Home Bound
Julian Chavez
The year is 1966, nineteen-year-old Melvyn Hathaway is running for his life while gripping onto his M16 trying not to lose his helmet in the trenches. He’s yelling at his men to take cover as they receive fire from the Vietnamese, young Melvyn rolls to the left and watches his buddy take a bullet through the head and his brains paint the side of his face and the trench walls. Screaming in anger, the young lieutenant pulls a frag from his belt and throws it into the direction of fire and turns around to see limbs and guts flying everywhere. In a fit of rage, Hathaway rushes towards the enemy and takes out six of them with a pistol and two more with a knife to kill off the rest of them.
Melvyn Hathaway
1964- Melvyn is a senior about to graduate high school and has his life planned out to start up his own little garage in town and be the best mechanic anyone has ever seen there. He was so close to dropping out of high school as he was on the verge of failing all his classes and wanted nothing to do with academics in life. Young Melvyn said he’d leave his mark by becoming the best mechanic in town and marry the most beautiful girl in his class, Linda Bakersfield. Oh, how he dreamed of marrying such a gorgeous young woman and starting a family with her, but first he had to ask her out. Fast forward a couple of months and Melvyn and Linda are married and are expecting their first child in seven months and he is working in his own maintenance garage. He is living everything in life that he ever wanted too until one day he visits home with his own family. He and his wife walk through the front door of his mother and father’s house to find his mother pouring tears and his older brother Malcom packing all of his things upstairs. “What are you doing?” asked Melvyn. Malcom throws a letter that he receives in the mail at his younger brother and watches as his face slowly starts to become unsettled. It’s a draft notice! His brother Malcom told him that he got it two days ago in the mail and waited until today to tell everyone about it because he didn’t really know how to tell anyone. Melvyn, in shock, he tells his brother that he can’t just up and leave on such short notice like he was about to. His brother had to leave in less than a week. Three days later, Linda wakes up early one morning and starts getting ready for the day when she notices a note on Melvyn’s side table that read “Dear Linda, I’m so sorry I had to let you know this way, but I couldn’t let my brother go off and face war, especially while he has everything going so good for himself here at home! I took his draft notice and I’m posing as him until I make it through. I’ll be home before you know it my sweet girl and I will write you as often as I can! With much love, Melvyn.” Tears instantly start running down the woman’s cheek as she sobs for her husband leaving her and their soon to come child.
The Brotherhood
Fast forward to the beginning of 1966, Second Lieutenant Melvyn Hathaway is lighting the last Lucky Strike in his pack watching the cigarettes smoke silhouette drift as he winds down after a long day of hunting thorough the jungles of Vietnam for a potential advance for him and his troop. Melvyn’s team consisted of Dawson the medic, O’Connor the ammo supplier, Jaxon the sniper and of course every team has to have a heavy machine gun handler, Gomez. All of these brave young men are here for one purpose only, to protect their country. They are considered to be a special operative’s team that goes behind enemy lines and finds out the information that the army needs in order to advance. These young men did everything that it took in order to complete their job and to do it right.
“Running” Ronny Dawson, the team’s medic, came from the city of New York and used to be the owner of a coffee shop. He would wake up every morning and walk his dog Bella up the block to his aunt’s house where she would watch the droopy eared basset hound. Dawson lived an everyday regular life and didn’t have a care in the world. He’d sit outside his coffee shop and read the newspaper as he sipped on his freshly brewed blend while talking to his good friend Mrs. Patterson. One treacherous day, he received the same draft letter in the mail that Malcom had received and was scared as to how he could just leave everyone behind. That very same day, Mrs. Patterson had a heart attack and died at the age of seventy-seven. Dawson decided right then and there that he would pack up his things and ship off after of course leaving poor Bella in the custody of his aunt.
O’Connor and Jaxon both game from Chicago, Illinois, they grew up together and decided to enlist together even though they never got a draft notice. These two young men did nothing but get into trouble together and needed a way out of their hometown so they could venture and see the world and do something with their lives. These young heroes became two of the best known at what they do in the entire service of the United States Army and were proud as hell to serve and give back to their country.
