It's goint to be hard for me to write this, but maybe it will make me feel better. Yesterday my company was hit while looking for VC. They told me that they needed someone to identify a boy they had just bought in. He was very bad, they said. So I went into the tent. There on the table was the boy. His face was all cut up and blood all over it. His mouth was open, his eyes were both open. He was a mess. I couldn't really identify him. So I went outside while they went through his stuff. They found his ID card and dog tags. I went in, and they told me his name --Rankin. I cried, "No, God, it can't be." But sure enough, after looking at his bloody face again I could see it was him. It really hit me hard becuase he was one of the nicest guys around. He was one of my good friends. No other KIA or WIA hit me like that. I knew most of them, but his was the first body I ever saw and, being my friend, it was too much. After I left that place, I sat down and cried. I couldn't stop it. I don't think I ever cried so
much in my life. I can still see his face now. I will never forget it. Today the heavens cried for him. It started raining at noon today and now finally just stopped after 10 hours of the hardest rain I have ever seen.
Love,
Richard
Sp/5 Richard Cantale, of Floral Park, New York, served with the 5th Battalion, 7th Cavalry, 1st Cavalry Divison (Airmobile), based at An Khe, from August 1966 through August 1967. He is now a manager in a brokerage firm in New York City.
