Letters From War
Disclaimer: I do not own Dan or Hawkeye. Nor do I own Mark Schultz's song. But I do own Amanda and James Campbell. Also, I don't know of Mrs. Pierce has a canon name, or even a widely used fanon name. Thus I have given her a random name.
She walked to the mail box
On that bright summer's day
She found a letter from her son
In a war far away
Dr. Daniel Pierce often made house calls in the small town of Crabapple Cove, Maine. Most people knew him well enough that they could call him by his first name if they wanted to. But he was so well respected that he was normally addressed as Dr. Pierce.
This morning in June, he'd just come from Mrs. Simmons' house. He glanced across the street to see a familiar face. It was Amanda Campbell, one of his late wife's dearest friends. She was a widow, having lost her husband due to complications from injuries he'd sustained in WWII. Now her son was serving in Korea. Hence the reason she stood at her mail box, grasping a letter to her chest like a precious treasure.
Dan called out to her. "Mrs. Campbell! How are you this morning?"
The woman looked up, smiling. "Dr. Pierce!"
Dan strolled over. "Please, Mandy. You know you can call me Dan."
Mandy rolled her eyes. "You started it with the 'Mrs. Campbell.'"
Dan then gestured toward the letter. "That from your boy?"
"Yes, it's from James. It's been a long time coming, too. He probably sent it in March, when he got there."
Pulling a letter from his pocket, Dan remarked, "Yeah, world mail travels slowly. This one from Ben just came this morning."
"Korea is so far away," Mandy said with a sigh. "Half a world stands between me and James."
Dan nodded.
"Would you like to come in?" Mandy offered. "We can compare letters. Sort of the way Lisa and I used to compare Ben and James' report cards."
Dan smiled. "I'd enjoy that."
With that the two friends turned and headed up the walkway toward Mandy's house.
He spoke of the weather
And good friends that he'd made
Said "I've been thinking about Dad
And the life that he had
That's why I'm here today"
And then at the end, said
"You are what I'm fighting for"
It was the first of the letters from war
Dan sipped his coffee as he listened to Mandy excitedly reading the letter from James.
"He says March over there is wetter than any place he's ever seen. Colder, too. The first day of spring, the daytime high only got to 27 degrees."
Dan looked down at his own letter. "Sounds like he wasn't too far from the MASH 4077. Hawkeye says that's the average springtime temperature there, too."
Mandy smiled. "He's also made some friends. 'There's a kid here from New Mexico who's really had a hard time adjusting to the cold. But even though he's as blue as anything, he keeps us laughing. He's a real kidder.'"
Dan laughed along with Mandy. "He'd get along well with Hawkeye. Once, Hawkeye walked into post-op wearing a tuxedo and swim fins. He does those kinds of things for the patients' morale."
"I'm sure it works wonders," Mandy replied. "Especially since he seems to be so much like you."
Dan smiled. "He's more like his mother really."
Mandy kept reading. "'I was thinking about Dad, today. He had all these stories from WWII, and I thought I wanted to be just like him. Then I got over here and discovered just how hard it is to be a soldier. When they say "war is hell," they really mean it. But I'm not giving up, like some people do. One kid in my unit shot himself in the foot so he could go home. As much as I miss you, I don't want to let Dad down either. He had us to keep him going in Europe. And I have you. You are what I'm fighting for. I love you, Mom. I'll write as often as I can. All my love, James.'"
Mandy sighed and held the letter close to her chest.
"Brave boy," Dan said. "What's his rank again?"
Mandy searched the earlier portion of the letter. "Second Lieutenant. His tenacity got him promoted pretty quickly."
"Two shy of captain," Dan replied. "The draft board promised to make Ben a captain if he'd sign on as a surgeon. He sure wasn't gonna sign on as a fighter. He's always hated guns. Ever since he read that news article on a kid who accidentally shot his own brother."
Mandy shook her head. "I remember that. The parents should have made more effort to keep the gun out of reach. Well, I'm going to write James back. Would you like another cup of coffee?"
Dan stood up. "No, thank you. I've got paper work to fill out at home. I should get going. It was nice seeing you again, though."
"Yes, it was nice seeing you again, too. Thank you for dropping by."
As Dan walked out the door, Mandy sat down with pen and paper.
She started writing
"You're good and you're brave
What a father that you'll be someday
Make it home
Make it safe"
She wrote every night and she prayed
After sealing the letter in the envelope, Mandy wrote the words "Be safe" on the back and placed the letter in her mail box, along with a prayer for James' safety. She wrote every evening. James' letters were fewer and further between, but she cherished every one of them.
Late in December
A day she'll not forget
Tears stained the paper
With every word that she read
He said, "I was up on a hill
I was out there alone
When the shots all rang out
And bombs were exploding
That's when I saw him
He came back for me
And though he was captured
A man set me free
And that man was your son
He asked me to write you
I told him I would
Oh, I swore"
It was the last of the letters from war
October brought much needed cooler weather to the 4077th. With it, unfortunately, came an increase in fighting. Soldiers weren't exhausted by the heat or chilled by cold, and thus able to fight longer. Which meant more casualties, longer triage, and longer OR sessions. After one such session, Dr. Benjamin Franklin "Hawkeye" Pierce was making rounds in post-op. He stopped by the bed of a black soldier with a leg wound. The wound wasn't serious enough to require amputation, but the kid certainly wouldn't be fighting again any time soon.
Hawkeye checked the young man's charts. "I've got good news. You're going home. In about a week we'll send you back to the 121st, and from there, the states."
The boy smiled. "Great. Can't wait to get back to Chicago. I'd like to do some traveling in the states, too."
