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Richie Perry
Harold Gates, who answers only to “Peewee,” is the first fellow soldier that Richie Perry meets on his way to Vietnam. Peewee is a light-skinned Black teenager from Chicago who dropped out of school to volunteer for the army. While life in Vietnam has its share of misery, he’s at least treated equally (for the most part) there, as opposed to home. Peewee has a loud, outgoing nature and an ironic, sarcastic sense of humor that usually mask his fear. But he’s willing to admit his fears for his own life and safety to his squad mates. He cares deeply about other people, especially children. For instance, he’s upset when his girlfriend, Earlene, breaks up with him, but he talks most movingly about his relationship with her daughter. Perry and Peewee develop an especially close bond, based in their shared experiences of racism, segregation, and disadvantage back home in America and the increasing traumas they experience in Vietnam. Nevertheless, Perry thinks that Peewee has more fighting spirit than he has. Peewee eventually receives a medical discharge, and he travels back to the United States with Perry at the end of the book.
Peewee (Harold Gates) Quotes in Fallen Angels
The Fallen Angels quotes below are all either spoken by Peewee (Harold Gates) or refer to Peewee (Harold Gates). For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
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Chapter 2 Quotes
Peewee and I had breakfast together. I asked him if he liked the army […]
“You got all this chickenshit to go through,” he said. “And I don’t like that. But this is the first place I ever been in my life where I got what everybody else got.”
“What does that mean?”
“Back home when everybody got new sneakers, I didn’t get none,” Peewee said. “Either Moms didn’t have the money, or she had the money, and we had to get some other stupid thing, like food. When everybody got a bike, I didn’t get one ’cause there was no way we could get the money for a bike. But anything anybody got in the army, I got. You got a gun, I got a gun. You got boots, I got boots. You eat this lousy-ass chip beef on toast, guess what I eat?”
“Lousy-ass chip beef on toast,” I said.
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Chapter 14 Quotes
Later we went to the recreation hooch and watched the news. It was all about President Johnson trying to get a bill passed to help the urban poor, and then something about the Pueblo, which had been taken over by the North Koreans. Then there was a big thing on the Super Bowl, and whether or not the Packers had a dynasty going. It wasn’t real that people were thinking about things like that when all this shit was going on. It just wasn’t real.
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Chapter 18 Quotes
Peewee skipped his meals the rest of the day. Monaco tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t answer. It was Johnson who finally got him to talk.
“Hey, Peewee?”
“What?”
“You care anything about these damn kids over here, man?”
“They got kids over here?” Peewee asked.
“Naw, man, all they got is Congs,” Johnson said. “Congs and mosquitos.”
“And rats,” Walowick added.
“Yeah.”
“Hey, Peewee,” I said. “It’s okay to feel bad about what’s going on over here, man. It’s really okay.”
“Me? Feel bad?” Peewee turned over in his bunk and pulled his sheet up around his shoulders. “Never happen.”
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Chapter 20 Quotes
I just told him that war was about us killing people and about people killing us […] I had thought this war was right, but it was only right from a distance. Maybe when we all got back to the World and everybody thought we were heroes for winning it, then it would seem right from there. Or maybe if I made it back and I got old I would think back on it and would seem right from there. But when the killing started, there was no right or wrong except in the way you did your job, except in the way that you were part of the killing.
What you thought about, what filled you up more than anything, was the being scared and hearing your heart thump in your temples and all the noises, the terrible noises, the screeches and the booms and the guys crying for their mothers or their wives.
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Chapter 22 Quotes
Thoughts came. What would Morningside Avenue look like now? It would be day and the park would be filled with kids, their screaming and laughter would slide along the light beams into the helter skelter world of monkey bars and swings. On the courts there would be a tough game. Black bodies sweating and grunting to get the points that would let them sweat and grunt in the sun for another game. It wasn’t real. None of it was real. The only thing that was real was me and Peewee, sitting in this spider’s grave, waiting for death.
[…]
Pray.
God….What to pray? What to tell God? That I’m scared? […] That I didn’t want to die? That I was like everybody else over here, trying to cling to a few more days of life?
Peewee moved, adjusted position.
“I got to shit,” he said.
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It was Monaco. He was sitting against a tree. He had his head in his hands. His piece was about ten meters in front of him. I wanted to go to him, but Peewee stopped me.
“He ain’t sitting there for nothing,” he said.
I looked around. Nothing. What the hell was wrong with this damn war? You never saw anything. There was never anything until it was on top of your ass, and you were screaming and shooting and too scared to figure out anything.
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Chapter 23 Quotes
I got to sit up in a wheelchair, and the leg felt all right in spite of the cast. It felt good. I hoped it wasn’t. I could make it with a limp. I just didn’t want to go back to the boonies anymore.
