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"Mildred's War" An Angus McCoy Mystery by Rick Beck Chapter Seven "Ashes To Ashes" Back to Chapter Six On to Chapter Eight Chapter Index Rick Beck Home Page  Click on the picture for a larger view 1960's Vietnam War Military Adventure Mystery Proudly presented by The Tarheel Writer - On the Web since 24 February 2003. Celebrating 22 Years on the Internet! Tarheel Home Page |
It was a red brick church with a tall white steeple over the front portico. Everyone was quiet and the mood was somber as the honor guard removed the flags from their vehicle and six spit shined soldiers slowly withdrew the casket from the funeral home hearse driven by Detective Curtis. Angus walked to one side of the casket and the flag bearers brought up the rear.
There were people on the street and cars parked around and Angus could see the school from the steps of the church. He let the casket go first and two of the uniformed police officers opened the two front doors.
Immediately the sounds of clapping drifted beyond the doors and voices could be heard singing a hymn. Angus didn't recognize it, but he was a fallen Catholic and hadn't been to church since he became a teenager. As they moved into the church, he could see the choir rocking back and forth, clapping their hands, and singing for all they were worth.
What kind of funeral is this, Angus wondered.
The church was bigger inside than it looked to be from the outside. The interior was all finely crafted blond colored wood. The pews were a few shades darker than the walls. The front of the church was mahogany and it was dominated by the altar in the rear and the hand carved podium in front of it. White linen adorned both the podium and the altar.
The minister directed the coffin in place in front of the podium. The flags were arranged off to one side and the nine army men and Angus were seated on the very front pew. The choir sang on and Angus looked around to see if he could find Mildred Kane.
There were prayers and the choir then sang "Amazing Grace", and "How Great Thou Art," and Angus recognized those songs. Then everyone stood and sang something called, "Getting Back To Jesus," and Angus did recognize it.
"Albert was a good boy who had a difficult life. He never knew much about his father and his mother passed some years ago. He stayed in school, played football, and he came to our church and prayed with us and we prayed for him. Today we pray that God opens his loving and forgiving arms and accepts our brother Albert into the kingdom of heaven where he will know life everlasting in the bosom of the Lord."
"Amen," chorused throughout the church."
"Albert's football coach would like to say a few words. Coach Bennett."
"Albert was an offensive lineman. He wasn't a big boy but he had heart. I can remember he took a beating trying to protect Kenny Morgan, our quarterback, but he stood his ground against bigger and stronger boys. I understand he died like that. Taking a beating and protecting the men in his squad. That's the kind of life he lived. He was a good boy. Never gave me any trouble. That's all."
Coach Bennett was awkward with choosing his words but they had a simple eloquence Angus appreciated. He now knew more about Strong.
"One of our sisters, Sister Kane, has something she would like to say. She has attended our church for some years and was the class president at Central the year Albert graduated. Mildred, come up," the minister extended his hand out to Mildred as she stood from the very corner of the adjacent front pew. She'd been hidden from Angus by the other eight or ten people who sat between them. She stepped up and took her place behind the podium as the minister sat off to one side. Angus took in her every move.
She stood tall and wore a purple dress, a few shades darker than the choral robes, with a hat the same color with a black sash between the rim and the hat. Mildred let her eyes look over her audience easily as if she may have been looking for someone. She never once looked at the front pew where the soldiers and Angus sat.
"I didn't know Albert all that well. Mostly I knew him from here in this church. We had no classes together at school. We ran in different circles. There were over six hundred of us in the graduating class but I wouldn't have known who he was if it wasn't for church. That doesn't mean I don't know who he is and recognize the sacrifice he has made. I've prepared a poem to mark this occasion. Some of you might not care for it," Mildred's voice was becoming stronger as she went on and she was becoming more focused on the entire audience. "But it says what I feel and it comes out of my heart, and this is for Albert."
She moved out from behind the protection of the podium and moved halfway to the flags, looking only at them before she turned to face the audience again.
His country called
Albert answered ...
Today we bury him
He lived
But life is short ...
Today we bury him
He walked the halls of Central High
He played for us ...
