The Sacrifice By Alpha-Adventurer 14
One day, it took only one day to change a persons live forever, Nguyễn Hữus. Nguyễn Hữu is 19 years old and lived at the North Side of Vietnam in Hanoi. He had dark skin and have ink-black hair. His whole family consists of his dad, mom and himself. His dad and mother works as a farmer, they only earn a small amount of money every week. Fortunately, the can still bear the expense of a school and a small-tight house for them to live in. It was a dreary night, when suddenly Hữu heard someone crying. It was his mother holding a crumpled letter, “Ma, what is that letter your holding?” Hữu questioned, her mother handed the letter to him. He read it, it was a draft letter telling him to report to duty tomorrow immediately. He went to pack his clothes, his father gave him a pocket watch with a cover. “This is the pocket watch your grandfather gave me before he passed away.” Hữu flipped open the cover and saw a picture of his family when he was young. It was a bright sunny day when a shard of light pierced through Hữu eyes, it woke him up. He went to eat his breakfast, “Hurry up, you have to go soon.” his mom reminded him that he had to report to duty. He ate his breakfast and got changed, his mom and dad went out to the front door to say farewell to him. “Bye Ma and Pa!” yelled Hữu as he walked. He walked into a dense jungle, noticing a camp. A soldier marched in front of him and told him to go to the soldier by the sandbag barrier. “Excuse m-” “Line up by the other soldiers.” he interrupted. Nguyễn stood by a soldier which seems to have the same age as him. He whispered carefully to the soldier beside him. “Hi.” The other soldier turned his head around and replied back “Hi.” “My names Hữu, you?” “Names Ông” “What do we do now?” Hữu asked “We wait.” Ông answered. “Wait for wha-” “Ok Soldiers. From now on, you all call me sir.” the commander interrupted again. “Yes Sir!” cried out the Soldiers in the line. It took a whole 8 weeks to learn the Basic Training of a soldier. Hữu learned where his group and place was, how to fix his bed, perform proper hygiene, shoot and maintain his M-16 rifle, throw hand grenades, utilize his C-Rations, perform first aid, operate a map and compass (Land Navigation). How to salute, the rules of war (Uniform Code of Military Justice), how to stand at attention, how to march, in ranks inspection, marching in parade and graduation. During the Basic Training, he made friends with Ông, every night Hữu would open the pocket watch his father gave him, and look at the picture of his family. In the graduation, Hữu was overjoyed when he saw his parents at the graduation. Hữu and his parents had a good long chat until it was time to go.
It was a peaceful day in the North Vietnam until the commander screamed “Get in Position!”. Hữu knew exactly what was going on, the South Vietnam and the U.S is invading. Hữu and Ông got out of their bunk beds. They ran to the storage cache to grab their M-16 Rifles and got in their positions. Hữu and Ông both went to the same firing post and readied up. It was silent, when suddenly they heard a weak-faint sound of a engine. They saw trees from a distance getting ran over. Finally it revealed itself, it was a tank. The North did not expect a tank, they immediately evacuated the Củ Chi tunnels. They had no idea how to counter a tank, they all shot at the tank, but it barely scratched it. When they were pushed to the last base, Hữu pulled out the pin of the grenade and ran towards them. The explosion killed almost all the South Vietnam and the U.S, including him. The explosion that saved the North Vietnam from being Invaded.