As far as “Gone” Gomez goes, he was a middle school dropout that got picked on his entire childhood because he “wasn’t the brightest” as most would say. After dropping out, he got a job on a construction site where one of his neighbors worked. The crew would have him move around concrete bags and dig holes or lay pipe where needed. When Gomez finally came of age, he joined the army and barely managed to get in. Even though he didn’t quite get everything, when he was told to do something, he would do it to the best of his ability with no questions asked.
Family Life
It’s been two full years since any of the team have seen their families, loved ones, and friends. Melvyn, writing his daughter and wife as he most often could, would send them postcards and little gifts and trinkets so he could still be there for them as much as possible.
His older brother Malcom works as a lawyer now and helps take care of their mother and father back home as well as Melvyn’s wife and kid for the sacrifice that he gave so that he didn’t have to go. He would receive letters from his siblings and his parents from time to time too and kept a small pocketbook with all of the photos that they have sent him over his time serving. As far as the others on the team are concerned, they would occasionally get a letter or something from someone that they knew, and they all cherished those little moments as they were all in a constant fear that they might not live to see nightfall.
Coming to an End
The team coming up on the end of their service within a couple of months are all getting excited to finally go home and get the chance to rest easy. They had one final main mission. They had to go behind enemy lines and capture a mortar point with the backup of infantry right on their tail to support them. Everyone keeping up to date with their letters from their loved ones back home letting them know they’ll be home soon. They all had a stronger will than ever to fight as they were all ready to leave this hell hole of country and go back to try and live their lives again. The team makes a plan to sneak out of the camp one night to start their mission and to slowly get behind the enemy’s defensive lines and take over the mortar position. By 0600 the next morning, they were all caught in fire with the Vietnamese with Jaxon at a highpoint scouting out for them so they could maneuver through the trenches with less surprise. They were doing so well until someone had set off a fountain trap and almost got blown to bits to alert the enemies. The trees are covered in dew from the pouring night before and the ground is slushy with mud. The infantry men are rushing in and are creating a crossfire in order to help Melvyn’s team so they could assume their position. Melvyn’s team sprinting towards their objective and get put at a halt as the Vietnamese sprayed lead in their direction and they feared for their lives as mortars and artillery would drop unexpectedly. They make it about halfway up the mountain when a mortar strike causes a landslide and throws rocks and boulders and piles of mud at them. Melvyn looks down to check on the infantry men below his squad and watches as they get brutally mutilated and even some of them being crushed to death. They had to carry on and fulfill the mission! The team finally comes to the door of the outpost in the side of the mountain finally and when they swing open the door, a sticky grenade goes off that splattered Dawson all over the team leaving them drenched in his blood and his head rolling down the mountain side as the rest of them recover from the explosion. Jaxon and O’Connor bust into the outpost making sure every room was clear, while Gomez stood outside guard and Second Lieutenant Melvyn ran down the hill to find the dog tags of Dawson so that he could be given proper recognition and never be forgotten as a hero. While searching, Melvyn gets caught in a trench and gets shot twice in the shoulder and once in the side. As he’s laying there waiting for one of his men, an enemy rush towards him and he has no other choice but to fight. He got into a hand-to-hand combat situation and took a knife through the cheek as well. He managed to get the knife away from his opponent and slits his throat. After the rest of Melvyn’s team finish capturing the outpost point, they make their way down the mountain carrying the bodies of their once called brothers. His men eventually catch up to him and assist him as much as they can. All of a sudden Melvyn yells at his men to take cover as they receive fire from the Vietnamese, young Melvyn rolls to the left and watches his buddy O’Connor lose his helmet due to an explosion and take a bullet through the head and his brains paint the side of Melvyn’s face and the trench walls. After watching the men that he had fought alongside by for so long be killed right in front of him Melvyn starts to write a quick note just in case he didn’t make it and tucks it away in the band of his helmet. Screaming in anger, the young lieutenant pulls a frag from his belt and throws it into the direction of fire and turns around to see limbs and guts flying everywhere. In a fit of rage, Hathaway rushes towards the enemy and takes out six of them with a pistol and two more with a knife to kill off the rest of them. The battle was over, and Melvyn was found dead in a trench approximately one hour later and was airlifted out.
