Preamble, Prologue, Able Summary and Analysis

In the Preamble, Blood That Never Dried, the author describes the process of traveling from the West Coast to the Pacific theater during 1978. He recalls an episode on Okinawa when he came face-to-face with a Japanese sniper and, for the first time, killed another human being. During the episode, the author urinates in his pants and immediately afterward vomits on himself. The episode establishes the memoir as a personal war-time narrative.

In the Prologue, The Wind-Grieved Ghost, the author recalls returning to civilian life after being severely wounded in combat on Okinawa. He retained a .45 service pistol until 1968, when he threw it into the Connecticut River. After that, the author began experiencing nightmares where a much-younger incarnation of himself appears to torment him. In the dreams, the younger author is a sergeant and the older self is...