their parade,
muffled drums and dirges,
a coffin and a flag wrapped in plastic
to protect it from the rain. 
In the amphitheatre of Arlington Cemetery,
families of the men
still missing from Vietnam
waited for the coffin and remembered. 
They wonder if their sons are still alive
and why the world sits back
and allows the Vietnamese government
to flagrantly violate the Geneva Convention. 
Rumours of physical and mental torture
have made the wait more agonising. 
The families were reassured
by a deeply moved President. 
We write no last chapters. 
We close no books. 
We put away no final memories. 
An end to America's involvement in Vietnam
cannot come before we have achieved
the fullest possible accounting
of those missing in action. 
Colonel Yin,
you may not give a damn
about the Geneva Convention,
but someday
you're gonna be held accountable.
The Geneva Convention
applies to prisoners of war.
You men are not prisoners of war.
You are common criminals.
I have repeatedly told you
that there is no escape from my camp,
unless you consider death an escape.
You are surrounded by cliffs,
mountains, jungles full of mantraps
and a bridge that is impassable.
None of you have ever escaped
and none of you will.
The only way for you to leave my camp
is if Braddock confesses.
He defends the country
that has forgotten you,
an outlaw nation
the rest of the world reviles!
They are killing your ambassadors
of the evil
in every part of the world.
I have something for you.
Hey, it's a beaut. It's a good two inches.
Angelo says thanks.
What he give you?
A B-52.
It's just a worm for his chicken.
You know,
I gotta learn to keep my mouth shut.
What do you do?
You never shoot your mouth off.
I try to decide if what I'm going to say
is worth getting hit for.
Wish I could do that.
- Franklin?
- It's hot. I'm sweating.
Looks like the malaria again.
Hey! Hey!
What the hell's Harry doing?
I'll bite his head off.
Pack of cigarettes.
No! No!
Colonel Braddock, I need to talk to you.
Colonel.
Colonel.
Look, I'm real sorry those two guys died,
but we don't all have to.
Maybe I can get Yin not to ride you so hard.
You'd like that, wouldn't you, Braddock?
How about it, Sarge, huh?
I mean, you know
you could use some time off.
Begging the Captain's pardon, sir,
but kiss my black ass.
That's funny.
All you guys are big, brave soldiers,
and you think I'm a coward.
No, you're not a coward.
You're a traitor.
I'm not a traitor.
Look, our country has forgotten about us,
and we have to do anything we can
to survive.
Look, I'm not the bad guy here.
It's Braddock and his stupid pride.
When we first got here,
there were five times as many of us.
Thirty-three Americans. Now look at us.
I say that all Braddock has to do
is confess to some garbage war crime,
and Yin will send us home.
Who's gonna care?
The war has been over for...
For God knows how long.
We don't know that for sure.
There is no war,
and nobody gives a damn about us.
Oh, yeah?
Well, I hear they're coming to get us.
And if I were you, I'd rather die here
than have to explain to my kid
that I was a gutless traitor.
At least I've seen my kid.
Let him go.
Back off, Nester.
Die if you want to, all of you.
Who tell you someone coming?
No one.
I made it up to piss him off.
Why'd those guys have to run?
God, I gotta get some sleep!
But whenever I close my eyes,
I see my wife Gina.
Yeah. My Diane's gonna be mad at me.
I wanted the four kids more than she did.
We made a deal.
She'd work,
and I'd retire and bring them up.
I fooled the hell out of her.
I haven't even seen my kid!
I'm sorry.
I try to block it out, but I can't.
No one can.
You do. Nothing bothers you.
I'm just...
I'm just not tough like you.
Sergeant Lawrence Opelka.