We got a call from Lieutenant Gearhart on the ham radio network. He told us the other guys in the squad were all right. It was nice of him to call us, but it wasn’t true. Monaco wasn’t all right. Monaco was like me and Peewee. We had tasted what it was like being dead. We had rolled it around in our mouths and swallowed it and now the stink from it was coming from us. We weren’t all right. We would have to learn to be alive again.
He also told us that Captain Stewart had been promoted.
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Peewee (Harold Gates) Character Timeline in Fallen Angels
The timeline below shows where the character Peewee (Harold Gates) appears in Fallen Angels. The colored dots and icons indicate which themes are associated with that appearance.
Chapter 1
As a guy named Gates wanders around the Anchorage Air Force base bragging that his alarming reputation scared off any...
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...in the distance and feels queasy. He’s assigned to the 22nd Replacement Company, along with Gates.
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In the hooch (slang for barracks), Perry asks Gates—who goes by Peewee—if he found any of the “Congs” he was looking for earlier. Peewee...
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Chapter 2
After a sergeant puts out the lights, Peewee asks Perry what he did “back in the World.” Perry says he joined up after...
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In the morning, Perry asks Peewee if he likes the army. Peewee replies that he likes having the exact same stuff...
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Nine days after he arrived, Perry still hasn’t gotten an assignment. He and Peewee hang out on base, trying to avoid guard duty, playing checkers and ping pong and...
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New soldiers arrive, including an absolutely terrified man called Jenkins. Peewee has some fun at Jenkins’ expense, claiming to have been in Vietnam for eight months....
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...of mosquitos attack the soldiers. The lieutenant forgot to mention their army-issued insect repellant. Perry, Peewee, Jenkins, and another guy will go north to join the 196th at Chu Lai. An...
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Peewee swears he’ll be the first one to kill a “Cong,” and Perry says Peewee can...
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Chapter 3
...crisp, ironed uniforms and have an urgent attitude; Jenkins secretly imitates them, to Perry’s and Peewee’s glee. As soon as their truck leaves the outer checkpoint, it picks up speed and...
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...his medical profile. The captain doesn’t know about it and doesn’t seem to care. Perry, Peewee, and Jenkins find a mess hall. Jenkins can’t eat. He tells the others that his...
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...breaking like beautiful and brilliant flowers against the dark night sky. In the morning, Perry, Peewee, Jenkins, and Johnson follow the now sober pilot to the chopper. It’s Perry’s first helicopter...
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...arrived. Anyway, he tells Perry, the war is almost over. Before finding their bunks Perry, Peewee, and Jenkins pick up their assigned M-16 rifles; Johnson gets an M-60 because he has...
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The volleyball game ends, and the rest of the squad comes in just before Peewee and Johnson come to violence. The sergeant, a tall, thin-faced Black man named Simpson, tells...
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Chapter 4
...replies that he has too many doubts about his own worthiness now. After he leaves, Peewee observes that Carroll doesn’t look much like a “holy guy,” and Walowick tells them how...
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...over. Later that day, the platoon brings in a Vietcong fighter for questioning, and when Peewee discovers the enemy in the storage hooch, they strike up a friendly conversation, at least...
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...squad goes to a nearby village to do public relations work, or “Chieu Hoi,” which Peewee calls “chewing the whores.” Everyone seems relaxed, but Perry is scared—just like he is every...
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...and make her a star, but she’d need a new name. They decide on Arielle. Peewee buys a bottle of wine from a villager for $2 and drinks it on the...
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Perry and Peewee eat the night’s dinner—roast beef, mashed potatoes, and carrots—outside, under a tree, while bugs crawl...
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Chapter 5
...end grows. Perry gets a letter from Mama, full of complaints about her swollen feet. Peewee says that happened to his mother, too; the doctors couldn’t fix it and she finally...
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...A new supply of insect repellant comes in, which Carroll notes makes great Molotov cocktails. Peewee wants to know why they’d need to make those, since the camp already has so...
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At breakfast, Peewee asks for more roast beef. Overhearing him, Brunner begins to harass the cook about it;...
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As they prepare to board the choppers, Peewee whispers to Perry that Charlie Company must have been out in the jungle all night....
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...for his medical profile to come though before he puts in for a transfer. When Peewee finds out, he tells Perry not to be a hero. But Perry thinks the knee...
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Chapter 6
...choose between defending their country abroad now or face fighting on their own territory later. Peewee pretends to be surprised that he’s even in Vietnam.
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Chapter 7
...Kenny always wanted to bring Mama. Perry wakes with an excruciating stomachache at 4 am. Peewee fetches Jamal, who casually informs Perry that he’s got “the shits, ” and he must...
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Peewee asks Perry to help him write a letter to the girlfriend, Earlene, who broke up...
