Lingyeon Maung Maung - Hill No. 192

Vietnamese girl "Mau".

It is a great privilege for me to be able to speak to a journalist and writer like you about this incident in detail. I am especially pleased and relieved to know that you are a responsible journalist and writer, and that you will boldly and openly report the entire incident that I am about to tell you to the country. I have great respect for you for taking the time to come and interview me with such a responsible, honest, and noble intention. Thank you.

In fact, we American soldiers, like soldiers from all over the world, have experienced some unforgettable events in the battlefield in our lifetime. Like us, American veterans who have returned from the Vietnam War and are now living ordinary civilian lives, we also have memories that we will never forget. No matter how many miles away our military life is from the battlefield where we once fought, the experiences we had on that battlefield will remain a part of our lives forever.

As a former American soldier who served in the Vietnam War, I too experienced an indelible event in my life. It was an event that I will never forget or erase for the rest of my life. It was so traumatic that it could never be forgotten or erased.

But here I would like to apologize in advance. That is because you want to know the details of this incident from beginning to end, so I will tell you everything as I remember it, without leaving out any details. In this detailed account, some of the events I personally participated in and witnessed, and in some places, there will be events that I did not participate in and learned about later through word of mouth.

So, I apologize here, but I want you to believe that the entire incident I am about to tell you, both what I personally participated in and what I heard from others, is all true. If you have any doubts in your mind that what I am saying is unnatural, illogical, or contains inconsistencies, please point it out to me immediately. Then, speak openly and don't be offended, okay?

The reason I say this is because I, as the main character in this incident, saw, encountered, heard, and knew the entire incident from beginning to end.

This incident happened three years ago, but I still remember it vividly, as if it happened only three days ago. I have never experienced such a painful and traumatic event in my life. I don’t think I will ever experience such a painful and traumatic event in my life. That’s why I remember every detail of the story, the characters’ actions, and the scenery in the background, just as I remember the entire painful event I experienced on the battlefield in Vietnam.

So before I tell you the story of this incident, I would like to tell you a few things you should know about me, the main character in this story.

My name is “Ericsson” as you know. My full name is “Sven Eriksson”. I am 24 years old, and I am originally from the state of Minnesota in the northwest of the United States. My parents are from a farming family. I am not a single person. I am married, and I got married not long ago. It was about 4 years ago. But I have not had any children yet.

My wife's name is Kirsten. My parents and her parents were neighbors, so she and I were childhood friends. Not only that, but my grandparents and her grandparents also immigrated to the United States from the Scandinavian countries of Northern Europe, including Sweden, Norway, and Denmark, at the same time, so we have been close families for generations.

When I got married to Castine, I was 20. About a year before that, I had been drafted into the military. As you know, in the United States, there is a law that says that all adults are not required to serve in the military, so I was 19 years old and I didn't want to go into the military.

So I ended up on the battlefield in Vietnam as a first-class soldier.

To be honest, when I was ordered to go to the Vietnam War, I was not afraid, nor did I feel any less sad, but I felt sad. This was not because of anything else. First of all, I didn’t understand anything about politics until then, and I had no desire to learn anything. My parents were farmers, so I thought that if I could just work and eat my own food in peace, that was enough. That’s why I never thought about whether the American troops were right or wrong in Vietnam. If you say I don’t have progressive views, you’ll get it, and if you accuse me of being a reactionary, you’ll get it. At that time, I was a real idiot when it came to politics.

Another thing is that at that time, I was only 19 or 20 years old, so I was very eager to do anything that required me to take risks and do something extraordinary. It would not be wrong to say that I was young and energetic. Especially since I had never been to a foreign country, I had a strong desire to visit any country from the United States.

While I was still very much in the mood for adventure and visiting foreign countries, when the order came from the military headquarters to go to Vietnam, I was as happy as if I had fallen into a well while I was still thirsty. I knew that I would go to Vietnam to fight as an American soldier, but at that time, I had always imagined that I would be going on a trip to a small Asian country called Vietnam, which I had never been to.

Oh... I'd rather say Asia. I really want to visit foreign countries, but I don't really want to go to Europe, which is not that different from the United States in terms of race, skin color, religion, climate, geography, and even... well... living conditions. What I want to go to and visit is Asia, which is completely different from us in everything, including culture and customs. I want to go and visit more.

I thought to myself, "Raining in the forests, mountains, rivers, and streams, with their colorful and varied flowers and trees, would be more enjoyable than the vast expanses of Minnesota where snow is everywhere."

And I had never seen a rice plant until I was this age. We only grew wheat, so I only saw wheat. So I thought that if I went to a country like Vietnam, where rice is abundant, it would be very fun to walk through the rice fields and the tall grasses that were taller than a person. And it would be very comfortable to lie on the grass under the beautiful sunshine and look at the blue sky. Or I thought that it would be very fun to walk around in the dark forest with no sunlight at all, with huge tall trees, large vines that curled and hung down, and huge grasses. In a way, I went crazy with my imagination at that time.

But the reality is not what I thought it would be. When I got to the battlefield in Vietnam, everything I thought would be turned upside down. Before I got to Vietnam, I thought it would be so much fun and so much luxury, but in reality, it was all a fantasy.

Actually, it's not strange. Because I came to Vietnam as a soldier to fight on the battlefield. I didn't come out for a picnic. War, as you know, is, in the simplest and simplest terms, murder. But I don't know whether to call it strange or strange. Normally, if someone kills another person, that person would be arrested for murder and would be sentenced to life in prison or hanged, or something, so when you're on the battlefield, you kill each other, you kill each other, and no one is arrested for murder, no one comes and punishes you with prison or hanging.