"Oh yeah? Where to?"
"I don't know. I'd go visit some of my buddies if they're home. Their families if they're not home. I keep hearing Santa Fe is great to visit in the winter. And I'd go to this place in Maine a buddy told me about."
That got Hawkeye's attention. "Which part of Maine?"
"A little town called Crabapple Cove."
A huge grin spread across Hawkeye's face. "No kidding? Who do you know from Crabapple Cove?"
"Lieutenant James Campbell. The man who saved my life."
Hawkeye laughed. "James? He's a Lieutenant now?"
"Oh, you know him?"
"Yeah, his mom and my mom were friends from high school."
The soldier's face fell. "He was captured trying to save my life."
Hawkeye's smile faded. "What happened?"
"Well, we were being driven back by shell fire. There were snipers out there, too. I fell behind and got hit by mortar fragments. I cried for help, but Campbell was the only one who heard me. The Chinese were closing in on us, but he refused to leave me. He got me onto a jeep and sent me out. There was no room for him to ride too. I looked back and saw some Chinese holding him at gun point. That's the last I saw him. He could be dead now, for all I know."
Hawkeye remained silent, processing this new information. Finally he said, "Takes a brave man to do that."
"The bravest."
The next week, Hawkeye watched as patients were loaded onto the ambulance to be shipped the the evac in Seoul. He walked over to the soldier he'd treated for the leg wound.
"Take care of yourself, OK?"
"I will, Doc. Hey, would you mail this for me?" The young man took a letter out of his pocket. "It's to Campbell's mother. He asked me to write to her for him. I told him I would. I swore it."
Hawkeye took the letter. "You bet."
The soldier smiled. "Thanks, Doc."
Hawkeye watched as the ambulance pulled out of the compound, then headed for the Swamp to write his own letter.
It would be two months before the letters reached the states. Mandy Campbell wept as she read hers. Her son, a POW. Would she ever see him again? It was only the day after Christmas. And now, James might never be home to share more Christmases with her. She picked up the phone and dialed.
"Pierce residence. Dr. Pierce Sr. speaking."
"Dan?"
Silence, and then, "You got the letter?"
"How did you know?"
"Ben wrote me. He treated the soldier who wrote you."
Mandy remained silent.
"Mandy, I'm here if you need to talk," Dan offered. "I'm listening."
"Thank you," Mandy choked.
Then two years later
Autumn leaves all around
A car pulled in the driveway
And she fell to the ground
And out stepped a captain
Where her boy used to stand...
Though the war had ended three months before, Hawkeye was still hearing about soldiers who were MIA or POWs. Many of those kids, if they were even alive, would never leave Korea. But one soldier would. And Hawkeye had the privilege of picking one of those soldiers up in Boston and bringing him back to Maine. He greeted James excitedly. He hadn't seen the man since before they were sent to Korea. That was well over three years ago. Hawkeye laughed aloud when he saw the captain's bars pinned on the collar of James' class A's.
"Have you called your mother?" Hawkeye asked as they made the eight hour drive back to Crabapple Cove.
"Nah," said James. "I want it to be a surprise. You're the only one in Maine who even knows I'm alive."
Hawkeye laughed. "That'll go over well."
James simply smiled to himself and leaned back in his seat. He clutched something to his chest.
"What is that?" Hawkeye asked.
James waved the bundle of letters for him. "Just following orders."
Hawkeye shook his head. "You were always too good at that. That's how they drafted you."
Hours later, Mandy stood in her front yard hanging the sheets on the line. The breeze stirred the leaves around her feet. Fall in New England was beautiful, but Mandy hardly noticed. No word on her son had come in nearly two years. She'd all but given up hope.
She had her back turned to the driveway, but turned around when she heard a car pull up. She didn't recognize it. The doors opened, and out of the passenger's side stepped a captain in full uniform. His cap was pulled down over his face. Mandy was overcome by emotion. She was sure this soldier had come to tell her that her boy was dead. She felt her legs give way, sending her to the ground.
He said, "Mom, I'm following orders
From all of your letters
And I've come home again"
He ran in to hold her,
Dropped all his bags on the floor
Holding all of her letters from war
James ran over to where his mother sat, threw down his bags, and wrapped his arms around her. "Mom, it's me!"
Mandy looked up into his face. Tears streamed down her own face. "You're home," she whispered in disbelief.
"Yeah, I'm home," James said. He showed her the thick bundle of letters. "Just following orders."
Mandy hugged him. "You're home! My boy is home! No. Not a boy. A captain. Just like your dad."
James felt the tears trickle down his own cheeks as he held his mother. "I've come home," he said.
Hawkeye stood at a respectful distance, tears pooling in his own eyes. After all he'd witnessed in Korea, he was overwhelmed with relief that this story should have a happy ending. He quietly got back into the car and backed out of the driveway, headed back home. He had an appointment to make at his father's clinic that afternoon. He thought of the soldiers still in Korea—among them, Max Klinger. He thought of those soldiers who had stayed as captives, not volunteers as his friend had. He thought of those who would not be returning home, like his friend Tommy Gillis. Sighing to himself, Hawkeye breathed a prayer for the remaining soldiers in Korea.
"Make it home," he said aloud. "All of you. Make it home."
Make it home
Make it home
Make it home
Acknowledgments: I'd like to thank Mark Schultz for his beautiful story songs, some of which I may use in the future. I'd also like to thank KreativeKristine, whose own song fics inspired this. And lastly, I'd like to thank all of you who click on that "submit review" button at the bottom of the page. Suggestions welcome.
My next song fic will likely be about Klinger and Soon-Lee. Stay tuned.