Everyone knows it happens, but nobody knows how often, or how much, or how bad. Again, I make no moral judgements here, this is war, brutalized young men under immense stress, and although that doesn't excuse pointless atrocities, neither does it mean they were ubiquitous. It also varies with the circumstances. British troops were the first to point out how Rommel's forces in Africa treated their POWs and wounded with great charity, and both sides held each other in high regard and mutual respect. The Wehrmacht had a totally different reputation on the Eastern Front, and even on the Western Front after D-Day.

I did have one ex-Marine friend who was not hesitant to describe his heroic exploits in Viet Nam. He won a Silver Star for his desperate defense of a firebase machinegun nest after the NVA made it through the wire. He singlehandedly turned back the attack, killing forty of the enemy while wounded himself, both his gun crew dead, and probably saved the lives of an entire company of US artillerymen. I was inclined to take it all with a grain of salt until I saw the medal and read the citation from the Navy Department.

The important thing to take away from all this is to not accept without reservation all the tales of the nobility of our boys, or the utter depravity of their enemies. That kind of talk always makes me cringe.

The story I heard from my neighbor yesterday was of the gang rape and sodomy of a teenage female VC suspect by the 5 man crew of a helicopter that was transporting her to HQ for interrogation. Each pilot, both Warrant Officers, took turns flying the chopper while the other took his turn with her.

I have no way of knowing how frequently this sort of thing happened, or even if it happened at all the way it was described to me. The only thing I know for sure was the relish and delight this man (who is about my age) displayed as he was gleefully recalling the stomach-turning details of this incident. I have no way of knowing how accurate his story was, but there is no doubt in my mind he felt absolutely no remorse about it at all. I guess he felt she wasn't a civilian.