Here am I, send me. During World War 2, I immersed myself into one of the most intense conflicts in world history. I signed up right after we got the news about Pearl Harbor. Never in a million years did I think that war would ever knock on my front door. I signed up on the ninth of December, 1941. Of course my little nurse didn’t want me to go. But what was I to do, the sense of duty was emanating through my inner core. I had to go. Its what my father did during the Great War, and his father the war before that. We were told we would be storming the beaches of Normandy, heavy artillery, and small arms fire would be a definite. Everyone in that room was scared, big and small we knew that we could die. That was always an option that we considered after being there for so long and seeing so much death. I remember floating there, headed to the beach. My eyes closed and for the split second before we jumped into the cold thrashing Atlantic sea, I saw her face, praying to whatever god exists to save my soul and take me back to her. The body parts flying over head was grotesque. Watching my friends and others get blown in to pieces, was a sore image, something I still live with today. When ever I drift off I see their faces, young and innocent. Some barely over the legal age to fight, some too young to even drive. It was an image that would burn on to any ones soul. Something I’ll die with. All we could do was run and beg for forgiveness for even coming to this godforsaken place. The Germans were wasting away the landing forces. We finally made it up to the bottom of the hill, where the gun emplacement was. After that everything ran together, for the next 4 years everything would be a blur. War was all around us, it was everything. But to get away from it all, I just closed my eyes and saw that pretty little girl. If it wasn’t for her waiting for me to get home, I wouldn’t have made it home. She was what kept me going when the shit got rough and the going got tough. Lots of people don’t realize the effect and power love can have. Love can move mountains, it can forge paths through the thickest of thickets. Love is.