Hellblazer 5

"Christ, what a bloody awful mess!"

- John Constantine

Plot
August 10th, 1968, Vietnam Lt. Frank Ross and his childhood friend Craig Anders comb through the thick forest on the lookout for North Vietnamese soldiers. The scene explodes in bullets as they walk into an ambush.

August 10th, 1987, Liberty, Iowa Old Willy Anders hangs a sign across the road that reads "Liberty Welcomes Home Her Boys". The Resurrection Crusaders have come to Liberty and the townsfolk are convinced that their Pyramid of Prayers will bring their lost sons back to them. After hanging up the sign, Willy turns around and sees an image of his young son standing in the middle of a war-torn Vietnamese village. The boy opens fire, but is convinced that it is an old Vietnamese man that he has killed.

Later, John Constantine arrives in Liberty. He originally came to the United States to check up on the Swamp Thing, but when he heard that the Resurrection Crusaders were in Iowa, he felt compelled to investigate further. Stopping at a gas station, he finds Frank Ross. Ross is a Vietnam vet, and one of the few soldiers that actually returned to Liberty – a fact that has earned him the enmity of many of the local townsfolk. Drunk and delusional, Frank draws a gun on Constantine and takes a shot at him. Frank's wife Nancy rushes in and calms her husband down. Nancy is the daughter of old Willy Anders and the sister of Craig who died in Vietnam exactly nineteen years ago. Nancy gives comfort to the shaken John Constantine and tells him that the people of Liberty are convinced that the Resurrection Crusade's Pyramid of Prayer will bring their sons home. Nancy however, is skeptical.

That night, John follows Nancy to her house where he watches her arguing with her mother about the Crusaders' promises. The old woman is convinced that her son Craig will return home. Mrs. Anders and several other townsfolk gather together to watch a Crusader evangelist promise them false hope on a closed-circuit television broadcast.

Meanwhile, Frank Ross continues to have flashbacks of Vietnam. He remembers suffering a psychotic break in the jungle and raping a young Vietnamese girl. Worse, his misjudgment led his men into the middle of an LZ where American planes were dropping Napalm down on innocent villagers. The truth about what took place in the jungles is Frank's secret. Even his wife doesn’t know what truly took place.

That night, after the Resurrection Crusaders conclude their pyramid of prayer, the ghosts of all Liberty men who died in Vietnam begin to rise from the grave and walk the streets of Liberty. They begin rounding up the townsfolk as if they were prisoners of war.

Frank meanwhile falls deeper into his delusion and runs out into the middle of a cornfield armed with an AK-47. Nancy chases after him, but he mistakes her for a Vietnamese woman. He attacks Nancy, but the woman fends him off by shooting Frank in the leg with his service revolver. Constantine is present, but is unable to do anything but play witness to the tableau before him.

Finally, limps out into the middle of the road with his carbine. He sees the light of an oncoming gas truck and mistakes it for the enemy. He opens fire, and the truck caroms into a pair of gas station tanks causing both to explode in a ball of fire.

John Constantine leaves the town of Liberty with a greater appreciation of what life during the Vietnam war may have actually been like.

Appearances
Featured Characters:
 * John Constantine

Supporting Characters:
 * Craig Anders
 * Frank Ross
 * Nancy Anders Ross
 * Willy Anders

Villains:
 * Resurrection Crusaders undefined

Other Characters:
 * The Citizens of Liberty

Locations:
 * Nebraska
 * Vietnam (1968)
 * Liberty, Iowa

Items:
 * None

Vehicles:
 * None

Notes & Trivia

 * This issue is reprinted in the Hellblazer: Original Sins trade paperback.


 * This issue contains flashbacks of events from 1968.


 * John Constantine originally came to the United States because he wanted to check up on the Swamp Thing. He appears next in Swamp Thing (Volume 2) #70.

First Appearances: Craig Anders (Willy Anders' son); Frank Ross (a lietenant in the U.S. Army); Nancy Anders Ross (Frank Ross' wife); Willy Anders (Craig and Nancy's father; dies in this issue)

Final Appearances: Craig Anders; Frank Ross; Nancy Anders; Willy Anders