He recalled his first day in Vietnam, seeing the body of a young Marine being carried away with a sniper bullet between his eyes. The next day, the guy standing next to him was blown in half. Flagg spent the next 13 months scared to death every day, he said.
I was curious to know how he felt about today's politics and the resurrection of Vietnam in the campaign. "Malarkey," he said.
"What anybody did back then has absolutely no bearing on anything today. That's over and done with."
Flagg, like my brother, has no ill feelings toward those who avoided service or received preferential treatment. "There were all kinds of people over there (in Vietnam) who got special privileges depending on who they knew." Otherwise, he said, any way you could get out, you got out.
And yes, he does wonder whether our war against Iraq is wrong, saying our notion that the rest of the world should embrace our democratic ways is wasted idealism. He plans to vote for Kerry. "He (Kerry) was in Vietnam," says my old pen pal. "He did go through it. . He knows what the troops are going through."
As for my brother, he can't bring himself to vote for either candidate and may abstain. But of Kerry, he says: "If you served, you were in the fight."
And so it goes.
Flagg and I agreed to meet in person someday soon. In the meantime, Pfc. Paul Flagg, I'm glad you made it back. It was nice to hear your voice after all this time. And no matter what, semper fi.