Today we bury him
Today we pray
For our honored dead ...
And we bury Albert Strong
Our brothers, our sons, our friends
They go to war ...
Today we bury one
Albert was my age
I'm too young to die ...
Today we bury him
How many must die
Bring the brothers home ...
We don't want to bury any more
Pray for Albert
He deserved to live ...
Today we bury him
"Thank You! There's an honor guard here with Albert. He brought him back from Vietnam. He can tell you more about how Albert died. Mr. McCoy."
Mildred did not so much look at him as she beckoned him up to the podium. Angus was petrified. He hadn't spoken in front of an audience since elementary school. He didn't like it much then.
"I'm Seaman Angus McCoy," he said, arranging himself near the podium and trying to think of something to say that would get him out of there fast. "I'm here at the request of Admiral Kelly of the Sixth Fleet. I'm not much on public speaking. I wasn't prepared… well… ah. More like I'm good company for a detail like this. I've wondered who he was the whole time we been together. I knew his name and I had his papers but I didn't know much about him. I imagined what he was like. I thought no one would be here to bury him. They couldn't find his people. He has a half sister, somewhere. We don't know where."
"Admiral Kelly called Albert a hero and that's good enough for me. His squad was ambushed by Charlie …, the enemy. He was in a forward position and took cover and he held off the ambush while the other six men escaped. They said he couldn't really withdraw because he'd have probably gotten killed anyway. He was surrounded on three sides. The main thing is, he didn't try to withdraw. He didn't run for his life. He stood his ground, like the coach said, until his squad got clear and when they went back for him, Albert was dead. That's what I've been told and what I read. I'm glad he didn't get buried alone. I'm sure he's glad I wasn't the only face at his funeral. Thank you for coming."
Angus breathed a sigh of relief once he stepped off the stage. He felt as though Albert Strong wasn't the only one to be ambushed. He did not look at Mildred again. The singing went on and more prayers ended the service and he accompanied the casket back out of the church. The graveside ceremonies were only attended by half the people who had been at the church. It was all quite formal and Angus received the folded flag that was removed from Albert's coffin. It would be saved until they could locate his sister if they ever did but no one knew where she'd gone.
As Angus and Detective Curtis walked toward the hearse for the ride back, Mildred Kane was standing there with three other brightly clad women. When she saw him, she excused herself and set her path so that she could intercept him. He wasn't quite sure if he should put up his fists or just duck and ask questions later.
"Detective Curtis," she said, before turning her attention to Angus.
"What I did wasn't fair and I'd like to apologize. I know it isn't your fault. We must have someone to blame. You were handy and I was wrong. I do want to say that I had no right to try to embarrass you at the church."
"I am what I am. I have no apologies to make," he said, letting his hurt feelings show. He wasn't so much hurt by her rejection of him but by the fact she tried to humiliate him in front of an audience. "I'm sorry if you find the fact I want to serve my country is a reason to disrespect me. I've done nothing to you."
"You did quite well, you know. I thought what you said was touching. It showed you have some feelings."
"You haven't seen the half of it. He delivers babies and puts on boxing exhibitions for admirals, and then in his spare time he aids in the capture of international criminals. That's when he isn't being an honor guard," Curtis said, patting Angus's back as he spoke.
"Tell me it isn't true. You delivered a baby?" Mildred asked.
"With these two hands," Angus said, putting his catcher mitt sized hands up for inspection.
"I'm impressed and you make speeches on the side."
"Under fire I can do most anything. Believe me, I didn't think. All I wanted was out of there," Angus said. "What do you do, is it Mrs. Kane or Miss?"
"Mildred is fine. I'm in school. I'll start my sophomore year next term. You are going back to Vietnam?"
"No, he's going to the shop with me once we dump the meat wagon. I'm to give him a bird's eye view of Indianapolis police work. He's interested in becoming a cop and I'm supposed to encourage him. He did some work for us recently."
"Always the soldier," Mildred said, giving Angus the once over with her eyes.
"I don't like people who take advantage of other people. I don't like people who hurt other people," Angus said.
