If I Die in a Combat Zone

by Tim O'Brien

  At six in the morning, the plane banks for the last time and straightens out and descends. When the no-smoking lights come on, you go into the back of the plane. You take off your uniform. You roll it into a ball and stuff it into your suitcase and put on a sweater and blue jeans. You smile at yourself in the mirror. You grin, beginning to know you’re happy. Much as you hate it, you don’t have civilian shoes, but no one will notice. It’s impossible to go home barefoot.

  A hardcover edition of this book was originally published in 1975 by Delacorte Press. It is here reprinted by arrangement with Delacorte.

  IF I DIE IN A COMBAT ZONE. Copyright © 1975 by Tim O’Brien. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher.

  For information, address Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc., 1540 Broadway, New York, NY 10036.

  BROADWAY BOOKS and its logo, a letter B bisected on the diagonal, are trademarks of Broadway Books, a division of Random House, Inc.

  First Broadway Books trade paperback edition published 1999.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  O’Brien, Tim, 1946–

  If I die in a combat zone, box me up

  and ship me home / Tim O’Brien.

  p. cm.

  eISBN: 978-0-307-76292-4

  1. Vietnamese Conflict, 1961–1975—Personal narratives, American.

  2. O’Brien, Tim, 1946– I. Title.

  DS559.5.027 1999

  959.704′3′092—dc21 99-29406

  v3.0