DISCLAIMER: This story is based on the television series Tour of Duty which aired from 1987 through 1990, distributed by New World Entertainment. All characters belong to the creators and/or producers of the show and were brought to life by Stephen Caffrey (Lt. Goldman), Terence Knox (Sgt. Anderson) and Tony Becker (Cpl. Percell). No money is being made with this story and it may not be posted, published or archived without permission. Although care has been taken in the attention to military protocol, certain artistic licenses have been made for the sake of readability.

The men of Camp Barnett had been working for hours in the hot sun to make repairs to vehicles and structures that had been damaged in the attacks the night before.

The past few weeks had been terrible for the men of Team Viking. They had lost more than half of their new platoon to an NVA ambush, the sniper killed Major Douglas with one shot, three men had been killed due to friendly fire from McKay’s chopper and Eddie Bell had carelessly fallen to his death from an overpass in Saigon. Things didn’t seem they could get any worse until last night’s ambush of the base. The bright side was Sergeant Anderson promised the men he would find a way to get the Army to award Private Bell an award for his bravery at the CP battle.

The men of Team Viking finished up their assigned repairs on the latrine and were hoping for a short nap before any other duties came their way. They headed back to the barracks to hide out.

"Man, it was damn hot out there!" Alberto Ruiz wiped the sweat from his brow and collapsed belly first onto his bunk.

"No kidding!" Danny Percell quickly consumed the last of the water in his canteen. "I hate latrine duty of any kind!"

"There it is!" Taylor smugly remarked as he lit a cigarette and grabbed the most recent copy of Ruiz’s playboy magazine. Ru noticed the theft, but was too exhausted to do anything about it.

"What are you talking about Sergeant Taylor?" Doc stood in the doorway heckling the NCO. "All you did was stand by and watch, you barely lifted a finger to help!"

"That’s right Hockenberry." The Sergeant Taylor poked fun at the medic. "I am the sergeant and YOU are the private. You work for me."

"Taylor as you as our Sergeant this is going to be a LONG war!" Doc chided back in his best southern drawl. Doc Hockenbury sat on his bed, removed his eyeglasses and wiped the sweat from his face. Just as he prepared to lay himself to rest on his bunk there was a knock at the door and two men entered before anyone could welcome them in.

Two CID lieutenants stood before the men of Team Viking who had come to attention. "Private Edward Bell?"

Danny Percell moved his eyes around the room looking to see how the other men were responding to the question for their deceased comrade.

"Sir," Sergeant Taylor again found himself answering to the whereabouts of the fifteen-year-old boy. "Private Bell was killed in last night’s attack on the base."

The taller CID agent, Lt. Robert Simmons, looked to his partner and motioned to the door. "I see, that is all gentlemen."

The two men left without explanation and Team Viking watched the men walk towards Graves Registration in search of the dead body.

"What do you think that was all about?" Grinner nervously questioned.

"I dunno, but I hope it doesn’t have anything to do with him dying in Saigon" Danny looked over to Doc and Taylor hoping they would ease his worries, they didn’t.

"Men" Taylor breathed deeply. "We could be in a whole lot of trouble."

**********************************************

Sergeant Zeke Anderson and First Lieutenant Myron Goldman were checking over the NVA bodies before they were loaded on the truck for removal. Lt. Simmons noticed Myron as Bell’s superior officer.

"Lieutenant Goldman?" Robert Simmons the lead investigator approached the CO.

"Yes Sir." Myron removed the cigarette from his lips and squinted into the late afternoon sun to look at the man.

"We understand Edward Bell was under your command and was killed in the attacks of last evening." Simmons began the questioning as his partner, Lt. Ben Krull, opened a notebook to record Goldman’s answers.

"Yes Sir he was." Myron smashed the still burning cigarette into the ground. "Is there anything I can help you with?"

"We will need you to show us to the body, and have two of your men load the boy onto that Huey over there." Lieutenant Simmons pointed to the helicopter closest to the Command Post.

Myron stalled while questioning the orders in his mind. "Why are you looking for Private Bell and why do you need to take his body with you? My men were pretty close to him and since he has no family back home they had hoped he could be laid to rest at Arlington."

"Lieutenant Goldman." Simmons voice was curt. "Edward Bell deserves nothing more than a pine box and a shallow grave."

Goldman was shocked by the response and curious as to why the criminal investigation division was so interested in the death of the young man. "Why’s that?"

"PFC Edward Bell as you know him is actually James Edward Becker. He is a wanted fugitive in the state of Texas for murdering his parents and attempting to destroy the evidence and the bodies by lighting the family mobile home on fire then hot footing it to basic training under an assumed name."

Myron looked to Zeke who was attentive to the conversation and back to the CID agents. "You have got to be kidding me….. little Eddie Bell?"

"Now I’m not saying he wasn’t a victim of a bad family. The Texas State Police said his mom was the local hooker in town and his daddy was an alcoholic who loved practicing his southpaw on the kid’s jaw whenever he was close enough, but that’s no reason to go and fry your own parents." Simmons said.

