Society and Culture

The wind blew across the street, pushing and pulling the leaves in different directions. Clouds blanketed the sky on this cool winter day. Only a few of the trees surrounding the cemetery still clung to their last leaves. A champagne colored, Buick LeSabre slowly drove by and finally parked on the curbside. After a few minutes, the door opened to the driver’s side and out stepped an older man. Using the car to steady himself, he reached in and retrieved his walking cane. Walking with a limp, the man worked his way around the car and over to the tall, black fence that ran along the parameters of this fog encompassed graveyard. With his free hand, he reached out and held onto a cool, steel bar. The wind tossed the last remains of his white hair as he looked out over the numerous tombstones. He could see the flags that marked the veteran’s graves, his eye coming to a rest on one in particular—a tear pooled, then inched down his cheek and clung to his chin before falling to the ground.

Nearly thirteen million young, American men were in the United States forces during World War II. They fought bravely to defend their own country and others too. Pitted against an enemy of great and unmerciful power, the young men faced what all fear: death.

The shriek of Nazi missiles flying through the air, machine guns firing rapidly, tanks destroying, cries of innocent people, explosions, and worst yet: the ultimate, cruel torture of the “weaker” humans because others thought themselves superior. Thousands upon thousands of innocent people killed, brutally murdered for no cause. Unjust death is not limited only to World War II, but to those young men who fought and survived to come back to America are whom this speech is about.

Can you imagine signing up for the army with your best friend, one whom you love so dearly, one whom you’ve spent so much of your life with, one whom you’ve poured everything into, one whom you’d do anything for…can you imagine going over seas with him, bracing yourselves for what lies ahead? Can you then imagine sailing back home on a ship without him?

So many of the young men who fought in World War II signed up with their buddies, yet returned without them. These men underwent horrors that most can not even begin to imagine. They faced dangers constantly and even so, persisted for what they believed in: freedom.

The challenge I speak of is not just the fighting or death of soldiers, but the pain and hardship those who live face when they return from war. After facing such horrors, such hardships, how can one just fit back into life?

You’re a father who left his family because of the war, and now that you’re returning, how do you resume the same fathering as before? You’re young and had left your newly-wed wife; how are you supposed to be that same husband? Or what about the child your wife had following your departure, how do you become their father after being absent in their first several years?

José Narosky said it best: “In war, there are no unwounded soldiers.” One simply cannot ever return to the exact same life after such experiences—especially when some whom you loved are now lost. Most people don’t realize the pain soldiers endured upon return. We all recognize their brave fighting and heroic acts, but we never look at what happened after they returned from war. My aunt’s father was a POW in World War II. Now he is on disability after facing post-traumatic stress syndrome—he will never be the same.

The challenge freedom faces is in many areas, but the forgotten one is what the soldiers actually face in, and because of, fighting in war. It is no easy feat to fight in war, let alone try to return to “normal” life. Many of the men, as they were returning, were told to suppress all feelings, thoughts, and memories of war. They were told to act as if they hadn’t been through the war so they could fit back into everyday life.

After seeing death so close, after facing it yourself, people are haunted by so many of their experiences all of their life. They will never forget when one mistake led to an innocent ones death, or when their friend didn’t wake up one morning because of the fierce weather conditions and sicknesses, nor the time they came across a spot where Jews had been massacred. Such images and incidents live with you forever. You simply cannot ever resume the same life.

Their sacrifice, for it is a true sacrifice, is so great that I do not believe anyone can ever fully appreciate it unless they themselves have been through the same.

The older man I spoke of in my introduction, while he is my creation, is especially real. Many of us, I know I myself have, experienced more than our share of deaths. It is natural, and all must face their last sooner or later—yet seeing it so close at such a young age, or any age for that matter, is devastating. The man had returned to the cemetery to remember his friend from years ago, for perhaps his last time.

Categories: On A Serious Note
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The Forgotten – Genocide Overlooked

the pain of War

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