"Quite noble of you," Mildred said. "It is a big responsibility taking it all on your own shoulders. Do you think you are up to the job? Can you keep those high ideals and still champion the weak and unfortunate, or will you become the judge, jury, and… executioner, as you know, many cops do?"
"I'm not many cops. I'm me. I'm fair. I want to make things better."
"By force or finesse?" Mildred quipped. "Will you slap us all into line?"
"You do ask some interesting questions. Perhaps you can have him tomorrow, but I've got him today and I have my duty to do. Sorry to interrupt you two before you can get the boxing gloves back on. Don't make me warn you again," Curtis said in an amused tone of voice. "Seriously, we need to get going, McCoy."
"Tomorrow?" he said with more than the question on his lips.
"I have an affair I must attend early. You can meet me there if you like. We can explore further this need you have to save the universe. Mostly the boys that I know want to get good seats at the basketball games. They have yet to discover there is a universe out there to explore."
"I'd be happy to meet you, and perhaps I can get you to show me all the places Curtis is likely to leave off our tour," Angus said.
"The bars and brothels of the inner city, no doubt."
"The Speedway. I'd like to see the city the way the people see it. Maybe go to a nice restaurant. For your enlightenment, I've never been to a brothel, but I've seen the inside of most bars between New York and Saigon, and it isn't where I want to go on my days off. I especially wouldn't ask a young lady such as yourself to go to one with me."
"I keep doing that, don't I?"
"Why are you so angry with me? You have no reason to be angry with me. Yes I'm a man. Yes, I'm in the Navy. I get the message you don't like men and especially you don't like military men. It doesn't make me the enemy, no matter who you think the enemy is. You certainly don't know me well enough to judge me because our views differ. Now, what time tomorrow and where?"
"The athletic field behind the high school. I'll be there from ten until noon. Could you maybe lose the uniform. I mean, you must have something else to wear."
"A woman who isn't attracted to the uniform," Curtis said.
"We'll get him a tutu if it gets us the hell out of here. Okay, he knows where the school is. Right down from the church. Get in. We got to go. Nice speaking with you again," Curtis said, taking Angus's arm to escort him to the door of the hearse.
"You'll be there until noon?"
"Yeah," Mildred said. "I'll be there. I'll look for you near the stage at noon. The place will clear out fast and I've told them I'd stay until the end."
*****
Angus rode with Curtis for the rest of his work day. They went to two crime scenes, an armed robbery and a purse snatching with injury. They drank a lot of coffee and saw much of the Indianapolis downtown area. Twice they drove the way from Route 70 to Central High School so Angus could find his way in the retired police car Curtis had arranged for him to use, courtesy of the Indianapolis Police Department.
"Thanks for the loaner. How do I handle its return?"
"Just leave it parked at the motel when you leave. We'll pick it up. That'll give you wheels for the rest of your time here."
"It's certainly nice of you, Curtis. It's a big help."
"Captain said we take care of you. He didn't say anything about your dates. You're on your own for the weekend. I hope you know what you're getting yourself into. Why do you want to stir things up here, when you know you only have to pull yourself out of here on Monday? It's hardly enough time to do anything but get yourself into trouble."
"I don't know. I haven't dated since high school. I mean mostly I've been in the military but girls have never been too keen on me. I just got to go with this, I guess. I can't give you a better answer than that," Angus said. "I know. It's a little like playing catch with a grenade, isn't it."
"That's an understatement if I heard one. She's a strong willed woman and she'll take a strong hand to rein her in. You're mostly a big kid, almost a man, but not quite, McCoy. No offense, I wish I were in your shoes. My life is nothing but routine these days. It happens once you get on the force, marry, start having kids," Curtis said, looking beyond the car at something Angus couldn't see.
"Well, I appreciate the tour. I'm from New York City and this is such a quiet easy town," Angus said.
"It gets on a tear now and again. Mostly routine. It's a good town. Lots of good people. If you ever get back here, look me up. We'll go out for a drink, as long as my wife gives me permission."
"Yeah, I will," Angus said, and the two men didn't have much more to say after that.
