An old man in a ditch – Part V – Home, James

Posted on March 6th, 2009 by Richard Catto 1,474 views

This is a work of fiction by Richard Catto.

Chapter 2 Who he was

Part V Home, James

True to her word, Tammy collected me the next day at 9am. I said my goodbyes to Angela and I could tell she was sad to see me go. I walked out to the car park with Tammy leading the way.

“That nurse seemed rather fond of you.” Tammy remarked when I got into her car. “Did she?” I asked innocently. Tammy smirked at me, “As if you hadn’t noticed!” Then she leaned over and kissed me, a long lingering kiss. Tammy smiled with satisfaction at the visible effect her kiss had had on me. I lay back wondering what other delights she had in store for me when we got home.

On the way home, Tammy detoured up Soddom’s Hill. I pointed out where I found the old man. “His name was John McKindle”, Tammy informed me, “I got a call from the Coroner’s office this morning. They identified him from his fingerprints. He was a veteran of the First Gulf War. They said they would email me a dossier of his US Army record.”

As soon as I got out of the car, Barry, our German Shepherd, leaped on me, and smothered my face in affectionate licks. Tammy and I both made a fuss of him. We loved dogs. Barry barked joyfully at the return of his master and then trotted over to his shady spot near the front door, where he faithfully stood guard every day. He lapped greedily at his bowl – it was a scorcher of a day, which was welcome after the past week of rainy weather.

I went inside and accessed our gmail account. There was the email Tammy was expecting. I opened it and read Sergeant First Class John McKindle’s US Army dossier. It was a sparse account of his tour of duty in the First Gulf War, August 02 1990 – February 28 1991. He had been honourably discharged.

He had been assigned to lead a platoon in Operation Desert Storm, which was the code name for the ground attack on Iraqi forces to drive them out of Kuwait. McKindle’s platoon had also operated deep into Iraqi territory along the notorious Highway 80 aka Highway of Death, where many Iraqi servicemen were incinerated in their vehicles by US Apache attack helicopters and fighter aircraft along a stretch of road known as The Mile of Death. The dossier indicated March 15 1991 as McKindle’s discharge date and there it ended.

I was intrigued by the mention of the Highway of Death [1] and decided to research it further online. I googled, “Highway of Death” and was confronted by scenes of horror. An Iraqi man burnt to a crisp, his face set in a final grimace of agony as he tried and failed to extricate himself from his doomed vehicle. I read reports [2][3][4] by journalists describing the attacks on retreating Iraqi forces as war crimes. Amazed, I read that US forces had attacked retreating Iraqis on March 02 1991, on coastal Highway 8, two days after the official cessation of hostilities. Had John McKindle been part of American war crimes against Iraqi forces?

Tammy came over to me. “Find anything interesting?” she asked with a smile on her face. I looked up at her, shaken by what I had read. “Plenty” I replied. She handed me a cold can of Coca-Cola. She touched her can to her cheeks and forehead. “Hot isn’t it?” she asked suggestively. “I think I need to lie down and relax.” I said. “Mmm, yes, I agree”, she said huskily, “let’s go and relax together. This stuff can wait till later.”

I got up and followed her into our bedroom. I glanced back at the open front door and saw Barry poke his head around it. I could have sworn he winked at me.

To be continued…

[] Highway of Death
[] War Crimes
[] The Massacre of Withdrawing Soldiers on “The Highway of Death”
[] US vs Iraq – Another ‘Highway Of Death’ Slaughter

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