Jan. 10, 2012 at 1:39pm with 8 notes
quoteChickenhawkRobert MasonVietnamwardeathMEDEVACVietnam war
“
A grunt was crying. One of the wounded, his friend, had just died. The other was just barely alive. I wanted to fly at a thousand miles an hour.
Riker called ahead so we could land at Camp Holloway without delay. We went by the tower like a flash and landed on the red cross near the newly set-up hospital tent. The stretcher bearers ran out to unload the cargo.
I could see that they had been busy lately. There was a pile of American bodies outside the hospital tent.
The other wounded man died.
We had lost the race.
The stretcher bearers’ technique was to cross the cadaver’s arms and then, with a twist, flip it off the deck onto the waiting stretcher. I watched as two specialists unloaded One-Leg. They dropped him in a grotesque heap on the canvas. The sun glinted off a gold band on his left hand. The specialists were laughing. About what, I don’t know. Maybe they were so accustomed to their job that they thought this was hilarious. Maybe it was nervous laughter. Regardless, their nonchalance was too much for me. I jumped out and made them stop before they got to the tent. I braced them on the spot and yelled and yelled and yelled.
— Robert Mason, Chickenhawk
Oct. 8, 2011 at 4:40am with 4 notes
emotional nonsenseinsomniaVHSdreamsdeath
Video Home System

I’ve seen my death, hundreds of times; in sleep or foisted upon me while my mind wanders, awake. My body tumbling through the night air towards the sea, or succumbing to cancer in a chair by a window looking out on a gloomy day, or seeing that oncoming truck seconds too late. Every time appears in grainy, poorly lit VHS, inexplicably and indelibly linked to the look of the medium - The same way I can only imagine the First World War taking place in a monochrome world. I don’t know why. I grew up with VHS, I suppose.

This is the sort of shit I write when I can’t get to sleep. 

Mar. 31, 2011 at 3:15am with 13 notes
quotedeathYamamoto TsunetomoHagakurebushido
“
Meditation on inevitable death should be performed daily. Every day when one’s body and mind are at peace, one should meditate upon being ripped apart by arrows, rifles, spears and swords, being carried away by surging waves, being thrown into the midst of a great fire, being struck by lightning, being shaken to death by a great earthquake, falling from thousand-foot cliffs, dying of disease or committing seppuku at the death of one’s master. And every day without fail one should consider himself as dead.
— Yamamoto Tsunetomo, Hagakure
Jan. 29, 2011 at 11:48pm with 146 notes
Reblogged from xplanes
reblogxplanesWorld War TwoPacific TheatreKamikazedeathletters
xplanes: “Dear Parents : Please congratulate me. I have been given a splendid opportunity to die. This is my last day. The destiny of our homeland hinges on the decisive battle in the seas to the south where I shall fall like a blossom from a radiant cherry tree. I shall be a shield for His Majesty and die cleanly along with my squadron leader and other friends. I wish that I could be born seven times, each time to smite the enemy… …Thank you, my parents, for the 23 years during which you have cared for me and inspired me. I hope that my present deed will in some small way repay what you have done for me. Think well of me and know that your Isao died for our country. This is my last wish, and there is nothing else that I desire. How glorious is the Special Attack Corps’ Giretsu Unit whose Suisei bombers will attack the enemy. Our goal is to dive against the aircraft carriers of the enemy. Movie cameramen have been i here to take our pictures. It is possible that you may see us in newsreels at the theater. We are 16 warriors manning the bombers. May our death be as sudden and clean as the shattering of crystal. Written at Manila on the eve of our sortie. [28th October 1944] Isao Soaring into the sky of the southern seas, it is our glorious mission to die as the shields of His Majesty. Cherry blossoms glisten as they open and fall.” Kamikaze letters: [1] [2] (Above: Kamikaze attack on the USS Colorado, 27th November 1944 - killing 19 and wounding 72)

xplanes:

“Dear Parents :

Please congratulate me. I have been given a splendid opportunity to die. This is my last day. The destiny of our homeland hinges on the decisive battle in the seas to the south where I shall fall like a blossom from a radiant cherry tree.

I shall be a shield for His Majesty and die cleanly along with my squadron leader and other friends. I wish that I could be born seven times, each time to smite the enemy…

…Thank you, my parents, for the 23 years during which you have cared for me and inspired me. I hope that my present deed will in some small way repay what you have done for me. Think well of me and know that your Isao died for our country. This is my last wish, and there is nothing else that I desire.

How glorious is the Special Attack Corps’ Giretsu Unit whose Suisei bombers will attack the enemy. Our goal is to dive against the aircraft carriers of the enemy. Movie cameramen have been i here to take our pictures. It is possible that you may see us in newsreels at the theater.

We are 16 warriors manning the bombers. May our death be as sudden and clean as the shattering of crystal.

Written at Manila on the eve of our sortie. [28th October 1944]

Isao

Soaring into the sky of the southern seas, it is our glorious mission to die as the shields of His Majesty. Cherry blossoms glisten as they open and fall.”


Kamikaze letters: [1] [2]

(Above: Kamikaze attack on the USS Colorado, 27th November 1944 - killing 19 and wounding 72)