maps were trilingual and were therefore like a Rosetta stone." She nodded to herself, as though arriving at a truth, then continued. "The legend on that map included the words 'Nha Thuong, h6pital, hospital.' You saw this trilingual legend day in and day out as you consulted your map. So of course you know

'Nha Thuong' when you see it written. The question is, Was it written on the concrete building?"

Tyson did not reply.

She seemed lost in thought for some time, stroking her chin with her finger. At length she said, "The question of whether or not you knew that building to be a hospital is pertinent but not crucial to the central issue. Let's assume you did not know it was a hospital."

"Right. -

"You deployed, fired at a building with an enemy flag, drew fire in return, and began an assault. Believe it or not, I rather like a good war story. I saw A Walk in the Sun about ten times. Please continue."

Tyson leaned back in his armchair. He wanted a cigarette but decided this was not the time to display what could be construed as a nervous habit. He said, "We began by laying down heavy suppressing fire. You know-we blasted all the windows and doors with automatic fire to keep the enemy down. Then we began our final assault-"

"Excuse me again. The book said someone hung a white bed sheet from a window to indicate surrender or all clear. Apparently the two witnesses told Picard they saw this. -

"Why the hell would the enemy hang out a surrender flag? They had an avenue of escape. Why the hell would I begin an assault if I or anyone in my platoon saw a white flag?"

"That goes back to the original point. The enemy had WORD OF HONOR * 195

already withdrawn, according to the book. It was the hospital staff who hung the bed sheet from the window, also according to the book account. They waved to you from the windows. But you don't agree with any of that. So please continue."

"Right. So we began to fire and maneuver, working our way toward the building. We continued to draw heavy fire-"

"I'm sorry. It's just that I've done some basic infantry tactics research.

I spoke to an infantry colonel who was there. A friend of mine. I sort of anticipated that, if I had the opportunity to hear your version, it would probably be that some sort of firefight took place. Excuse the comparison, but that's what was said about My Lai--

"What's your point?"

"The point is that this colonel said a frontal assault on a concrete building was not something he would ever expose his men to."

"Maybe he's a wimp."

"Hardly. He did say he would fire some sort of incendiary devices into the place and bum the insides, which would be mostly wood, I guess. Then, he said, he might move in for an assault."

He regarded her for some time, then replied, "We didn't have any incendiary ordnance that could be fired from a launcher. We had only hand grenades-fragmentation, white phosphorus, and concussion grenades. So we had to move in close. "

"Why didn't you call in air strikes, aerial rockets, mortars, or artillery?

Isn't that standard operating procedure in American infantry tactics? Send bombs instead of men?"

"Yes, that's standard procedure. But there was no fire support available.

Nothing was functioning fight at that time. So we moved in for an old-fashioned frontal assault. Fire and maneuver. We broke into the ground floor, just like in the war movies that you seem to like-"

"Where and when did the casualties occur? Was it before or after you got into the . . . the building?"

"I ... we took two wounded on the initial assault. Peterson had a sucking chest wound ... both lungs were involved . . . the bullet passed from side to side . . . he

196 * NELSON DEMILLE

was drowning. The other man, Moody, was hit in the thigh . . . he was all right.... The third man, Larry Cane, was killed inside the building."

"Oh, I thought you indicated earlier that all the casualties occurred outside. That's what Picard's book said also, except he said they were caused by a single sniper. Anyway, there were remarkably few casualties for an assault on a fortified structure. "

"Everyone's allowed to get lucky once in a while. I'm sorry I can't report more dead and wounded.

"I was just wondering. Please continue."

"There was no one on the first floor and still no indications that the place was a hospital. There were offices, a chapel, a lobby, some sleeping quarters, and a kitchen and dining room. We found two staircases. We reached the second floor and got into a room-by-room fight. It was then that a few phosphorus hand grenades were tossed around. The place started to bum-"

"How many enemy do you estimate?"

"Maybe thirty or forty-we were outnumbered."

"But you didn't know how many were in there when you attacked. There could have been two hundred. "

"Well, I could tell by the amount of fire coming from the windows that there weren't two hundred."

"And you lost one killed in that room-to-roorn fighting? A man named Cane?"

"Yes. I I

"But a while ago you said all three casualties occurred outside, during the assault. Picard agreed, though his account of the severity of the fight is somewhat different from yours. Now you say Larry Cane was killed inside."

Tyson lit a cigarette. He drew on it, then replied, "Well, that's a result of having read Picard's book. You see, what's happening is that my memory is being jogged by all this, but Picard's book has put some false recollections in my mind. Cane was killed inside the hospital. I'm positive of that. I saw him get hit. Upstairs, in the main ward."

Karen Harper nodded. "I'm sure we can clear that up if it becomes necessary. And I understand what you mean about false recollections as a result of having recently read the book." She added, "Nonetheless, Mr.

Tyson, I find it

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all a little hard to believe. I mean, nineteen very fatigued men making a frontal assault on a building held by a significant number of North Vietnamese regulars. And why didn't you surround the building so the enemy couldn't escape? That, I understand, would have been standard procedure. And what, may I ask, prompted you to such acts of heroism? If you couldn't get fire support to level the building, why not just bypass it? Pretend it didn't exist? Am I being cynical, or did American troops sometimes avoid a fight?" She leaned forward. "I don't expect you to answer any of these questions because they presuppose that you are lying about the whole assault business."

Tyson looked at her.

Karen Harper continued, "In most murder investigations we look for motive.