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Peewee goes to mail the letter, and Johnson comes into the hooch. Brunner starts to tell...
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Chapter 8
...returns to camp. He shakes his head over the tragedy. In the hooch, Perry tells Peewee and Monaco what happened. Monaco expresses horror that Perry “hit our guys,” and Perry protests...
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Chapter 9
...sixth sense for when one of the Black guys is in trouble—to back him up. Peewee and Perry ask the villagers what the salves are for. With some pantomime, they determine...
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...out of further pacification work since it doesn’t add to his body count. That night, Peewee gets a letter from Earlene saying she still loves him, but she had to get...
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Chapter 10
...a flare. By its light, Perry sees dead and dying Vietcong fighters on the ground. Peewee finds one body just outside the entrance to the tunnel they used to bypass the...
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Monaco and Peewee pump rounds into the village to keep the villagers—and any Vietcong among them—at bay while...
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Perry can’t stop shaking. Peewee tries to hold Perry’s hands still. Eventually, someone leads them to the mess hall, and...
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Chapter 11
...Carroll’s death. He says he was so scared that he didn’t even see the enemy. Peewee inserts himself into their conversation. He didn’t see anyone either, not until they were lying...
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...The tortured marines begged their comrades to kill them. Perry passes on these stories to Peewee in the hooch. He joins the squad at volleyball, but his heart isn’t in it....
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...Perry desperately wants to talk about Carroll’s death, to figure out why it happened. But Peewee refuses to think about it too much.
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Mama sends a letter to Peewee, who refuses to tell Perry what it says. Perry worries that he upset Mama by...
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Chapter 12
...people to show that America “gonna do it if it got to be done.” Inside, Peewee has the bright idea to spray the mosquito netting with insect repellant for extra protection....
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Chapter 13
As Christmas of 1967 approaches, Peewee and Perry debate having sex with Vietnamese girls before they go home. Everyone, including Jamal—whose...
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Simpson puts Monaco up front and Peewee and Perry at the rear, facing toward the rice paddies to prevent the Vietcong from...
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...whole company’s worth of muzzle fire across the field. He freezes for so long that Peewee takes the grenade launcher and grenades from him and begins shooting them across the field....
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When the chopper finally arrives, Peewee climbs in first, followed by Monaco and Perry. Perry twists to give the next guy—Walowick—a...
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...broken arm during the patrol—back to Chu Lai. Later, when Simpson comes into the hooch, Peewee declares that they need to kick Gearhart’s ass. Simpson agrees, but Gearhart isn’t the only...
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Chapter 14
...Simpson keeps them calm and helps them remember their humanity despite the horror around them. Peewee observes that the village faces an impossible choice, just like the residents of the Chicago...
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...flesh” where his face should be. He turns away and vomits. Simpson leaves Perry with Peewee to continue their survey of the huts. In the next one, they see a potential...
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...and thinks about the man he killed. He thinks about the Vietcong fighter he and Peewee found, and about how terrifying it must have been to crouch there, hoping to escape...
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...to camp, the squad members all have a hard time coming down from the excitement. Peewee’s legs give out under him as he jumps down from the chopper. Gearhart tries—and fails—to...
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...the hut, how he escaped death only because the man’s gun malfunctioned. As he tells Peewee all this, he begins to weep. Peewee climbs into Perry’s bunk and holds him until...
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...inevitably die. Every time he falls asleep, he has the same dream. In the morning, Peewee has a puffy, swollen face, though he refuses to tell Gearhart what happened, insisting only...
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Chapter 15
...know that he is a good soldier. He finds he can’t write it down. When Peewee comes in, Perry asks if he can explain why he killed the “Cong” soldier. Peewee...
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Chapter 16
...do normal things together, like go to the museum or basketball games. He muses on Peewee’s idea that protecting himself is the only reason for killing “Congs.” His injuries heal, and...
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Chapter 17
...between Tam Ky and Highway 1 with a bunch of ARVN soldiers. Everything feels off. Peewee and Monaco both gladly embrace Perry but feel bad that he had to come back...
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...the machine gun, and Gearhart must separate them before they come to blows. Perry and Peewee promise to back Johnson if there’s racial trouble. Perry worries about the squad losing cohesion....
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Perry, Peewee, Lobel, and Dongan go to the guard foxhole. Perry strains to hear approaching enemies in...
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Back at the hooch, Lobel approaches Peewee and Perry and asks if they think the unit will have a race problem. Peewee,...
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...to “maximize” the destruction of the enemy, but no one quite knows what that means. Peewee wonders if they’re supposed to kill each “Cong” twice. Perry wonders if this means they’ll...
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Perry gets—and burns—a letter from Earlene, still trying to apologize to Peewee for abandoning him. He gets a letter from Kenny, which reports that Kenny has gotten...
