Paco's Story

Summary

Paco Sullivan, the only survivor of a devastating attack on his platoon in Vietnam, drifts into a small American town where he washes dishes and tries to outrun his memories. The story is narrated by the collective ghosts of his dead comrades, a haunted chorus whose voice fuses guilt, grief, and gallows humor. Heinemann's blunt, demotic prose insists on the unglamorous costs of war for both veterans and the country that sent them.