Allan Harlem trudged through the thick woods of Vietnam; he humped more than 15 miles that day with his brigade through mud and forest before they stopped for the night. It was a day like any other for him he was talking to his friend John Sharp sitting next to a tree going to bed when it happened.  He had seen his fair share of death but none had been as gut wrenching than that of Johns. He was talking about what they would do when the war was over one minute and the next his friend John was laying next to him dead shrapnel in his chest with the smile that he had been wearing when hit.
          Allan couldn’t stop dreaming of that day for more than 15 years. Now one of those crusty old men living under a bridge going to the freeways with a sign that said  “Vietnam vet please help.” He often wondered why the grenade hadn’t hit him “if only it had landed a few feet to the left” he would tell people that would listen to his story.
          He had been drafted with his friend John in 1969 in the first U.S lottery held in 20 years. They were both born on September 14th and were the first dates drawn. They were terrified to go to war but they were scared to let down their country.  They were shipped out December 30th 1969.  After weeks of humping through the woods Allan grew used to the death around him, he grew to accept being a killer and he grew closer to his friend John.  On one day they had been walking for hours and had stopped for the night. The area was dryer than any place they had stayed. John always slept near trees and Allan was always right beside him. That night a fire fight erupted and Allan was saved by John.
            Five days after John died Allan got shot in the back during and intense fire fight he had the luck of living but secretly wished he could have died so he could go and see his friend once more.  Before he was shot he had killed five enemy soldiers and wounded six more saving the lives of three men in his battalion. After healing from his wounds he was not only awarded a purple heart but also a Medal of Honor.  Even after being shot and seeing his friend killed he wanted to go back to Vietnam but the military wouldn’t let him for he could now not move his left leg.
          Sometimes people asked him if he was really a war veteran and he would tell them he was. They might ask him of his experiences and he would tell them of his times with John. He’d tell them of how he received a Purple Heart and the Medal of Honor.  Sometimes they would listen and give him some money other times they would laugh and tell him they liked the story. He cried under his bridge at night for his lost friend and the naïve people around him. He cried for his paralyzing wound and he cried for his family.
            The date was September 17th, 1970 and they were going to be leaving back home in one
month. The night was dark and warm and dry. John sat there and laughed with Allan about all the things that had happened to them throughout the war. They smiled at the time they had both almost shot each other at the beginning when they thought they were the enemy. They giggled remembering the firefight they saw between to Vietnamese villages wanting each other water. The almost died of laughter when they remembered Jacob Grisham the man who on his first day with them shit himself when Allan fired a round in practice. Allan smiled over at his friend after a time of laughter and his friend grinned back. Allan saw the surprise in Allan’s eyes when they heard the solid clink of a grenade bounce of the tree behind them. John pushed Allan away just before the grenade exploded and took the full force of the blast. His intestines’ laid on the ground his mouth in the smile he had a few moments before his death. Allan screamed an pulled out his weapon firing into the trees. He killed five Vietnamese soldiers before they ran back through the trees. He looked down at his dead friend and cried. His battalion mourned the man for a minute before moving on.
            Allan was back under his bridge after a day of begging dreaming of the war and his friend again. He remembered how it was when he first got home. His mother telling him how sad she was for john, his father telling him how proud he was of him for getting the awards.  Allan just stared blankly at them and walked on. They didn’t know how it was to see your friend get killed how it was in a war. Allan left his family and went to New York to live on his own and be by himself. For the first few years he was able to hold a job but he often had flashbacks and broke down in the middle of his job. He became a beggar and left everything else behind.
            After John’s death the battalion humped for five days through the forest. John stayed completely silent for five days quietly remembering his friend. He thought of what John would never be able to do, what his mother would never be able to say to him, what would happen to him. On the fifth day Allan was shot, he killed five enemies and wounded six more saving the lives of his battalion members.
         The date was September 14th, 1986 and Allan thought back on the war and his life and his friend and stood on top of the bridge with a rope in his hand and around his neck. He realized the mediocrity of his life, he was a war veteran, with two of the most prestigious awards you could get in the military but it didn’t matter in the grand scheme of things he was still just a paralyzed forty year old bum. He sighed and jumped off the bridge seeing his friend Johns death for the last time.