Donald Western, a Marine veteran of the Vietnam War, lives in Fayetteville. He wrote this essay as a participant in the Syracuse University veterans writing program.

I had been a rifleman in the Marine Corps. I was in Vietnam in 1969-70, assigned to Bravo Company, 1/5 Marines and participated in small unit combat primarily southwest of Da Nang. There are intense experiences that characterize such work; and their recollection can present themselves unbidden, without notice, and undiminished by time.

On a warm summer afternoon this past summer, my wife and I took my granddaughter to the old fish hatchery in Manlius. It is in the village, in a large, wooded area that contains several springs. The area with the springs and pond once provided the water supply for the village. Our granddaughte

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