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One rainy Tuesday, as Peewee, Perry, and others play poker with some guys from Charlie Company—although it’s barely got enough...
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Chapter 18
Peewee refuses to eat or talk for hours; eventually Johnson asks him if he really cares...
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...calling in mortar shells. Perry estimates it must have cost $10,000 to kill the sniper. Peewee joins Perry and Johnson and shares the news that Stewart lost the argument about whose...
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...feels relieved when they reach the tree line and hunker down for a breather. But Peewee doesn’t like the situation; he crawls over and tells Perry where he can find an...
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...a moment, the shooting stops and silence reigns, then the gunfire resumes all around them. Peewee and Monaco have acquired another machine gun, which they shoot into the trees.
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...forces started their approach on the hill. Perry hears that Dongan got hit; he and Peewee go to the medical tent where they find Dongan’s legless, mutilated corpse. The medic asks...
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Chapter 19
...tags, and it becomes clear that the Charlie Company soldiers forgot them in the hut. Peewee wants to know how the army will notify the families. Perry wonders, too. Will they...
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...drop to the ground. When he motions them forward, Jamal remains frozen on the ground. Peewee punches him in the face; Perry and Gearhart drag him to his feet. Perry disassociates...
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Captain Stewart orders Peewee to cross the clearing under the cover of the machine gun, but Peewee refuses. Stewart...
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...pile of dead VC bodies, Perry sees a man completely blown open, his organs exposed. Peewee points out the body of an American soldier, his hands still clenched around the throat...
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Chapter 20
...get the chance himself. It angers Lobel that Gearhart puts this responsibility on the soldiers. Peewee demands that Walowick open the letter so they can all read it. It talks about...
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Perry asks Peewee if he should write a letter to Kenny telling his little brother what it’s really...
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Peewee’s grand theories about humanity and animality devolve into a petty argument with Monaco about whether...
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Peewee stands in the door of the hooch and announces that the squad racked up a...
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Chapter 21
...in which they trade between themselves for different actresses and singers. That only lasts until Peewee refuses to give up Mary Wells to Walowick. Walowick accuses Peewee of “welching” on the...
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One Sunday, Perry, Walowick, and Peewee attend the non-denominational service offered by the chaplain. Perry finds it comforting to pray with...
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...with orders for the squad to patrol a stream near the Song Nha Ngu River. Peewee laughs and snorts the Coke he’s drinking out of his nose; he heard Brunner say...
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When the squad reaches the saddle on the return trip, Brunner sends Perry and Peewee to check it out. Halfway across the river, Perry remembers that he can’t swim; neither...
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Chapter 22
...ears for the sounds of a firefight, but he can only hear chirping insects. When Peewee calls out his name, it startles Perry half to death. They don’t know where their...
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...Voices drift past the spider hole, but no one stops to investigate it. Perry and Peewee crouch in the hole until their arms and legs fall asleep. Perry tries to keep...
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...coming from. He hopes that the company has realized that the squad hasn’t come back. Peewee wriggles uncomfortably and complains that he needs to relieve himself. This sends him and Perry...
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Outside, the Vietcong forces begin to stir. Peewee cautiously peers out and says they look like they’re about to move out. None are...
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Perry shoots the fighter, then Peewee helps pull the body into the hole. Perry’s shot wasn’t fatal, and the fighter struggles...
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...in the rice paddy below the ridge turns towards them, ducking under the water when Peewee raises his rifle. Peewee and Perry retreat down the stream side of the ridge. They...
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...landing zone, they find Monaco sitting beneath a tree with his head in his hands. Peewee suspects a trap that Perry couldn’t imagine, and after a few minutes, they realize that...
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Perry, Peewee, and Monaco all sit silently under the shadow of death. Perry wonders what Monaco is...
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Chapter 23
...that he feels like he died under that tree, only coming back to life when Peewee and Perry opened fire on them. He doesn’t know how to thank them. Perry protests...
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...mates is anything like being in love. He comes out of surgery dreaming about taking Peewee to the Apollo Theater. He thinks he hears Peewee calling his name, but he wakes...
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Three days later, Peewee finds Perry. He tells Perry that his wounds were bad enough to get him sent...
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...limp than get sent back to the boonies. Lieutenant Gearhart calls and tells him and Peewee to tell that the rest of the squad is “all right,” but Perry knows that...
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Peewee needs a third surgery for abdominal adhesions, but he’s still hoping to leave with Perry....
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When Peewee’s and Perry’s orders come through, they’re for the same departure flight. The rest of the...
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...the weight of their exhaustion than their injuries, in Perry’s mind. In Osaka, Perry and Peewee talk a sergeant into putting them on the same commercial flight to California. In the...
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Perry slowly relaxes and Peewee falls into a restless sleep. Perry’s mind wanders back to the boonies, and he feels...
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