In cases of war-related massacres, investigators tend to overlook motive because motive, in the hands of the defense, becomes extenuation and mitigation. In other words, defense argues that the motive was a good one.

For instance, you mentioned Phu Lai a few times, and I was wondering if perhaps your men were looking for revenge. . . ." She stared at him. "That would be understandable. "

Tyson did not reply immediately, then said, "I would be lying if I told you that all of us were not looking for revenge. Killing breeds killing, as you may know. But combat deaths do not-should not-breed murder. We were looking for revenge on the battlefield, and we found it at H6pital Mis6ricorde. In fact, there's your motive for my assault on the building, and there's the reason my men followed me. A payback for Phu Lai. But it had to be quid pro quo. Slaughtering civilians would not even the score. But taking that concrete building from the enemy would. Did."

She nodded. "You're a very bright man."

"Am I blushing?"

She said, "Still, your account is . . . not . . . not a good war story. In fact, it's unbelievable. "

Tyson drew on his cigarette. He realized in retrospect just how unbelievable this story sounded from the standpoint of military tactics and logic. He saw that if even a JAG officer and a woman with presumably no knowledge of infantry tactics beyond an unlikely fondness for war movies 198 * NELSON DEMILLE

and a friendship with an infantry colonel could punch holes in his story, then it would not stand up under closer scrutiny. Yet it seemed like a good story when it was first fabricated. It was standard Vietnam cover-up.

Whenever a few ICsinnocent civilians-were killed by mistake-or in less blameless ways-you came up with a hair-raising story of a firefight. No one questioned you. No one said anything about your lack of casualties.

And a good officer always made certain his men carried a few enemy weapons to turn in- along with the bodies of old men, women, and children. It was that kind of war.

Tyson reflected: The story sounded good at the time, because we'd told it to each other in a vacuum, without outside criticism, and because we wanted to believe it. . . . Damn her, he thought. Was the hospital marked? Why didn't you call in artillery? Why so few casualties in the assault?

She broke into his thoughts. "So, anyway, the hospital was burning now.

You had killed a number of the enemy. The rest, I assume, fled. How?"

"They jumped from the second-floor windows."

She nodded, then asked, "Did you see any patients, any hospital staff?"

Without hesitation he replied, "Yes, we saw patients and staff." Stick to the damned story. Don't deviate. It's the only story we have. The only one we all know. It may sound improbable, but it's not impossible. Beyond a shadow of a doubt. He said, "Most of them were dead. I don't know if they were killed in the assault or if they were executed by the enemy."

She said nothing.

Tyson continued his narrative. "It was total confusion at that point. I mean, you wouldn't believe what chaos it waswounded VC and NVA soldiers in uniforn-t7-you couldn't tell if they were patients, if they were armed, if they were surrendering, or if they were about to shoot you.

There were a few women, but one of them was a VC nurse, and she fired a pistol at us. Someone killed her. It was incredibly confusing. I blame the goddamned VC and NVA for using a hospital full of people .... By that time we could see that it was a hospital . . . . Anyway, the place was burning

. WORD OF HONOR * 199

by now., and we threw some of the patients-the ones in the maternity and pediatric ward-out of the window . . . to save them.... There were bushes below. . . . " Tyson stopped. He realized he was rambling. He cleared his throat and continued. "Well, I suppose in a way you could call it a massacre

. . . but certainly not an intentional one on our part. I could see how that Eurasian nun could misinterpret what she saw. . . . But most of the dead were a result of the assault or of the enemy executions that took place before we assaulted the building. I think they massacred the staff and the patients, including their own wounded, when they saw they were going to be overrun. . . .

She said, "And Dr. Monteau?"

"I don't remember being introduced to anyone by name, Major. "

"But one of Picard's sources--one of your men--related an incident-"

"Which man?"

"I don't know. I told you I came here first."

"By law you'd have to tell me who Picard's sources were, if you knew them.

That is the reason you came here first. "

She didn't comment on Tyson's observation but said, "And the Australian doctor-"

He said irritably, "Damn it, I told you there was a hospital full of patients and staff. Yes, they were killed. Yes, some of them were probably killed by us. But they were killed as an unfortunate consequence of military operations against an armed enemy who made use of a place of sanctuary to conduct operations against American forces. Write that down.

End of statement."

She nodded and asked him to repeat it as she wrote. Then she said, "Why are there such discrepancies between your story and the stories told to Picard by two of your men?"

"Maybe Picard distorted what they said."

"Possibly." She seemed to be lost in thought, then said, "But Picard says in his book that he learned of this incident as a result of a chance meeting in France with this Sister Teresa. She apparently used the word massacre-"

"In what context? A massacre by whom? And how did she use the word? It is spelled the same in French and

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English, and the meaning in French is close to ours, but in French it has the added connotation of useless killing, the slaughter of battle-not solely wanton or premeditated killing of unarmed people. I did my homework, too-"

"So I see. Those are good questions. I'll call the Army language school and get an opinion on that."

"Have you located this Sister Teresa?"

"No. Do you remember her?"

"I believe so. Will you interview Picard?"

"Of course," She said, "Your version is interesting because it is so subjective, whereas Picard's account seems so objective. "

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you've left room for interpretation of events, while he has been unequivocal in saying he has heard the story of a massacre and reported it."

Tyson said nothing.

She added, "If Picard was embellishing, then I can see very clearly from your version how he could do so. All the ingredients are there: a hospital, a large number of deaths, the flags, the shooting in the wards.

Anyway, Picard was a novelist once. Did you know that? He's used to making up stories. Don't forget to advise your attorney of that.