*****
Angus arrived behind Central High School a little after 10:30. He had to walk about a half a mile because the streets were filled with parked cars. It was only after he'd parked and gotten back to the stadium that he realized he was attending a war protest. He cringed when he could finally read the sign behind the stage,
BRING OUR BOYS HOME
It was a crude sign, looking like it was done with a couple of buckets of paint and some brooms or mops. The message was no less potent for Angus. He wondered what the military code of justice said about attending war protests. He walked twice around the entire property that held the stadium and the school. He walked very slowly the second time around and when he got to the furthest point from the stage outside the fence of the athletic field it was eleven thirty, and he heard a familiar voice.
Angus cringed and said, "Oh no," as he wrapped his fingers through the chain links of the fence. Inside there were several hundred people around the stage and the voice he heard was Mildred Kane's.
"Thank you all for coming. We weren't sure you could make it on such short notice, but we are glad you did. I see it's mostly sisters. I'm glad you want to help me to bring our boys back to us where they belong. When I asked the student council to set up our memorial for Albert Strong, I told them it would likely be best for all of us if they didn't mention we might mention the war. You know, that action over there that brings our classmates, men like Albert Strong, home in boxes."
There was some applause and whistles from the crowd. Mildred was in jeans and a sweatshirt that said, Central High across the chest.
"I'm glad to see so many of the brothers coming out. They tell you it's your duty. They offer you deals in court to get you out of trouble with drugs. The drugs they allow to be shipped into our communities and then the arrest our men for doing what it takes to escape their hopeless lives. This is the reality of our war. We are fighting two wars all the time. Both are wars for our survival. We are fighting for the right to be free here at home. Over there, I'm not sure what we are fighting for, but whatever it is, we are dying for it. I don't see that it is so important to fight for that our congressman and senators are willing to pick up their arms and go put their lives at risk for it. They don't even let their sons fight for whatever it is. They go to Harvard and Yale and study economics, because they want their sons in positions of power and wealth. We fight their wars because they tell us it is our duty to fight, but not their duty or their son's duty, but ours, the poor and the disenfranchised of America are asked to fight to make the powerful more powerful and the rich richer. I don't think it will surprise you to know that the most powerful men in our country are also among the richest."
The applause grew more uniform and the sounds from the crowd stopped as more and more people listened more closely to Mildred. Angus was nauseated by her words but he continued to hang on the fence.
"It all starts with a boat in 1898. The battleship Maine was at harbor in Havana Bay. An accident caused the boilers to explode and the Maine sank. Our leaders said the Spanish sunk her and declared a war that netted us Cuba, the Philippines, Guam, and various other islands that the Spanish no longer were strong enough to hold, but we were strong enough to take them away.
A few years later, we'll say 1904-1905 to pinpoint it, you have the Sino-Russian war. Mostly they were fighting on the Korean Peninsula, trying to take the land away from the people who lived there, wanting it for themselves or its treasures anyway. We have World War I in Europe. It was started when a Serb killed the leader of Austria, the Archduke Ferdinand. You might ask how'd we get to Europe. Who the hell knows? We don't have any trouble finding war."
The applause grew more organized and people yelled their approval.
"The punch line here is the fact we invaded the Soviet Union and held a port there for most of a year. We backed what were called the White Russians and we wanted to make sure a shipload of arms didn't fall into the wrong hands. As with most of our ill-fated attempts at conquest, we backed the wrong horse. The Reds are the Reds, because they were originally the Red Russians. They got a hard on for us because we once invaded their country. Funny how that works."
There was a roar of laughter from the crowd. There was laughter and applause as Angus winced yet again.
"Wait, there's more. Don't get ahead of me. Then there was World War Two, I know, you need a score card. We do like to fight. Mostly World War II was about Germany and the Russians helped us kick butt, only they never forgot that little invasion during their own revolutionary war. They didn't trust us because we invaded them and we didn't trust them because … I guess because we invaded them. I don't know.
"During WWII you had the Japanese out in the Pacific. Like in Korea and in China early in the century, they had penis envy and wanted to prove theirs were just as big as ours, only they ain't never seen a brother at work."
The crowd went wild, cheering and giving their approval. Angus contemplated leaving Mildred and her war at the podium. Instead, he found himself wed to the fence. He had to speak to her one more time, even if it was only to say goodbye. He couldn't just leave. It was a long way back to Vietnam.
