Much Ado about Henry
"Colonel Blake's plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan…There were no survivors." The words hit me like a blow to the stomach, I thought my legs would collapse! What? Did I hear right? No, not him, not Blake! We'd partied with him only yesterday! I stood frozen in my place at the operating table, numb, sick. The news ripped my soul in two, but I had to go on and why? Because I am Hawkeye, the man everyone thinks is so together but I'm not! I have my martinis, women, jokes and why? To keep up the facade that this doesn't affect me that nothing affects Benjamin Franklin Hawkeye Pierce, but it does, more than anyone cares to know, more than I care to admit even to myself. All I can do is stand here and silently weep while all around me, my comrades do the same, Margaret in Frank's arms, Radar in his office, trapper at another table if he was crying at all; I'm too numb to notice. Henry, who shouldn't have been here, bumbling, dear Henry! He is the only man to whom I gave any respect in this crummy place, a man who definitely should never have been drafted in the first place. And now here he was, dead and gone, his grave the watery depth of an impersonal sea. He was a friend, comrade, strong in the face of terrible opposition and disrespect especially by Margaret who didn't think he could command anything. My heart is broken, Henry Blake, who was an example of good will and acceptance of everybody and now here we have to carry on without him but how? To whom shall I turn, where will I go? Just then, someone dropped an instrument and it clanged loudly to the floor. Yes, oh yes, the work must go on there were others to save. Yes it will resume and I too shall bear this burden and boost the morale of those I can but I am afraid so terribly afraid. Henry is gone, but never forgotten, and so Colonel Blake, I shall work to keep the spirits of your men up, if not for my sake, but for you.