Which soldier found kiowas body

He blames himself. He should have paid attention to the old Vietnamese women who warned them away from the field in the first place. But he'd had orders to camp in the field, so he'd camped in the field. It was a mistake, and Kiowa had died. He'll tell Kiowa's father that the blame lies with him. They never should have camped there.

The young soldier is still shaking, and he seems to be searching for something in the field. Jimmy Cross goes over to the boy. The boy blames himself, too. He and Kiowa had been very close, and that night, he'd switched on his flashlight to show Kiowa a picture of his girlfriend, and then the field had exploded with mortars. He heard Kiowa scream, and he crawled toward Kiowa. His head was under the surface of the mud, and the boy grabbed Kiowa's boot, but the field was pulling him under, and so he let go.

Now he's digging frantically in the mud. Jimmy Cross asks him what he's looking for, and the boy says he's looking for his girlfriend's picture. They feel horrible, but also lucky and happy that they are not dead. Azar approaches Norman. He quietly apologizes for joking about death: when he saw Kiowa's body, he felt like it was listening, and like it was his fault Kiowa was dead. Norman brushes him off, saying it is no one's, and everyone's, fault. Jimmy Cross is reconsidering.

He won't take the blame for Kiowa's death after all. It was an accident. He believes this to be true. He thinks that there has to be blame for a death in war--and the blame can be far-reaching; one can blame entire countries.

But in the field death has to have an immediate cause. The young soldier approaches Jimmy, wanting to confess that it was his flashlight that killed Kiowa. But Jimmy isn't listening. He is daydreaming about being back on a golf course in New Jersey. He is wondering whether he will ever write to Kiowa's father. Maybe he'll just walk away from it. Browse all BookRags Book Notes. All rights reserved.

Toggle navigation. Sign Up. Sign In. View the Study Pack. Meanwhile, Jimmy Cross finishes composing the letter in his head and reflects that he never wanted the responsibility of leadership in the first place—he signed up for Reserve Officers Training Corps without giving thought to the consequences. He blames himself for making the wrong decision, concluding that he should have followed his first impulse and removed the men from the field.

In the distance he notices the shaking body of a young soldier and goes over to speak to him. After the platoon has spent a half a day wading in the field, Azar ceases his joking. Unable to move it, they call over Dobbins and Kiley, who also help pull. Harrowed and relieved, the men clean him up and then try to take their mind off him. Azar apologizes for the jokes. He notices the unnamed soldier, still searching for the missing picture.

Azar feels some guilt over his earlier jokes. Cross lets himself sink into the mud and floats while he revises the letter to Kiowa's father in his mind. The upset soldier tries to confess his guilt to Lt. Cross, who does not listen, escaping the scene by remembering his life before the war. This vignette is one of the more depressing in the book, one where O'Brien makes it impossible to think about the Vietnam War as a whole.

Instead, he forces us to look at the war person by person. The entire event of searching for Kiowa's body is like a break from the political war — something that men do for their friends rather than for their country. The three centers in the story, Lt.

Cross, the young, nameless soldier, and the rest of the troop searching for Kiowa's body each have their own perspective. This vignette is a compilation of their perspectives, not a story with facts and details.

Cross is laden with guilt, not only as a commander but also as someone who feels personally responsible for Kiowa's death. As a matter of protocol, he is responsible because he ordered the camp to be made, but Cross feels his responsibility and remorse more deeply than his duty dictates. Although O'Brien tells us about how Cross does not desire to command, Cross himself focuses on Kiowa's father and the letter that he must now write. To Cross, Kiowa's death personalizes his fears and his responsibility not just to care for his men, but that he must answer for them to others — like fathers, commanders, and even God.