Three days before all the young men were supposed to return home and Linda receives one last letter. A KIA notice. Inside was a little hand scribbled note from Melvyn that read “I really hope you’re not reading this, but if you are, then I’m coming home the way none of us wanted me to, watch over our daughter. With much love, Melvyn.”
Melvyn Hathaway
1964- Melvyn is a senior about to graduate high school and has his life planned out to start up his own little garage in town and be the best mechanic anyone has ever seen there. He was so close to dropping out of high school as he was on the verge of failing all his classes and wanted nothing to do with academics in life. Young Melvyn said he’d leave his mark by becoming the best mechanic in town and marry the most beautiful girl in his class, Linda Bakersfield. Oh, how he dreamed of marrying such a gorgeous young woman and starting a family with her, but first he had to ask her out. Fast forward a couple of months and Melvyn and Linda are married and are expecting their first child in seven months and he is working in his own maintenance garage. He is living everything in life that he ever wanted too until one day he visits home with his own family. He and his wife walk through the front door of his mother and father’s house to find his mother pouring tears and his older brother Malcom packing all of his things upstairs. “What are you doing?” asked Melvyn. Malcom throws a letter that he receives in the mail at his younger brother and watches as his face slowly starts to become unsettled. It’s a draft notice! His brother Malcom told him that he got it two days ago in the mail and waited until today to tell everyone about it because he didn’t really know how to tell anyone. Melvyn, in shock, he tells his brother that he can’t just up and leave on such short notice like he was about to. His brother had to leave in less than a week. Three days later, Linda wakes up early one morning and starts getting ready for the day when she notices a note on Melvyn’s side table that read “Dear Linda, I’m so sorry I had to let you know this way, but I couldn’t let my brother go off and face war, especially while he has everything going so good for himself here at home! I took his draft notice and I’m posing as him until I make it through. I’ll be home before you know it my sweet girl and I will write you as often as I can! With much love, Melvyn.” Tears instantly start running down the woman’s cheek as she sobs for her husband leaving her and their soon to come child.
The Brotherhood
Fast forward to the beginning of 1966, Second Lieutenant Melvyn Hathaway is lighting the last Lucky Strike in his pack watching the cigarettes smoke silhouette drift as he winds down after a long day of hunting thorough the jungles of Vietnam for a potential advance for him and his troop. Melvyn’s team consisted of Dawson the medic, O’Connor the ammo supplier, Jaxon the sniper and of course every team has to have a heavy machine gun handler, Gomez. All of these brave young men are here for one purpose only, to protect their country. They are considered to be a special operative’s team that goes behind enemy lines and finds out the information that the army needs in order to advance. These young men did everything that it took in order to complete their job and to do it right.
“Running” Ronny Dawson, the team’s medic, came from the city of New York and used to be the owner of a coffee shop. He would wake up every morning and walk his dog Bella up the block to his aunt’s house where she would watch the droopy eared basset hound. Dawson lived an everyday regular life and didn’t have a care in the world. He’d sit outside his coffee shop and read the newspaper as he sipped on his freshly brewed blend while talking to his good friend Mrs. Patterson. One treacherous day, he received the same draft letter in the mail that Malcom had received and was scared as to how he could just leave everyone behind. That very same day, Mrs. Patterson had a heart attack and died at the age of seventy-seven. Dawson decided right then and there that he would pack up his things and ship off after of course leaving poor Bella in the custody of his aunt.
O’Connor and Jaxon both game from Chicago, Illinois, they grew up together and decided to enlist together even though they never got a draft notice. These two young men did nothing but get into trouble together and needed a way out of their hometown so they could venture and see the world and do something with their lives. These young heroes became two of the best known at what they do in the entire service of the United States Army and were proud as hell to serve and give back to their country.
As far as “Gone” Gomez goes, he was a middle school dropout that got picked on his entire childhood because he “wasn’t the brightest” as most would say. After dropping out, he got a job on a construction site where one of his neighbors worked. The crew would have him move around concrete bags and dig holes or lay pipe where needed. When Gomez finally came of age, he joined the army and barely managed to get in. Even though he didn’t quite get everything, when he was told to do something, he would do it to the best of his ability with no questions asked.
