Original subtitles

Hammer was leading us into the break.

That's when we got word from the air boss that your father was in line to

the 100 ,000th trap aboard the Ticonderoga.

Seventh Fleet historian had photographers waiting. The cooks had

chocolate cake.

Hammer was going to be famous.

Only you got there first.

The tail hook was not fully extended.

So the air boss waved them off.

By the time he'd gotten past the tower for a visual check, I'd already trapped.

The 100 ,000th trap.

And what precisely was wrong with my father's tail hook? It turned out to be

nothing at all.

Your father always suspected I'd gotten him sent around on purpose.

Well, I wonder what Dad would think of you taking command of the Sixth Fleet.

Harm, if your father was with us tonight, he'd think the whole world's

nuts.

Everyone thought he'd be the one to be CNO one day. I was just a screw -up who

was along for the ride.

Mr. Secretary.

Sorry I'm late, Admiral.

Good evening, sir.

Commander, please sit.

Now, we have a problem, Tom.

With what, Mr. Secretary?

With you.

You may as well hear this, Commander. It'll be in your life tomorrow.

Tom, my office received an anonymous tip. The caller claims that August 12th,

1968, when you were in Long An Province, Republic of Vietnam, you participated

in the murder of innocent civilians in the village of Dan Dien.

If word leaks out that Admiral Boone's been accused of a war crime, you can

his nomination goodbye.

A .J., I'd like Colonel McKenzie to perform a preliminary inquiry into the

accusations against Admiral Boone and report directly back to me.

Nothing in writing.

Mr. Secretary, I think you should know that Admiral Boone and I have butted

heads in the past.

The Senate Armed Services Committee confirmation vote is scheduled in four

I want a full and fair inquiry by then.

What if I need more time, sir?

Admiral Boone's gone back aboard the Seahawk. He's expecting you on board at

1400.

Admiral.

Mr. Secretary, sir, I have one question. In 1968, Admiral Boone was an aviator

aboard the USS Ticonderoga. How could he be implicated in an alleged massacre by

ground troops?

Good question, Commander.

Let's see what the Colonel finds out.

Sir, I want to be involved in this.

It's a colonel's investigation.

I'll take my leave from her, sir.

I don't have a problem with that.

The tyranny of the hotline, Mac. Any lunatic can call with a wild charge.

Someone with a grudge or a grievance, some loser who was passed over, a whiner

with his feelings hurt. Tom Boone can't take people off. I know that from

personal experience. Bud, what are you doing here?

It's been a week, ma 'am.

That's all leave I had coming.

Bud, the Admiral can grant compassionate leave.

I couldn't ask for anything more.

Everyone's been so kind with the cards and the flowers and coming out to the

house. How's Harriet?

She's not doing too great, ma 'am.

She wasn't expecting... We weren't expecting any problems with the baby's

delivery.

I'll tell her we're all thinking about her.

I will, ma 'am.

You should be home, Lieutenant.

Harriet.

Thought it'd be best if I came into work.

Well, then start with this, bud.

Vietnam, August 12th, 1968. The village of Don Dien in the province of Long Bon.

See if you can find out what happened in the village that night.

Now, look, I can see my car. It's right over there.

It's probably evidence.

Evidence of what?

Crime.

That's where they put all the cars that are evidence.

You give me my car. If you need it for evidence, I'll bring it back.

They don't know you're going to bring it back.

I'm telling you, I'm going to bring it back.

What difference does it make? Nobody's even been charged with a crime.

I'll look it up.

Now, this is from the combat action report of the Dundian operation.

A pitched battle occurred between members of the Viet Cong 24th Local

Battalion and elements of the South Vietnamese PRU. Now, that stands for

Provincial Reconnaissance Unit, which is an elite South Vietnamese force.

dedicated to the elimination of suspected Viet Cong soldiers and

living among the civilian population in the South. The killing of the suspected

VC was known as the Phoenix Program.

Put in place by the CIA.

That's correct, sir. And the Phoenix Program was run by Neville Webb.

