"Headin' Home"There was an awareness both day and night that you weren't a veteran 'till you made the flight, and it was a long time coming. Then it finally arrived, the day we were all hoping for, the day to step off the distant shore of South Viet Nam. And step onto that "Giant Bird" and scream away headin' home again. My vision or dream, and I think this was shared with others that were there, was to scream away at high noon so I could turn and stare, at Vietnam behind me. But it wasn't a day flight. In darkness we left. Just got aboard and flew away, feeling like thieves in the night. I say thieves and I say it willing. The take-off was almost chilling. It was quiet and austere, and no one dare make a sound. It was a silent moment of care for our friends we left on the ground. You'd think we'd be cheering to be young and alive and free and headin' home, instead we were praying that our friends would survive to get a flight of their own. But we'd never know and it's like we stole something they might need, fighting support or fellowship, in the event that they might bleed. I think this was shared, in unison we stared from the flying bus, and as hard as we stared we could not see, Viet Nam behind us. But we were alive and lucky and on a flight, and proceeded on into the night...headin' home.... - Dennis Sprague - 1969-1970 My analysisIn the poem, the author writes about the mixed feelings that a Vietnam war veteran has when he finally leaves Vietnam, which the title implies when you first see it. At the beginning of the poem, the author tells us about how you weren't a hero until you made it home, and the hope and anticipation of that flight. Then, the day finally arrived. He wanted to be happy and scream that he was finally free, but he couldn't because of the guilt he felt. His brothers, people who had fought next to him for moths, maybe even years, were back on the ground, and he had just "stolen" the only way for them to escape. He felt that he should have been back on the ground, helping them in the form of "fighting support or fellowship." Throughout the poem the mood changes from happy anticipation to dreadful guilt. The author will never know if they made it back home like he did.
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