Jimmy Cross
Dear Martha,
I have been thinking about you lately. I hope you are safe and well. Here in Vietnam things are getting sickening. My friends are dying and it is all my fault. I get distracted because I am thinking of you. Martha, if I die here I want you to know that I love you. I always have. Just a few days ago I was leading my Alpha Company into a Vietnam village. When I arrive there an old woman walked up to me and asked me questions about home. I told her of you. She told me that you are the reason I am still alive. After I spoke with that lady I know that I am alive today because of you, and that is something I never thought about. You give me motivation to fight the war, stay safe, and make it home in hope of seeing you when I get there. My friend Ted Lavender died a while ago and now Kiowa has died, both of which I believed was because of me and how careless I am. I will still never forgive myself of their deaths but I am thankful that I am still alive. I know I am not qualified to be in charge of these men, but the only thing I can do is stay focused. When I get home I hope we can talk more about this. I must end the letter now for I need to get up in three hours to set off on another mission. Goodbye Martha. I will be home soon.
"Lieutenant Cross gazed at the tunnel. But he was not there. He was buried with Martha under the white sand at the Jersey Shore" (pg.12)
About Jimmy Cross
In this picture Jimmy Cross is journaling. Although he was very engaged in the war, often his mind would wonder to the girl he loved back home named Martha.
"They carried all the emotional baggage of men who might die. Grief, terror, love, longing- these were intangibles had their own mass and specific gravity, they had tangible weight." (pg. 20)
Lieutenant Jimmy Cross suffered the great loss of some of his closest friends in his company. He carried the grief that came along with losing them and went his whole life believing their blood was on his hands.
(Lieutenant)
Defining Moments
Jimmy Cross believed that the death of Ted Lavender and Kiowa was his fault. In both circumstances the events helped Jimmy realize how valuable life really is and how fast it can be taken. This shaped his character by giving him insight into how to be a better leader. Jimmy Cross was seen as a hero that the men in the company looked up to. Lieutenant Cross held the image that he was brave and focused even when he was scared and his mind as somewhere else. He was brave and strong because he wanted his men to have faith in him and the death of the two men helped him become the ideal leader that the men were influenced by.
