Mike Company               

Third Battalion, Fifth Marines

RVN, 1966 -1971
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Kitty Kitty

by Brad Reynolds

I was sitting outside a village, petting the first cat I had seen in months. His fur was soft, and as I stroked him, he purred. For a moment, the war had disappeared. Then the sound of gunfire broke the silence. Men went scrambling for cover. Someone at the edge of the village screamed for a corpsman. The shots kept ringing out as we made our way to the edge of the jungle. Then, as suddenly as it had started, it stopped.


We must have sat there for hours listening and peering into the darkness of the jungle. Finally, we were told to pull back and regroup in the village. As I walked back through the village, I looked for the cat. Then I spotted it. It was being skinned and prepared for dinner along with fish heads and rice.