The veterans are telling me some incredible stories this Memorial Day weekend. Old scarred Liberals who saw the worst of it in Vietnam. It was cinematic. The tale of the mad man O’Leary that went completely Apocalypse Now refusing to go home as the Americans pulled out.
This trained killer knew that if he came home they would throw him into a padded room and throw away the key. Killing was all he knew and he was a genius. Like some sort of savant. This old man claims in close quarter combat he saw O’Leary snap a man’s arm then turn around stab him with it.
He saved his the old man’s life as he gruesomely took another, with his macabre poetry. Improvising on state sanctioned murder like it was jazz.
The first time he met him the men told him that he wanted to lose to O’Leary at Blackjack. And the old man said he was much better than him at Blackjack.
In a Brothel the man at the door protested to the barnstorming GIs entering, and O’Leary as second nature just bites the man’s artery in his neck, and that was that. Another casualty of a killer.
The old man said he’ll never forget the look as he waved goodbye as they left in those choppers, leaving him behind with as much ammo and supplies as they could.
“What do you think happened to him?” I asked.
“With his training I imagine he survived. While I’m sure he’s dead now.”
He explained the scenario of the Northern armies sweeping South as this one lunatic that knew he was never coming home remained to fight his own war. Even if he came home, there was no going home.
War is hell. Such men as O’Leary found a particular genius as a rogue merchant of Death. Some men never break because they are already broken. I wondered what he might have done or become if he hadn’t been trained to kill 100 ways, only to dream up a thousand more like he was playing piano.
Maybe he would have been nothing. Nobody. Except for this old man and maybe a few others settling into graves, O’Leary is forgotten.
His bones are somewhere in Vietnam with millions of others. Those bones all look the same now.
– Musician and writer Davin Michael Stedman has many ventures, such as the AMAZING blog, 100milesofmusic.com. Davin’s new song has become a global earworm and Caribbean dancehall hit. Listen here on Reggaeville: DAVIN MICHAEL STEDMAN & ANTHONY RED ROSE – FREE YOUR MIND FEAT. SLY & ROBBIE WITH LENKY MARSDEN. The video is now available on Youtube: Tuff Gong Television. His single with British band Sherlock Soul is available here.