Clay Webb's father?

That's right, sir. He was the CIA station chief in Saigon. The body count

Diem is listed as 45 Viet Cong killed, no wounded, three weapons recovered.

Any numbers on civilian casualties?

None of the combat action reports, sir.

What of the Viet Cong clan?

Well, according to Propaganda Leaflet, the PRU was accused of massacring

innocent civilians, and I'm quoting, with the complicity of U .S.

imperialists and their lackeys.

Was there an after -incident investigation?

No, ma 'am.

Was there preliminary bombing by naval aircraft prior to the attack?

No, sir.

Was there suppressive fire during the attack?

Negative, sir. It doesn't look like naval forces were involved.

Uh -oh.

It's been charged.

What do you mean it's been charged? It's a car.

People versus one Ford Expedition.

You want the dogged number?

What is it charged with?

Transporting marijuana.

Unless you already knew that.

I lent it to somebody else.

Everybody did.

Look, buddy, I lent it to my ex -girlfriend's son before I realized he

oversized juvenile delinquent.

Look. You want to get your car back, you need to go downtown and prove your

innocence. You got that backwards.

You got to take me to court and prove that I'm guilty.

Not in a forfeiture case.

She's on the other foot.

I want to see somebody else.

I'm in charge here.

Better get yourself a lawyer.

Sir, ma 'am, I pulled Admiral Boone's service record. August 68, Lieutenant

Boone wasn't aboard the Tyco.

You've been assigned to the U .S. MacVie Saigon for temporary additional duty.

We reviewed surveillance photos and prepared targeting schedules for the

That place isn't in country, huh?

Saigon's a long way from long on, probably.

There's a fitness report here filed by Army Major Evan Parker, commending

Lieutenant Boone for serving in country with distinction and under great

personal risk. Not one mention of murdering civilians.

Admiral, were you in Saigon the entire six weeks of your assignment to U .S.

Magpie?

All but two or three days.

What were your activities during that time?

I was assigned to a forward air controller.

Do you recall his name?

No, he was Air Force.

Do you recall anything about him?

He was a first lieutenant.

Date you flew with the lieutenant?

Early August.

Can you be more precise, sir?

Tell me what happened during those two or three days.

What you would expect.

We called in airstrikes, assessed battle damage, kept an eye out

for the enemy.

3 -2 -3, 3 -2 -3, this is Montezuma. I'm sending you a flight of two Navy

Phantoms. Call sign, Fairfield 2 -4.

Roger, Montezuma. Send them on down. Out.

Tom, we don't want to get too close to this target.

Keep it coming.

Tong, is that you?

The one and only.

What's your ordnance, Hammer?

Six Mark 82s. What's your pod?

I'm 57 miles on the 120 radial of Nekom Phenom Packan at 10 ,000.

Target's a wooden bridge at Phu Loc, five miles south of me at a bend in the

river. Want me to mark it with a smoke rocket?

Nah, that's it.

Suggest runs from east to west to avoid small arms fire.

Recommend single path.

I'll be rolling in 30 seconds.

Two, you got it?

Twitch is hot.

Break!

Destroyed the bridge, three truck, and a water buffalo.

Admiral, during that time, did you participate in any ground fighting?

No. I'm an aviator, not a grunt.

Were you ever at the village of Dan Yen?

Not that I recall.

Sir, is it possible that you were there, but you simply don't remember the name?

I've already answered the question.

Did you return to Saigon at night?

No.

At the end of each day's action, the lieutenant landed his aircraft at the

nearest dirt strip.

We stayed outside a couple of villages.

Don't know that I ever knew their names, Colonel, if that's what you were going

to ask next.

Sir, on August 12th, there was a massacre of 45 innocent South Vietnamese

civilians in Dan Dien.

Colonel, I'm not sure that there were 45 innocent civilians in all of Vietnam.

Did I forget we had an appointment?

In 1968, your father was CIA station chief in Saigon.

Yes. He headed up the Phoenix program.

Yes. Do you recall its stated purpose?

