Why We're in Vietnam

Why We're in Vietnam describes a reunion of two veterans, one being John Sullivan, at the funeral of a third and recounts an incident that almost escalated into a My Lai Massacre involving a former student and player in the Hearts game in Hearts In Atlantis, Ronnie Malenfant. Throughout the story, Sullivan sees an old Vietnamese woman, "mama-san" whom Ronnie killed during this incident. In the end Sullivan dies of an apparent heart attack during a traffic jam on the way home.

The title is a reference to Norman Mailer's Why Are We in Vietnam? (1967), a novel about a hunting trip to Alaska by a young man about to go fight in Vietnam.