Going After Cacciato: Chapter 11 Summary & Analysis

The chapter begins, well before the events of Chapter 1, with Doc Peret trying and failing to save the life of a wounded soldier, Jim Pederson. A helicopter arrives and carries Pederson’s body away while the soldiers watch. The soldiers are near a village called Hoi An. Cacciato—still a soldier at this time—works with Harold Murphy, Oscar, and Vaught to prepare marching on.

Paul Berlin marches alongside his fellow soldiers, trying not to think about what’s happened to Pederson. As he marches, his lieutenant—not named at this point—uses the radio to order a strike on the village. Helicopters drop white phosphorus gas on the villagers, causing fire and suffocation. Afterwards, the soldiers walk away from the village, silent. They make camp in the jungle, and eat their dinner. As the soldiers eat, they begin talking about Pederson, because “it was always better to talk about it.”