His death was the begining of a long Journey

Chapter 1

His death was the beginning of a long Journey

His death was not by hostile fire, as his lifeless body lay in a far remote country called Vietnam. Maybe it would be recorded as an accident or by hostile fire. But this would not alter the fact or bring comfort to ones left back home. As life fading and the world that he once knew grew dark. He felt that some how he found peace in this land that felt like a slice of hell. Then it was like a new birth for the first time in his life, he felt no pain, no fear, and the earthly laws that bound us to our mortal existence seemed to no longer exist. He felt free and towards the heavens a light shone down as if to guide him as many lighthouses have guided ships to a safe passage. His curiosity over whelmed him and, he found him self floating towards the light as a moth to a candle. He heard the men under his charge calling his name, at first, it went unnoticed, but they were persistent until it could no longer be ignored. His trip towards the light came to a halt as he turned toward the voices.

The morning started out normal hot humid and looking forward to the trip to the mess hall for something they called food. It would be a few hours before it was time to be deployed. A time to clean weapons and stock up on ammo and gear. Make plans for the night operation, joke around with a few friends and if there was time left, write a letter home and tell them how safe and sound you were. These letters were all lies, you always felt that maybe death was ready to claim you during the next operation, maybe the folks would buy it but more than likely they knew you were hiding the truth. This was the time of the month where our squad had a joint operation with the Navy. As the day grew into darkness, we boarded a Navy Swift boat for a trip somewhere along the banks of the Mekong River. One man on the bow with a starlight scope, the scope would amplify the light from the moon and turn the total darkness into a hazy green world, If some one was hiding on the banks of the river more than likely would be missed, but it was hope. The trip would come to an end when the radar on Swift Boat picked up some type of reflection on the radar screen. . This time in field would be a little more trying than most, this would be trial under fire for three soldiers that just arrived in country. It would take a few trips in the field before a trust could be built between the new arrivals and the rest of the squad. There was always the fear that they would become spooked and start shoot at any thing that moved including the rest of the squad. A Navy Swift boat transported us down the River; these trips always felt like a lifetime. Too much time to think, too much time to remember the friends that we seen fall, the ones that lived and the ones that died. The empty bunks at base camp that once held a friend now holds his replacement. The fear of making new friends just to see them die. Will I be next or see another day, Please God let us all go home. We were dropped on the riverbank, on one side a rice paddy and the river at our backs. We set up as we did a countless time before. Side by side with a few feet between us, staring into the darkness, straining to hear any type of sound. I heard my name whispered and started to towards the voice. The patch of land that we sat upon was about six feet off the water, and very narrow. Before I could reach the source of the voice a blunt object struck the back of my neck, causing me to land face first into the rice paddy and knocks unconscious

As I walk among living I feel sadness

I have died twice and no long feel that I fit

The living will one-day fined their just reward in the heavens above

But for those who are damned but pure of heart will find no such reward

We will walk among the living and try and make up for the wrongs that we have committed

Just a few hours prior I made a promise, I gave my word, to bring the men under my charge back safe and alive. The light that attracted me from above also made the earth beneath as bright as day. A body laying face down in the water caught my attention. A fear was struck, one of the men had been lost, and another friend was lost. He floated beneath the body; it was a face he had seen countless times before in a mirror.

The eyes were lifeless, the flesh was turning white and the mouth was as if it had gasp for that last breath of air. Some where in the dark he screamed a silent scream and the next moment he was back in his body. The pain was like no pain he had every felt before; his lungs felt like they were ready to explode from the water that entered. He knelt in the rice paddy and cough and vomited what must have felt like a thousand gallon of water. He was help out of the water and as he laid on the ground half in shock and totally confused. It would be a few days for the full impact of what he experience could to be comprehended. At first fear set in, then grief, he wished that he wouldn't have returned to the body but continue his journey towards the light. This wonderment of the light would be with him the rest of his life. Also, the fear of telling anyone about his death grew as the days of his life passed. He watch his parents grow old and die and was too afraid to tell them not to fear death because death is not the end but the beginning of a new life with out pain, without worry, an experience that cannot be described by mere words.

That brief moment that his body laded in the water lifeless and before his soul and body could be come one, a much weaker life force entered. The weaker life force was a man that died many years prior. His name was Jacob Clements Gibbar; Jacob birthplace was in a small farming community in a place that no longer existed. A small town called Claryville, Missouri. The town in its haw-day barely saw a population over hundred people; the eastern portions of the town was against and part of the levy that kept the mighty Mississippi River in its place. This is also where the ferry was located that ran between Claryville and Chester Illinois. Chester was a much larger city than Claryville and to most it was the big city, full of lights and fancy stores. The population of Chester was around 1,000 residences. To the west was the area called the bottoms which Claryville was part of, it was given this name because at one time the bottoms was part of the river, when the snows from further up north would melt in the spring. The river would over flow its banks and the bottoms would flood. This was before the levees were built which gave everyone a false sense of security. To the Far West, in the distance the land rose and formed a long ridge that seemed to stretch to the sky despite it size, it was called McBride hill. In the past when the river would overflow it banks the ridge became the new bank of the river. On top of the ridge was a city called Perryville. The soil that composed the bottoms was very rich and fertile and was made for farming. The town itself had a few houses a very small church and a general store that was very small and carried just the bare necessities. The main populations of Claryville were farmers that lived on the out skirts of the town. Jacob's father was a sharecropper and during lean times, they barely had enough food to eat or money to support the family. Jacob helped his mother and father as much as he could but it never really seemed to make a difference. When Jacob reach the age of 15 he grew into handsome young man. He had a muscular built, His hair was blond and he had blue eyes he stood almost six feet tall these features was from his mother's German heritage, the muscular built came from working in the fields from sun up to sun down with his father. No matter how long or hard they worked it never seem enough. Jacob always felt that if there was one less mouth to feed than things would become better. Jacob seeing the hard times that his family suffered decided that there had to more to life than a sharecropper.