Cold and wet. Dark and dirty. This is what I am seeing from the bottom of my foxhole. I can hear the bullets whizzing above my head and the cries of men who have fallen but can’t be attended to. I wonder what home is like. Is the sun setting over another beautiful Carolina day? Has my family already eaten supper and gone to bed? I miss home but I am here for the sake of my country and more importantly for the sake of righteousness. I can endure the meager rations and snow and deafening cannon noises. I will endure another night curled up in this hole with my best friend fighting the seemingly endless tide of enemy soldiers. I believe that God has called us to rid the world of this monster that has taken over all of Europe or almost. We are slowly taking back ground. I landed on the continent amid the hail of machine guns and German curses. I can’t tell you what I felt knowing that someone who has never even met me could hate me so much. I
saw so many of my fellow invaders fall right there on the beach and I
waded through their blood that turned the sea warm and red. Now, I am here in some country that I had never really heard of fighting off the most threatening enemy thus far, the cold. The snow falls and falls and it is a novelty to me. We don’t get too much of it in my home state. God, however, didn’t mean for the stillness and serene beauty to be marred by blood and ungodly sounds. We are to march into the town in the morning and take it back for the French citizens. The last place was destroyed but the people were so thankful that we had freed them. We gave them tastes of home, chocolate and liquor and kisses from American GIs. That place was full of joy among the ruins. I hope the next place will be so appreciative.
I never dreamed when I was little that I would be here doing this when I “grew up,” but, the greatest things that we can do are those things which require the most sacrifice. When this is over, I don’t want parades and accolades. I just want to go back to the way I was. I know that can never happen. My innocence is gone and so is my belief that people are inherently good. I want to go home and find a woman that I’ll love with all my being and marry her and make a better life for my children. I
want the future generations to live life without the shadow of tyranny.
For them to cultivate their freedoms and never forget that there are
those who gave everything, including their lives so that America and Europe could be free.
I wrote this in 2008 but it is still relevant! Thank you to all who have served America so that we can be free. All wars from the Revolution to the current war in Afghanistan, you are not forgotten!
