12
Tonga
The Corpsman
I couldn’t have been farther away from a war I’d never seen than drifting along the white beaches of Tongatapu, the main island of Tonga where the 2nd Marine Division had dropped anchor. It brought back all kinds of memories of reading Treasure Island, Kidnapped, The Coral Island, Swiss Family Robinson, Pitcairn’s Island, Robinson Crusoe... In my boy’s mind, I had imagined tropical rainforests, coral reefs, fish in rainbow colors, water like glass, waves breaking and foaming like milk, sand like white coconut meat... I had even crayoned my childhood images onto paper... But now I was walking in my dreams... And because I had been one of the lucky ones who secured a two-day pass, I never returned to the ship at night... I slept in my dreams, on the beach and under t