"Of course, we dropped the bomb and everyone knows what that led to. In 1904-1905, Korea. In 1951 it was Korea again, only this time it was us fighting Koreans. I shouldn't include this because it wasn't a war but then again I should because our brother's came home in boxes once again. At one time they spent a year agreeing on the table they'd sit around to agree on the peace. All that time our father's were dying. When the peace was signed, we were right where we were when the war started, except for forty thousand dead Americans.
"It seems the Koreans were supplied by the Russians and Chinese, allied against us. Mostly the Chinese, who entered the war with troops, had their way with us for a time. We finally got out and we know what we have in Korea. I did skip a little, like a guy from French Indochina who went to President Truman at the end of WWII and asked for his help in creating a democracy in a place he called Vietnam. Ho Chi Mien also approached Eisenhower after Truman left office. Both men told him the same thing. You are a French Colony. We are allies of the French. We can't help you. It seems our old friends, the Russians, remember them, could help him, and they did, and now the brothers are coming home in boxes once again."
"I left out the story about Ho and his men kicking the shit out of the French in spite of no help from us. I also left out another boat in Havana Bay, you remember the Maine, well there is a guy down in Cuba who remembered. His name is Castro. He threw out a guy name Batista, a two bit dictator that lived off the fat of the land while keeping his people so poor they had little or nothing. We were behind Batista. One more horse we lost our pants on.
"Castro wasn't sure what he was. He was more surprised than anyone when he marched into Havana. He just wanted to free the peasant people from the bondage they had endured. The very day that Castro came to power, we had a boat sailing into Havana Bay filled with arms for Batista. We've never been known for our timing. The army cut and ran as soon as Castro came over the hill. Castro took that boat personal and decided Americans weren't to be trusted."
"The Russians, remember them, they backed Cuba and nearly started an atomic war because of it."
"What are we fighting for in Vietnam? If you look at history, you might say we are fighting because it's what we do. We don't want to particularly conquer or subjugate anyone, if you don't count Indians and Niggers."
Another roar went up from the crowd.
"And that's all so much ancient history, or so our government tells us. Nothing personal, you understand. The answer is. I don't understand and that's why I'm against this war. My country has yet to give me a good reason why we are doing what we are doing over there. I think they owe us an explanation before we send any more of our men over there to die."
Angus had no idea what she was talking abut. He'd gone to school and at least kept his eyes open in history class. He knew nothing about invasions of Russia and he knew the Spanish American war was started by the Spanish. All the rest of it was vaguely familiar except the parts about Ho, who he knew quite well from the conversations about him back in the Nam. He was a communist and a bad guy and there was no doubt about that."
"I won't bore you any more with history. I know you didn't come here to go to school, but I'm grateful for the use of this facility for this memorial for Albert Strong. I think he might understand my anger if not share it. He did his duty to his country and he paid the ultimate price. We should respect that even when we don't understand it. I want to say to you, I have no quarrel with any man who feels it is his duty to answer his country's call. Anyone that disrespects our military men is doing what this country stands for a disservice. What I'm saying is that the men giving the orders that send our men into harm's way are not doing it for the defense of the United States of America. They are doing it for their own selfish and arrogant reasons. No one can answer the question, what are we doing fighting halfway around the world in a place whose people do not want us there. Once again, we find our leaders supporting a government that is corrupt, dishonest, and cruel in the treatment of its own people."
"While our leaders send our men to die, we sit in our homes with our fatherless children and don't know why our husbands never came home. What do we tell the children about what their fathers were fighting for? What do we say to the generation that will go unborn because their fathers never came home to plant their seeds. If we are to continue, we must ask the question until our leaders can give us an answer we understand, and if they can't, they should bring our men home today."
"Thank you for coming. 'Peace for America' has a meeting on Thursday nights at the community center. Please drop by for information."
The applause lasted for several minutes before the people started to file out of the stadium. Angus waited until most of the crowd was gone and then he walked toward the opening in the fence that would allow him access to the stage. He wasn't sure what he was going to say.
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