You are so right Jim! No wonder those guys never talked much about it.
What could they possibly say?
Last night's footage was all new to me. The Ardennes, the cold, the snow,
being taken prisoner - there was just so much. That wonderful story about
the roast beef meal with chocolate pudding on top! When he said that he
still thought about it today & boy it tasted good.
Those noble Medics who risked their lives and had to decide who to
help & who they could do nothing for. How do you live with something like
that without it haunting you forever?
Those poor souls in the Philippine Camp waiting for the Americans to rescue
them and dying every day of starvation. That woman who told her story
of distracting herself so not to think about hunger, but the babies cried to
their mothers for food. Realizing that our guys risked their lives and gave their
lives to get them out.
I think it was Bill Mauldin who said something about the men not hating
the Nazis because they didn't ever see any Nazis. They hated the Germans because
it was the Germans who were strafing, shelling, and killing their buddies.
I think it's the same for the japanese. The footage they showed of all the Japanese
civilians training to fight to the death was terrifying. They absolutely HAD to bomb
Japan & Germany no matter how many "civilian " casualties. Can you imagine
what the media would do (and is doing) today? In the face of all this, how
could anyone believe that reasoning with Evil was possible.
Our guys in that German prison camp when Patton sent a rescue party to get
his son-in-law (WHAT was he thinking??! that he didn't send enough men
to get them all out!). Those poor guys were starving & then had to go back.
We can't even imagine what that was like!
BTW - thanks Jim for letting me know it was an Army Services patch on my Uncle's
uniform!
Mary Ann