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F
or every soldier that was wounded and had to leave the field, his buddies, the pure terror of war, there are ideas that will always go through their heads no matter how long the passage of time! When you are with them, the time seems to fly by. You know their full name, girlfriends, hometown, phone number, likes and dislikes and their faces. It is a blur yet your time with them is much closer them those that went through all of school with you. You are with them 24 hours a day and depend on them with your life! At the time you are hit, everything goes into slow motion and faces seem to be in a fog all around you. It is your friends that have come by to see how you are doing, all telling you that everything will be fine and that they would soon see you once again. You know that this is not true! They shake you hand, tousle your hair or pat you on the shoulder to let you know that they are there knowing full well that you are on your own. They leave your side as you lie stretched out awaiting an EVAC and go about their business as usual without you. Your thoughts are centered upon living while theirs is on the enemy that they must face to complete their job, your fight is now over. For the next few days you lose all aspect of time and lose precious days that fog in and out while you are safe and being treated. Your buddies are not so lucky. They are carrying on your fight that you are unable to do. They talk of you to one another from time to time and when every new man comes into the company they are told of you and how to avoid what happened to you. You, lie in a bunk and look at a clock wondering if they are in the Ville that you were hit in, the same area that you took the other day, who would be on LP or ambush that night, who would take your place at point.....By the clock you knew what they were doing and just about where they would be. You think of them and they of you for the first few weeks. Then it seems that you both lose touch with one another. You are no longer doing what they are and they have no idea of what you are going through. The closeness that you shared is widening as the time passes and you are no longer with them. Others take your place and their thoughts revolve around those that are near them. Your thoughts also slip away as to what is happening to them. Some friendships made in War last a life time! Yet, there are others that have slipped away. Neither can remember who was with whom, you can't remember a face that save your life, their names are erased from your memory and only sometimes when you meet one of your buddies you can both recall certain people that you depended on. More than likely, you lose all contact with those and have no way to re-establish that contact. Some, sadly, do not wish to be encountered. That is sad! If we had only known how important all of the GI's we met, meant to us, we would all have kept diaries and contacted them at Wars End. Yet, very few of us had the foresight to do this. I have pictures of guys and can't remember their names even though they were important to me and my survival. I wish I did! To all of us in the 101st Association, it sure would be nice if we tried to re-establish those bonds of years gone by. Not to glorify time, but to say thanks to those that served with us and become Brothers-In-Arms! For all of those that gave up their lives, WE have them to thank. What ever we have done is due to their own sacrifice. We may not have liked them, may never had agreed with them, yet they worked as a team in WWII, KOREA, and NAM and we owe it to the living, to contact those who made the trip back home (not in a green bag) just to say hi! Our closeness will never be the same but to contact them at all costs will give meaning to our efforts to let them know how much each and every guy meant to us. The Association is one way.....Let us try to re-connect!
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| "All the Way -- And Then Some!!!" | ||
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