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Apocalypse Then
By JBC | August 29, 2007
One should always look for the positives while mired in a seemingly negative situation. I am spending a fifth night at Dover Air Force Base in Delware. There is absolutely nothing wrong with this part of the country, but I am stranded here waiting for a military “hop” back to England, to be reunited with my beautiful wife. With no personal transportation to see the sites of the nearby state capital, and a need to remain in close proximity to the airport for any unscheduled flights to Europe, I remian tethered to the passenger terminal and its immediate environs, which consists of a base exchange, a commissary, a bowling alley, and a Burger King.
During my short “vacation”, I have had the opportunity to speak to more than a handful of military veterans from the Vietnam era. In just a few days of idle conversation, I have acquired a much greater appreciation of the veterans who fought in that era, and have heard tales that have broken my heart and raised my hackles. I’ll give you a quick installment of one story which mesmerized me in a way few Hollywood cinematic and New York publishing house releases could ever do.
The gentleman was sitting next to his wife in a small room containing three computers, which provided internet access to stranded passengers. She was responding to emails from various family members and friends, who were worried about their well-being and whereabouts. I entered the room and sat down at an open terminal. In order to break the ice, I made an off-hand and silly remark about our wonderful vacation in Delaware. They responded immediately and in a very friendly fashion and thusly we began to converse about one thing, and then another.
Eventually, this man, with much assistance from his wife, began to tell me the incredible story of his departure from Vietnam in 1968. His cadre of soldiers came under attack from a sniper. He was shot through the foot by the rifleman, and immediately went down. Once the area was secured by his comrades, he was removed to the nearest medical station for treatment. Upon arrival at the station, they came under attack from hidden sources with greater firepower than the sniper had provided. He was injured, yet again, this time with multiple pieces of shrapnel, while still in a medical litter. The end result of these attacks was that he had been temporarily blinded, lost all hearing in one ear, 80% of hearing in the other, and was crippled. If this was the end of the story, it would sound just like a thousand others, but with the uplifting note that he had survived.
Fortunately, he lived to suffer further indignation from those he fought with, and from those he defended. He received medical treatment and was sent stateside for recovery. Soldiers with no hope of returning to battle were given the least attention of any in uniform. He was moved to an old abandoned World War II-era barracks with no window panes and no heating…and with no recent cleaning. He would have remained in these dire surroundings for a considerable period of time if not for the persistence of his wife, who believed the place wasn’t even sufficient for a family pet. The Army acquiesced, and moved him to an old Woman’s Air Corps building. His wife, meanwhile, was attempting to raise their four children by taking any available work or odd jobs. She would visit him at the medical facility as often as possible, and would take his military pay to feed and clother the children and to pay the family’s bills. But, it seems, the roughly $300.00 monthly pay for a blinded GI was too easy a mark for those “taking care” of him. How low can you go?
His wife was a tough and resilient woman, hardened by her life experience as a young German girl whose family fled Nazi Germany as the Russians advanced in 1944. She learned the art of frugality and creative survival techniques as her family scavenged the countryside for sufficient sustenance and herbal remedies for common maladies in her war-torn and quickly shrinking country. (As an aside from an aside, her story of how her father survived a prisoner-of-war camp in Soviet Siberia by eating the maggots from rotting fruit abandoned by his deceased comrades is worthy of another novella.)
Upon realizing that her husband’s pay was stolen and their combined wealth was little more than $20.00, she turned to God and the ponies. She told me that she knew that God worked in mysterious ways, as she parlayed those few dollars into more than $300.00 at the local racetrack. She believes that it is not a coincidence that the money she won on the only day she ever gambled was almost exactly the same amount that some scum took from her injured husband.
As he recovered, slowly to regain his eyesight and ability to walk, he asked to remain in the service in order to take care of his family. Only grudgingly, and after much argument, the Army allowed this twice-decorated Purple Heart recipient to remain behind a desk in an administrative job. As befits his unassuming nature and non-chalant attitude toward the remarkable events of his service, he says that he bears no ill for the Army or the US government. His wife, however, says that she is not bound to such allegiance for the organization that mistreated her hero.
We should be more attentive to the tales of tribulation of our elders. We can learn much about life and, indeed, a great deal about our country’s history, the greatness and cruelty, from those that perservered tougher times. And what is more, we cand keep alive the memories of individuals who will be neglectfully excluded from future editions of American History textbooks.
JBC
Topics: Miscellaneous |
March 19th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
I wonder if the lack of recent postings is due to you getting job….could it be true!?!
We were listening to Savage and thought of you.
Your unemployed fans,
Henry and Megan
March 27th, 2008 at 6:49 pm
Hey, I am YOUR fan as well…Team Eginton, &*#@ YEAH!