First Lieutenant Jimmy Cross
Quote 1
"When a man died, there had to be blame. Jimmy Cross understood this. You could blame the war… A moment of carelessness or bad judgment or plain stupidity carried consequences that lasted forever." (In the Field.115)
Jimmy Cross (surprise, surprise) blames himself for Kiowa's death. He goes over all the many, many places that blame could be assigned—the war, the rain, God, munitions makers, voters, etc.—and concludes that while the blame is in some ways universal, it's also intensely personal. Jimmy chose to camp in the field despite the warnings of the old Vietnamese women. He is, in fact, to blame.