To employ the best intelligence to identify and then eliminate the Viet

from South Vietnam.

There are documented reports of operations being in violation of human

There were allegations, yes.

Sometimes the program was not precise in its execution.

What part did your father play in covering up those events?

Get out of my office. Not until you tell me what happened the night of August

12th, 1968, in the village of Dantian.

I want to know what happened there.

No quid pro quo?

Or do you figure my office is like the drive -up window at the Dairy Queen?

I can't tell you.

Then I can't help you.

Or you won't.

What'd your father tell you when you asked him about the Phoenix operation?

Bury the past?

You're paranoid enough to work here.

I suggest you file a request under the Freedom of Information Act.

Return it to our information and privacy coordinator at the Office of

Information Services. The director will take it under consideration and forward

the request to me.

Then I'll take it under consideration.

I'm on a pretty strict timetable, Webb. In truth and regretfully, Commander,

some of those files are missing.

You think he's lying, Alan? I don't know, Trax.

I don't know.

You

should

have made something up.

What the hell did you do that for?

He's the enemy, isn't he?

Tanner?

Hit me, Admiral.

What can I do for you, Snigger?

Petty Officer Tyner told me about your car, sir.

I've taken the liberty of doing a little research on my own time into the People

vs. One Ford expedition.

Yeah. Yes, sir.

I'm afraid you won't be able to prove that your car was innocent since it was

used to transport marijuana.

But we might try to show that Danny Walden was in unlawful possession of

car.

Well, I lent it to him.

Fine. So we'll just have to prove that Danny Walden transported drugs without

your knowledge, consent, or willful blindness, sir.

Yeah. Sir, Commander Rabb and Colonel McKenzie see you.

Send them in.

Thank you, Lieutenant. Whatever it takes.

Yes, sir.

You completed your inquiry, Colonel?

Not yet, sir. I had an inconclusive interview with Admiral Boone.

And? There are still some unanswered questions, sir, and a key witness we

locate.

Colonel, what are you not telling me?

Admiral Boone was evasive, sir. There were too many I don't recall, some

questions he didn't answer at all. It doesn't feel right.

Can you blame him, Colonel?

Who are you on this?

Sir, I have two questions.

Who at the Phoenix program was responsible for the massacre at Dungean?

And was Lieutenant Boone involved?

We need to answer both these questions, sir, conclusively to clear the Admiral's

name. You disagree with the Colonel's approach?

Sir, the Colonel is doing what she needs to do.

Let me do what I think is right, sir.

Second half calls me every hour on the hour.

We all know the longer this drags out, the greater potential damage to Admiral

Boone.

Look, take the time you need. Do the investigation in whatever way seems

but damn it, get it done.

Sir, ma 'am, we just got the records on all air operations at Tan Son Yut,

August 1968.

During the period in question, Lieutenant Boone flew with a forward air

controller named R .C. Coffin.

Lieutenant Coffin left the service in 1969.

Find him.

I'm doing the best I can, sir.

Is there a problem? He dropped out of sight, sir.

And at your request, ma 'am, I've got Lieutenant Boone's CEO, General Evan

Parker, coming tomorrow.

And also, I traced that anonymous call to SecNav's hotline to a payphone and a

bar in Wells, New Mexico.

New Year's old stomping ground. Oh, yes, ma 'am. I've got a lot of friends in

law enforcement in New Mexico, and they're going to try and find out who

the call. Have them check on R .C. Coffin. I already did, ma 'am. He's not

listed in any local directories.

Also, sir, regarding Lieutenant Coffin, is it possible he was working for the

CIA? What makes you think that?

Well, I had the National Personnel Records Center fax me his DD -214.

In Block 18 remarks, it indicates Lieutenant R .C. Coffin was TAD for six

to the Air Force Field Operation Intelligence Center. What did he do for

don't know for sure, sir.

Does it require special access?

Find out.

You got it, sir.

Nice job, guy. Thank you, sir.

