Characters in Fallen Angels Essay

Walter Dean Myers wrote the book Fallen Angels. It is about America's experiences in the Vietnam War as told by the main character in the book, Richie Perry. Perry goes through a lot of changes and sees some of his good friends die in battle fighting for a cause that no one could agree upon. The book has 4 other main characters, Lobel, Johnson, Brunner, and Peewee.

The book starts off talking about the experiences of Perry while he is serving in Vietnam. His best friend, Peewee becomes instant friends with each other when they meet in the barracks. Peewee helps Perry by standing up for him during several disputes. Peewee and Perry wake up the next morning and find out that they are to go on patrol in order to search out and destroy any Vet Cng soldiers that they encounter. The patrol lasts for a few hours and Peewee and Perry are just about to camp, when a mutual friend of Peewee and Perry drops out of formation for a second and steps on a land mine, killing him instantly. Perry is so upset by this and needs Peewee to help him talk out his feelings of grief for the loss of the friend. Peewee and Perry have a few days to rest, because they have a weekend pass and it grants them 48 hours of freedom. They go to Saigon and have a few drinks and generally have fun, before they have to report back to their unit, which is stationed in the northern highlands of South Vietnam. When they return, they are happy that they made good use of their weekend passes in Saigon.

The next day, Peewee and Perry are sent on another patrol, but this time they are sent in by helicopter. They are sent to an area known to have active Vet Cng troops in the vicinity. It does not take long for the patrol to run into a huge unit of Vet Cng in a rice paddy. They end up getting into a firefight for their very lives. Perry and Peewee shoot a few Vet Cng soldiers, before the firefight ends in a draw, with neither side gaining a clear victory. The toll for the unit is 2 dead out of a 10 man unit, including one of Perry's friends. When the troops are taken back to camp, Peewee and Perry talk about the experiences that they have gained from the firefight that they had with the Vet Cng soldiers and what was going through their minds at the time of the firefight.

A few days later, Peewee, Perry, and a few other soldiers are sent out in a patrol to sweep out Vet Cng positions on a hill that overlooks the American camp. The patrol that is sent out is so badly organized that when it meets a Vet Cng patrol, the entire unit falls apart and Peewee and Perry find themselves on the hill, with none of their comrades in sight. Peewee and Perry hear something and hide in a small cave, hoping to evade capture. A Vet Cng soldier stands above looking around for the American servicemen. Peewee and Perry grab the enemy soldier, and kill him, to make sure that he does not give away their position. Peewee and Perry then try to get back to camp, but Peewee is wounded as a Vet Cng soldier finds them. A few hours later, Peewee and Perry make it back to camp and Peewee is treated for his wounds at the medic station. The story then summarizes the last few months of Peewee and Perry's service in Vietnam before they are sent home on a plane to the United States.

I thought that this was a very good book and it was written in a style that I found was very easy to follow the sequence of events as they occurred. The story was very interesting, since it is based on factual events that happened in the Vietnam War, yet the names have been changed for this story. I would recommend this book to anyone who is trying to learn more about the Vietnam War or someone who just wants some interesting to read.