Friday, December 12, 2008

Epiphany

Soldiers
I'm watching a Hitler Channel story on the Battle of Hürtgen Forest, in 1944.   A videotaped remembrance by one of the Americans involved, a guy named "Miller," struck me.

"I was so scared, for so long, that finally I got sick of being scared. I was pissed at the people who were making me scared, and decided to do something about it.  I realized that, at that moment, I had become a soldier."

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

My uncle was a nineteen year old medic in the Hurtgen Forest. He was wounded in the fire-fight at Frenzenberg Castle. He had the honor of treating PFC Carl V. Sheridan who was mortally wounded in that same fire-fight. PFC Sheridan was postumously awarded the MOH for blowing off the doors of the castle w/ a bazooka. Sheridan's last words were, "Come on, let's get them!"

Anonymous said...

Oh, I like that Rog. I'm going to send that to my adopted soliders in Iraq...they will like it too.

539 Heros waiting for adoption!

http://soldiersangels.org/index.php?page=adopt-a-soldier

Anonymous said...

Several generals should have been courtmartialed over the unnecessary slaughter of U.S. soldiers there. The Hurtgen Forest should have been bypassed. I'm currently reading "The Day of Battle" about the Italian campaign. It's amazing how cavalier some generals were about the loss of life while ordering unnecessary, poorly planned attacks with little chance of success.

Rodger the Real King of France said...

Exactly - we had a cakewalk into Cologne. Even the Krauts were bewildered by this campaign. Supposedly, Ike was concerned about dams in the forest that might be blown, causing floods.

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