Sir, ma 'am, I just got off the phone with the Office of Military Records in

Hanoi. The village of Dundian was never rebuilt.

Those who survived the night of August the 12th were placed in relocation

We can't locate anybody to testify about what happened that night. Did you get

to sleep last night, Lieutenant?

Not a lot, sir.

Lieutenant Roberts, this is a direct order. You are to report to your

Harriet needs you, and you need to get some sleep.

Aye, aye, ma 'am.

Sir. In 1968...

I was deputy director of air operations at Tansan Ute Air Base, Saigon.

Lieutenant Boone was attached to my staff for a period of six weeks.

General Parker, you wrote a fitness report following Lieutenant Boone's

with you. Was there anything you left out?

Why would you ask me that?

It's routine, General.

Not in my book.

I know all the factual matters out of my reports. So just what the hell are you

asking? We're trying to determine Admiral Boone's course of conduct, sir,

there are some gaps in the record. So if there is anything that might lead us in

a direction, it would be helpful.

What about rumors, gossip? I heard things all the time, Colonel. I ignored

I didn't know to be true.

So should you.

Did you ever hear anyone say that Lieutenant Boone had run into some

while he was in country?

The intelligence officer showed me some VC propaganda.

What did it say, sir?

That a couple of American pilots had taken part in shooting up some village?

I heard rumors like that ten times a day.

Most of them spread by the Viet Cong to make our boys look bad.

Sir, can you tell us what happened in the village of Dandian?

I don't recall the name, Commander.

Did Lieutenant Boone ever express any particular hatred towards the enemy?

Dammit, Colonel, we all hate the enemy in wartime.

But then you'd have no way of knowing that.

Sir, I'd like you to think back.

Anything you can remember might be helpful.

Sir, taken by an F -8 photo recon plane.

An hour after the Phantom went down.

ZS -53, that's off the Ticonderoga.

Your quadrant?

You don't want to look at this, Tom.

NVA saw the recon plane coming.

She wanted us to see this.

You know the pilot?

Commander Harold Kartik.

My squadron CO aboard the Tycho.

General, what did you say then?

Did he express a desire to avenge the killing of Commander Cardick?

Yes.

Do you recall his exact words?

That was 30 years ago.

Can you give me a sense of his words? What was his frame of mind?

You see some gook holding up a severed head.

It tends to sour your outlook.

Did he express a direct threat? He wanted vengeance, wouldn't you?

He wanted her dead.

I had him leave off the mustard and onion.

Oh, too bad. A girl likes a little spice in her life now and then.

Your request.

It's off the record?

Yeah.

You're not going to tell me why I'm going to do this for you.

It would put you in an ethical bind.

Harm, you're always putting me in some kind of bind.

Why the hell do I put up with you?

So then, if I do this for you, you're going to be in my debt.

Mm -hmm.

Absolutely.

And you don't worry about what I might ask you to do for me in return?

I think I can handle it.

What do you want me to do?

Congresswoman, always a pleasure to see you.

Well, I want to talk to you in person before the National Security

meets next week on 2002 appropriations.

My trust isn't a problem with our request.

Covert ops are very important. We need that increased funding.

Well, you did ask for quite a lot.

I see you keep lionfish.

That's right.

Here's what I don't understand.

They'll kill any fish you put in the tank, but they'll leave each other

Fear, respect, need.

Who knows what motivates a fish?

People are pretty much the same.

You can never tell what drives them.

Congresswoman. Do you want something?

I look forward to seeing you next week on the hill.

I think you'll find me one of your strongest supporters.

Have you no shame?

Hey, you didn't leave me much choice.

What do you want to know about Dundin?

We believe that an Air Force Lieutenant R .C. Coffin was in or around the area

the night of the alleged incident.

Was he working for the CIA?

What makes you think that? Because Lieutenant Coffin was T .A .D. to Air

Intelligence around the time of the massacre at Danjian.

Because his records are sealed.

Because he received a Lieutenant Colonel separation package when he left the

service. He never achieved a rank higher than Lieutenant.

Enough.

