Dispatches

When Herr gets back to Khe Sanh, he brings heat tablets with him, so that the Marines can heat up their rations for the first time in who knows how long. He also brings alcohol with him. His kindness toward the “grunts” is returned in how they take care of him and the other correspondents. They make sure he always has an untorn pair of fatigues, a flak jacket, a helmet, and a stretcher to sleep on. When he and the Marines in the bunker wake up to automatic fire, he finds that one of them, Mayhew, is leaning over him, probably to protect him from any incoming fire.

Herr meets Day Tripper and Mayhew:

one a big Negro with a full mustache that drooped over the corners of his mouth, a mean, signifying mustache that would have worked if only there had been the smallest trace of meanness anywhere on his face. He was at least six-three and quarterback thick […] The other Marine was white, and if I’d seen him first from the back I would have said that he was eleven years old (115).

Although roughly the same age, Day Tripper shows greater maturity of the two, and tries to protect Mayhew from himself.