Since it's Memorial Day I decided to give you a tidbit of family history about a WWII vet, my Uncle Ernest. This information is the only information conveyed to my grandfather, Ernest's brother, by Ernest about his time in the U.S. Army. When I say tidbit I surely mean tidbit, because this is a really short narrative; nonetheless, interesting.
Two days after D-Day Uncle Ernest was engaged in a hand to hand combat situation with a German soldier, and while on the ground he was stabbed in the throat up through the chin with a bayonet. Evidently this German soldier thought he was dead because he left him there, and Uncle E was taken to a military hospital. The doctors were going to ship him home, so Ernest went AWOL to rejoin his unit in France. After getting stabbed in the chin, going AWOL, and rejoining his cohorts, Uncle Ernest was walking down the street one day in France and felt something poke him in the back. He heard a click, turned around, and there was a woman with a pistol pointed at him that had thankfully misfired. Uncle Ernest buttstroked her in the face with his M1, watched her pick up her teeth, and kept on about his day.
Uncle Ernest died a couple years ago at the age of 84, so I knew him. I never got to hear him tell any stories, but I do get to hear firsthand accounts about my grandfather's time in Germany. It's as though I have my own personal historian giving me a very human account of his unique war experience. These stories help me situate myself in the narrative of history (wow, that sentence is embarrassing). But seriously, war affected my family and is part of our shared experience. It also puts things painfully into perspective, and when I'm having a raging pity party about deadlines or my torn ACLs it helps to remind myself of that old mantra, "It could be worse...you could have been stabbed in the face with a bayonet today."
Two days after D-Day Uncle Ernest was engaged in a hand to hand combat situation with a German soldier, and while on the ground he was stabbed in the throat up through the chin with a bayonet. Evidently this German soldier thought he was dead because he left him there, and Uncle E was taken to a military hospital. The doctors were going to ship him home, so Ernest went AWOL to rejoin his unit in France. After getting stabbed in the chin, going AWOL, and rejoining his cohorts, Uncle Ernest was walking down the street one day in France and felt something poke him in the back. He heard a click, turned around, and there was a woman with a pistol pointed at him that had thankfully misfired. Uncle Ernest buttstroked her in the face with his M1, watched her pick up her teeth, and kept on about his day.
Uncle Ernest died a couple years ago at the age of 84, so I knew him. I never got to hear him tell any stories, but I do get to hear firsthand accounts about my grandfather's time in Germany. It's as though I have my own personal historian giving me a very human account of his unique war experience. These stories help me situate myself in the narrative of history (wow, that sentence is embarrassing). But seriously, war affected my family and is part of our shared experience. It also puts things painfully into perspective, and when I'm having a raging pity party about deadlines or my torn ACLs it helps to remind myself of that old mantra, "It could be worse...you could have been stabbed in the face with a bayonet today."
Love it! Definitely puts things into perspective... "at least I didn't get shanked in the neck today...life is good" <3
ReplyDelete