From Path Through Catholicism via "VietNow Magazine," Summer 1998.


This is just a snippet from the original poem:

"From the split second I was hit,

"I was completely alone.

"I've heard it said, but never realized it --

"when you're dying there's no one but you,

"You're all alone.

"A 4.2 mortar shell

"landed about six feet behind me

"and took off my left leg, badly ripped up my left arm,

"hit me in the back,

"head, hip, and right heel and ankle.

"Shock was instantaneous, but I fought it --

"knowing that if I ever went out

"I'd never wake up again.

"After they carried me

"into the first - aid station,

"I felt four or five people

"scrubbing my body in different places.

"This brought me to open my eyes,

"and I could see about a foot in front of me --

"and not too well at that.

"Anyway, someone bent over me

"and began to pray.

"I wasn't sure who it was,

"but I thought

"it looked like our battalion chaplain;

"his nose was practically on mine.

"After I saw him place his hands on my head,

"I started to go out --

"I figured for the last time.

"When I talked I could only whisper,

"and this took all I had.

"As I was going out,

"my eyes closed and I heard Father say,

Are you sorry for your sins?

"With my last breath and all I had,

"I whispered, Hell yes!

"Then a split second before I went out,

"I felt oil on my forehead.

"And something happened

"which I'll never forget --

"something which I never experienced before

"in my life!

"All of a sudden, I stopped gasping

"For every inch of life;

"I felt like I had just got

"a million cc's of morphine.

"I was on Cloud Nine.

"I felt free of body an dmind.

"After this,

"I was conscious about three or four times

"during the next ten - day period;

"I never worried about dying.

"In fact, I was waiting for it."


HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!