Family Life
It’s been two full years since any of the team have seen their families, loved ones, and friends. Melvyn, writing his daughter and wife as he most often could, would send them postcards and little gifts and trinkets so he could still be there for them as much as possible.
His older brother Malcom works as a lawyer now and helps take care of their mother and father back home as well as Melvyn’s wife and kid for the sacrifice that he gave so that he didn’t have to go. He would receive letters from his siblings and his parents from time to time too and kept a small pocketbook with all of the photos that they have sent him over his time serving. As far as the others on the team are concerned, they would occasionally get a letter or something from someone that they knew, and they all cherished those little moments as they were all in a constant fear that they might not live to see nightfall.
Coming to an End
The team coming up on the end of their service within a couple of months are all getting excited to finally go home and get the chance to rest easy. They had one final main mission. They had to go behind enemy lines and capture a mortar point with the backup of infantry right on their tail to support them. Everyone keeping up to date with their letters from their loved ones back home letting them know they’ll be home soon. They all had a stronger will than ever to fight as they were all ready to leave this hell hole of country and go back to try and live their lives again. The team makes a plan to sneak out of the camp one night to start their mission and to slowly get behind the enemy’s defensive lines and take over the mortar position. By 0600 the next morning, they were all caught in fire with the Vietnamese with Jaxon at a highpoint scouting out for them so they could maneuver through the trenches with less surprise. They were doing so well until someone had set off a fountain trap and almost got blown to bits to alert the enemies. The trees are covered in dew from the pouring night before and the ground is slushy with mud. The infantry men are rushing in and are creating a crossfire in order to help Melvyn’s team so they could assume their position. Melvyn’s team sprinting towards their objective and get put at a halt as the Vietnamese sprayed lead in their direction and they feared for their lives as mortars and artillery would drop unexpectedly. They make it about halfway up the mountain when a mortar strike causes a landslide and throws rocks and boulders and piles of mud at them. Melvyn looks down to check on the infantry men below his squad and watches as they get brutally mutilated and even some of them being crushed to death. They had to carry on and fulfill the mission! The team finally comes to the door of the outpost in the side of the mountain finally and when they swing open the door, a sticky grenade goes off that splattered Dawson all over the team leaving them drenched in his blood and his head rolling down the mountain side as the rest of them recover from the explosion. Jaxon and O’Connor bust into the outpost making sure every room was clear, while Gomez stood outside guard and Second Lieutenant Melvyn ran down the hill to find the dog tags of Dawson so that he could be given proper recognition and never be forgotten as a hero. While searching, Melvyn gets caught in a trench and gets shot twice in the shoulder and once in the side. As he’s laying there waiting for one of his men, an enemy rush towards him and he has no other choice but to fight. He got into a hand-to-hand combat situation and took a knife through the cheek as well. He managed to get the knife away from his opponent and slits his throat. After the rest of Melvyn’s team finish capturing the outpost point, they make their way down the mountain carrying the bodies of their once called brothers. His men eventually catch up to him and assist him as much as they can. All of a sudden Melvyn yells at his men to take cover as they receive fire from the Vietnamese, young Melvyn rolls to the left and watches his buddy O’Connor lose his helmet due to an explosion and take a bullet through the head and his brains paint the side of Melvyn’s face and the trench walls. After watching the men that he had fought alongside by for so long be killed right in front of him Melvyn starts to write a quick note just in case he didn’t make it and tucks it away in the band of his helmet. Screaming in anger, the young lieutenant pulls a frag from his belt and throws it into the direction of fire and turns around to see limbs and guts flying everywhere. In a fit of rage, Hathaway rushes towards the enemy and takes out six of them with a pistol and two more with a knife to kill off the rest of them. The battle was over, and Melvyn was found dead in a trench approximately one hour later and was airlifted out.
Three days before all the young men were supposed to return home and Linda receives one last letter. A KIA notice. Inside was a little hand scribbled note from Melvyn that read “I really hope you’re not reading this, but if you are, then I’m coming home the way none of us wanted me to, watch over our daughter. With much love, Melvyn.”
"No matter where life takes you, always make sure to "'take it easy.'" -The Eagles