A Hub for Soldiers

(I wrote this last Thanksgiving Day and decided to share it again today)

I was reading a poem by Wesley Cox this mornig called "War. A Poem" It inspired me to write this.

Link to his poem: http://hubpages.com/_nmh5vmvvvp8l/hub/war-a-poem

In 1946....dad was released from duty in the U.S. Army. He had been been in Germany. He was a half track driver much of the time in Patton's Third Army.

He had fought in the Battle of the Bulge. In the Ardennes forest, dad said that the shelling from the Germans was so heavy....the dirt from bombshell blasts would cover him in his fox hole. He recalled that the German 88 shells were the most fearful sounds he had ever heard....the scream of death.

Dad was wounded there. His back was covered with shrapnel shards. He got patched up and went back to fight. Dad lost his best friend, Lowell Mathews, in the battle. He died in dad's arms.

In the same battle.....dad ran to help a screaming soldier who had lost his leg in a mortar blast. Dad put his rifle against a tree and put the soldier on his back. Just then...dad looked up and saw a blond haired German soldier who was pointing his weapon at dad.

Dad thought for sure the soldier would shoot him. The German soldier just smiled....lowered his rifle....waved at dad and ran off into the woods.

Dad carried the severely wounded soldier back to the medics.

Dad summed the event up as soldiers being honorable. Dad was always thankful that that particular German soldier crossed his path in the war.

Dad fought in many battles.....he saw the people of the concentration camps. He tried giving them loaves of bread and saw that they tried to eat the entire loaf all at once. He began breaking pieces of bread off for them to keep them from choking.

Of all the carnage he had seen in battle....the sight of abuse and starvation haunted him the most. The hurt in their eyes..souls on the edge of death.

The end of the war came and dad was finally home in America.

Dad told me that just before they relesed him from duty....his Captain....Captain Anglin gathered all of the soldiers in their outfit.

Captain Anglin told them...."Boys....we fought many battles together....we fought and won the war......the fight for freedom doesn't stop here...we will have to continue the fight for freedom...the rest of our lives....we must continue to fight against corruption of politics here in our own country....we must continue to defend the constitution.

He went on saying....."We have defeated an enemy of humanity....we still fight the enemies of freedom....never stop fighting boys...never stop fighting....may God bless you all!"

Dad never forgot what his Captain told him.

Dad did continue fighting. He and my mom struggled to raise six children. He fought throughout his life with his honesty, honor and pride in America.

We buried dad 18 years ago. He still had some of the shrapnel embedded in his back.

Today is Memorial day.

Beyond the events, parades, and family gatherings....stands those who gave and risked their lives for our freedom to even be together. Many American soldiers are standing....this very moment in a foreign land.

To all soldiers.

Thanks.

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