R .C. was one of ours.

He flew for the Air Force by day and the company by night.

He flew agents in country and into the north. What was his role at Dundee Inn?

don't know.

He was not part of our pacification effort.

Was there another American pilot there?

Not according to our report.

Who led the raid at Dundee Inn?

Harry Drax, program director at Long Island Province.

Tell me exactly what happened the night of August 12th, Clay.

Agent Drax issued orders to carry out a sweep of the village to neutralize

members of the VC infrastructure.

He told his men to expect heavy resistance.

They went in shooting.

When it was done, 45 people had died.

Was it CIA policy to include civilians in the body count?

He was the fashion then.

The Battle of Dun Dien came at a time when the South Vietnamese needed a

victory. It was written up as such.

Where's Harry Drax now?

Harry Drax underwent a change of status at Dun Dien.

He was shot in the back and buried in one of the mass graves.

Who filed the confidential report?

The field agent, Ellis Berg.

I need you to put me in touch with him.

Well, most of us never stray far from the agency.

Ellis Burke lives not two miles from here.

What really happened that night?

It's been rumored that Harry Drax lost his sense of perspective.

What's that CIA speak for killing babies?

Listen to this, Harriet.

When the baby emerges through the birth canal, The prolapsed cord is compressed

so that the baby's blood supply is cut off.

What is it, sweetie?

AJ would like to kiss you goodnight.

Goodnight.

There's more.

Fetal asphyxia may rapidly ensue if circulation through the cord is not

reestablished and maintained until delivery.

Can I hold this again, sweetie?

No.

I need you here with me right now, please.

I'm here.

No, you're a thousand miles away.

I never knew that it would hurt this much.

You lost... We lost a baby, Harriet.

And that's a terrible, terrible thing, and it should have never happened.

I just don't know what to do.

I want to find out what went wrong.

But I know that's important to you, but how's it going to help, really? I mean,

do you really think you're going to fix what happened?

Some good news, Admiral.

I argued your case, and I won.

You got my car back.

There's a problem, sir.

They lost your car.

Well, how the hell can the police lose my car?

The last thing they knew was in the impound lot, but it has disappeared

a trace. Somebody stole my car from the police? No, sir. The police lost it.

Or misplaced it.

Sold it at a public auction like it was some damn pep mobile.

Singer, find my car.

Yes, sir.

Meander, sir?

I just told the colonel, sir, I had a law enforcement buddy of mine drop by

bar in Wells. Turns out Lieutenant Coffin's a regular.

There's a couple miles outside of town, no phone.

Nice work, Kenny. Thank you, sir.

Hey. Hey, I'm going to talk to Lieutenant Coffin tomorrow, Haram. If

credible witness, my report will say that we found nothing to substantiate

allegation against Admiral Boone.

But you're not clearing him?

You're just going to say that you can't nail him?

There's been a complicating factor, sir.

Remember the incident that occurred at Lieutenant Cardiff's crash site? Well,

turns out... Decapitation is a little more than an incident, Lieutenant.

Uh, yes, sir.

I got the precise location from you two photographs of the wreckage at the

National Reconnaissance Office.

Lieutenant Cardiff's crash site was only five miles from Dundee Inn. His death

occurred only three days prior to the massacre.

Goes to motive harm.

If Lieutenant Boone was, in fact, at Don Dien, he had every reason to get

involved in the fighting.

Well, I have every reason to believe that he was not there. War crimes

definitely occurred at Don Dien.

PRU troops got out of control.

But according to CIA files, Admiral Boone was not there.

Are you sure about that? Yes, I am sure. One more interview and it'll be

confirmed.

Phoenix program was a good program when Neville Webb managed it.

It got out of hand when we turned it over to the...

Provincial reconnaissance units.

You were the CIA field officer long on province during the summer of 1968?

Yes. You filed a confidential report on the incident at Dungean?

Why are you interested in Dungean, Commander?

What do you plan to do with the information?

I can assure you, Mr. Burke, there'll be no written report. Any information I

discover stays with me.

