Why I can never watch WWII movies...
Apr. 11th, 2006 10:39 pmThe night was dark as my platoon moved silently along the beach, our submarine having anchored a short distance from the shore. Nothing was stirring, not a sound but the chirping of crickets. We melted into a nearby wood and took positions guarding one another's backs, weapons on the ready. Then I realized that some of the night noises didn't sound quite right... but before I could warn my buddies they were upon us, the enemy. They ambushed us and took us by surprise, and all were dead before they knew what hit them. I was mortally wounded, but one man of the enemy saw my face. I was young, perhaps about 17. He was not much older than that. Maybe he saw in me one of his school friends, or perhaps a younger brother. But instead of bayonetting me and killing me, he approached me. By this time I was viewing this from a vantage point somewhere a few feet above, for I was fast fading. I heard him say, as I was fading toward a place where the War was a distant memory, "I am indebted to you, for because your life ended, mine can continue". The next thing I knew, I woke up in a crib. I didn't call him "Daddy" until a few years later...