He had been taken away from his unit and sent to be celebrated.

And the men he had raised a flag with — Strank, Block, Sousley — had stayed, and had died.

The three men who came home from the flag raising were the survivors.

The three who didn’t come home were dead.

There was no logic to it.

There was no comfort in the bond tour, which had taken him further from the truth of what he had experienced rather than closer to it.

The reservation he returned to was the same one he had left.