So what do you need to know?

Why did Harry Drax turn that village into a killing field?

Why that village? Why that night?

We had intelligence that identified some of the inhabitants of that village as

VC sympathizers.

There had been incidents near the village.

Three days prior to the attack, the body of a Navy pilot was mutilated after his

aircraft crashed.

After Drax got the word about the decapitation, he issued orders to the

death squads to pacify the village.

It was payback time, Commander.

Were there any other Americans with Harry Drax the night of August 12th?

Yes.

Lieutenant R .C. Coffin?

Yes.

Lieutenant Thomas Boone?

Yes.

How was Lieutenant Boone involved, sir?

I was in the village the next day.

We had reports that Lieutenant Boone had joined in the fighting.

I want to go to school.

I want to go to school.

I want to go to school.

I want to go to school. I want to go to school.

Why didn't you put that in your report, Mr. Burke?

There were a lot of things that I left out of my report, Commander.

There was a quota set to neutralize 2 ,000 suspected members of the Viet Cong

infrastructure every month. Every month.

At the end, that quota was met with indiscriminate killing.

You do not record war crimes when you commit them.

Only the Nazis were that stupid.

Your mandate was to get me an answer in four days to clear or not clear Admiral

Boone of even a shadow of suspicion.

It's taking longer than we anticipated, Mr. Secretary.

Let me tell you what I'm faced with. Calling the chairman of the Senate Armed

Forces Committee and asking him to reschedule Admiral Boone's confirmation

hearing.

The chairman is going to ask me why the delay, and is there a problem? And since

I don't have a good answer, he is going to smell a rat. Then when and if Admiral

Boone appears before the committee, they are going to look into everything that

ever happened in his life, down to the last parking ticket.

I beg your pardon, Mr. Secretary.

With all due respect, the colonel is doing everything she can do to speed

investigation along, sir.

Then why the delay, Colonel? Do you have doubts, suspicions? Is there something

I should know?

Colonel.

There's one final witness, Mr. Secretary, someone who is there at Dan

I'll interview him later today, and then I'll give you my report.

Thank you, Colonel. Commander, that'll be all.

Dismissed. Aye, aye, sir.

Send the message off. Present. Up immediate.

Aye, sir.

Jag officer on the bridge.

Stand easy, Commander.

Why don't you get a cup of coffee, Lieutenant?

Yes, sir.

What are you doing here?

Sir, I thought you'd have an easier time speaking with me than Colonel McKenzie.

What makes you think I haven't told the full truth up until now?

Admiral, you haven't told us everything, sir.

Time is running short.

How'd you find me?

We traced your call.

Why did you wait 30 years to let someone know?

I'm dying, Colonel.

TB.

I'm sorry.

It's my last chance to set things right.

Sorry I don't have anything nicer. I don't get a lot of company out here.

Are you aware your accusations may destroy the career of a good man?

You think that's what I want?

Just cause Tom Boone's up for three stars and I ended up like this?

I need to know a lot more about you, Lieutenant Coffin, before I can answer

question.

There are some discrepancies that need to be cleared up, sir.

You stated to Colonel McKenzie that you spent three days with a forward air

controller. You were certain of that number?

I told the colonel what I remembered.

We have reason to believe that you spent a full week at...

You also stated

to Colonel McKenzie that you did not recall the name of this forward air

controller.

Correct.

Does Lieutenant R .C. Coffin ring a bell, sir?

It does now.

What do you recall about Lieutenant Coffin?

Nothing good.

Care to elaborate, Admiral?

He was a liar and a drunk.

Are you prepared to talk on the record?

Well, that prospect don't seem so bad now that you're here.

Did you bring some beer?

I don't drink.

Well, that's nice, but I wasn't thinking about you.

Lieutenant Coffin, where did you land your aircraft on the afternoon of August

12th, 1968?

A dirt strip.

Outside, down the end.

Tom and me had a good afternoon.

We got to see a flight of phantoms blow the crap out of a woodbridge at Foo Oak.

