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Fallen Angels Chapter 11 Summary

  • Sergeant Simpson asks Perry to write a letter to Lieutenant Carroll's family. Not a fun job.
  • As he's trying to drum up a letter, Perry goes through Carroll's personal things, and finds letters he wrote to his pregnant wife about their plans to start a bookstore together, and his idea for the baby's name. Sheesh, as if it weren't already sad enough.
  • Perry writes the letter, and gives it to the Sergeant to take to headquarters.
  • Lobel talks to Perry. He feels like Carroll's death was his fault, because he didn't really shoot at the Vietcongs. Then a bunch of the men admit to each other that they never saw a Vietcong—they just shot in the direction of human figures. That doesn't sound too good.
  • Time for better news. Turns out Perry's letter was so good that Captain Stewart wants to see him, and offers him a job doing correspondence. Unfortunately, Perry doesn't know how to type. Guess they didn't have Mavis Beacon back then.
  • While Perry's there, he watches the officers questioning a Vietcong soldier and hears about how the Vietcong torture their prisoners. Grisly. So maybe the war isn't about to end, after all.
  • The men get a new platoon leader to replace Carroll: Lieutenant Gearhart.
  • The squad escorts a "civilian pacification team" (11.108) to a hamlet. One of the men from the team has his wife and child with him. Gearhart thinks the man is CIA and his wife and kid are just a cover.
  • At the hamlet, they set up a screen so the villagers can watch Disney movies while a plane gets hit and goes down in the distance. Yeah, Disney is probably the cheerier option.
  • Peewee gets a letter from Perry's mother. Weird, right? Perry thinks so too. He opens it while Peewee is out. His mother asks Peewee to tell Perry that she loves him. Perry writes a letter to her saying he loves her. Cute, huh? Even with the weird middle-man thing.
  • A few days later, while watching TV, the soldiers see footage of themselves, and in the footage, Carroll is with them. If you're hearing a tiny violin play in your head, you're not the only one.