‘Sergeant Anderson." Lt. Goldman turned toward his friend. "Show these men to Bell’s body, get it loaded on the chopper and then come find me. I guess we won’t be requesting that medal of honor for him after all."

"No Sir I guess we won’t." Sergeant Anderson was disappointed by the news. He found it hard to believe that he had been hustled by the young man into believing he was an orphan who needed the Army to be his home the same way Zeke had sought it out. "LT, what are we going to tell the men?"

"When you get the body on the chopper I will go with you to talk to them. Get going Sergeant we don’t want to keep these men waiting any longer." In truth the Lieutenant just wanted the investigators to go away. Why is everything in this Damn war never as it seems?

Sergeant Anderson accompanied Lt. Krull and Lt. Simmons to the body.

*******************************************************

"MY TURN TO WATCH HIM!" The argument between the men was becoming more and more heated as Doc Hockenberry was put on the defense.

It was hard to imagine that the night before the men were consoling each other and confirming that no one was to blame. Now with the possibility that there would be a criminal investigation and possible charges to be filed the over tired worn out soldiers had set forth in a heated debate over who was responsible for the juvenile when they were in Saigon.

"Yeah Doc! He was with you all day, then you left him to go chase after that gook chic." Ruiz was working hard to push the blame on anyone but himself. "Plus you are the oldest."

"I may be the oldest, but Taylor’s the damn Sergeant, Bell was HIS responsibility." Doc said.

"Hockenbury!" Taylor stated. "The heat has fried your brain! I didn’t get my stripes till after that night"

Danny came to Taylor’s defense. "He’s right Doc."

Grinner had remained quiet through out the discussion until now. "It’s no one’s fault but Bell’s. We had no way of knowing what was going to happen. We all felt that way last night and nothing has changed."

Everyone in the hooch looked to the newbie. He was right and everyone knew it, but they all feared repercussions from the Bell’s untimely death. The men believed someone in the room was going to have to take responsibility when the CID learned of the true nature of his death.

Just as the silence and tension began to build Sergeant Anderson and Lieutenant Goldman walked into the barracks. The men held their breath in anticipation of the trouble that was sure to follow.

"Gentlemen?" Goldman attempted to address the men in a casual way hoping they would understand he was there because he cared rather than as a disciplinarian.

Sergeant Anderson stepped to the middle of the barracks and shoved his hands in his pockets. "Men, I’ve got some bad news for you."

Taylor rose from his bunk to defend his men. "Sergeant, we have been discussing the night in Saigon, we know we should have been keeping better tabs on the boy especially since we had taken him drinking, but…"

Anderson raised his hand to Taylor. "Taylor, just sit down and listen."

Taylor followed orders and sat on his bunk as the Sergeant continued. "LT and I are not sure how to tell you this so I am just going to give it to you straight. Bell won’t be getting any medals for the CP battle or his heroism in taking fire for Ruiz. We met with the CID investigators and learned that Eddie Bell is really James Edward Becker and he was wanted by the state of Texas for the murder of his parents and burning down his home before joining the Army."

The men sat in silence stunned by the news. Each man looked to the ground thinking about how the boy could have seemed so naive, but have hidden such a secret.

"Sarge?" Doc was the first to speak. "Did they tell you why he did it?"

Lieutenant Goldman broke into the conversation. "He didn’t have much of a home life. They said his mother was unfaithful and dad was an abusive heavy drinker, but we will never know why he did it"

"Geez……." Danny’s exasperation echoed the thoughts of the other members of Team Viking.

"Are they sure it was Bell?" Taylor asked.

"Yeah, they checked his body and matched it up with a photo they had." Sarge shared in the disappointment of his men. "It was him."

Ruiz was even more worried that the CID would pursue the cause of Eddie’s death. "Sarge do you think they will believe he died in action?"

At that moment Goldman noticed the attention of the men to the question. He figured out that the argument they had heard when they approached the hooch was over concern that one or more of them would be held responsible. "Don’t worry Ruiz. They are confident he was killed in battle. Besides that I wouldn’t let them pin that one on any of you. It was an accident, accidents happen."

"Thanks LT." Ru nodded. "We appreciate your confidence in us/"

Goldman let a small smile of appreciation slip onto his lips. "Your welcome, but you better get yourselves to dinner soon before Anderson finds more work for all of you."

Percell jumped off his bunk. "You don’t have to say that twice, let’s go guys."

Within seconds things seemed normal again as the men filed out of the barracks to the mess hall leaving Zeke and Myron alone in the hooch.

"LT?" Sarge said. "I just can’t imagine that brave young boy doing something like that."

"Well Sergeant, that’s because you have a big heart." Myron smiled at his friend. "And a big stomach, come on I’ll take you to the officer’s club for something to eat.

The two men turned off the lights, exited the hooch and headed off into the night.