Then we got to drinking.

Is stuff any good?

The later it gets, the better it tastes.

It's tomorrow you got to worry about.

The hell is it?

Fermented coconut.

Got a dead snake curled up in it.

Tam says it adds flavor.

There are 39 ways to cook dog meat.

Pam knows them all.

What kind of a man was Lieutenant Bone?

Have you ever been around naval aviators?

Did you notice they're kind of arrogant and full of themselves?

You know why?

You see, the guys on the ground at the end of the day, they gotta go sleep in

some slit trench with six inches of down water.

But the aviators, they fly back to the carrier, take a hot shower, and have

colored steward lay out their clothes for them.

What do you recall about Lieutenant Boone's attitudes toward the Vietnamese

people?

Well, he was sort of upset.

You know, it's one thing to see the war from up in the clouds, but you get down

in the dirt.

It's pretty ugly.

Is there ever any point at which he expressed anger at the Vietnamese people

over the beheading of his squadron commanding officer?

You done your homework, lady.

Yeah.

Tom talked about that a lot.

That was one ugly -ass war.

Just look what happened at Dundee Inn.

Commander Harold Kartig, your squadron's CO on the Ticonderoga, was shot down

five miles from Dungean.

He was decapitated by the Viet Cong.

We have eyewitness testimony, sir, that you saw surveillance photos of that

atrocity. Why didn't you volunteer to Colonel McKenzie that you'd seen the

photos? It wasn't any of her damn business.

I didn't want another report to harm her. Harry's wife never knew.

I didn't want to take a chance for finding out now.

Well, I can understand that, sir.

Admiral, did you tell Major Parker that you wanted to kill the woman who'd done

that to him?

We all said things like that, but that's not how we fought the war.

While you were in country, sir, did you ever meet a man named Harry Drax? He was

a CIA agent that Lieutenant Coffin transported on several occasions.

No one flew with us when I was out there.

Admiral, do you recall the events that took place the night of August 12th,

1968?

Colonel McKenzie has informed me that 45 non -combatants were rumored to have

died at Tan Dien that night. Admiral, we have confirmation.

There are reports in Vietnamese military archives. Oh, I know those sources.

Yeah.

They generally begin, uh... The American devils divulge their true form.

Do you have anything credible?

Eyewitness, maybe?

Dundee Inn was burned to the ground that night, sir.

Survivors were relocated to refugee camps. There were no names recorded.

What about the combat action report?

It lists the battle as a great victory.

There is, sir, however, a confidential CIA file that contradicts that.

You've seen that?

Portions of it were read to me.

Does it implicate me?

No, sir.

However, Admiral, I spoke to the field agent who filed the report. He gave me

reason to believe that you participated in the fighting that night.

Let me get this straight, Commander.

You talk to somebody who talks to somebody who claims I shot up some

Isn't that what you lawyers call hearsay?

Technically, yes.

And on the basis of that, I'm accused of a war crime?

Admiral, unless you answer my question, sir, fully and completely, I can't help

you.

What role did Lieutenant Boone play in the fighting at Dandien?

It was our last night in country.

What the hell

are you doing here, Jack?

In two minutes, we're going to neutralize this village.

These people are friendlies. That woman who makes your fish soup, Tam, she's BC.

Better move now.

I didn't see Boone again until maybe ten minutes later.

What were you doing during that time?

I tried to find Tam.

When did you next see Lieutenant Boone?

After he joined in the killing.

I saw him use this little kid as a human shield.

He was shooting into hoochies. It was like he'd lost his mind.

I never expected that from Tom.

Did you find Tam?

Seconds later.

In a hooch.

She was one of the ones Boone killed.

What else can you tell me?

Isn't that enough?

Yes, it is.

No one wanted to get assigned to Thompson and Utah.

It was a damn clerk's job.

Harry Cardick came to hammer me. He said, why don't we have to go to Saigon?

So... We flipped a coin Your father won That's how I ended up in Saigon

Could have gone either way Could have been your father