|
When we listen, amazing discoveries emerge!
The men and women who faced life and death during America's involvement in global wars of the forties, fifties and sixties didn’t like to talk about this life experience. If they did, it was normally as ‘matter of fact’; even if it involved incredible acts of heroism. My Dad, who died last September at the age of 94, was one of these souls. His selfless spirit and courage in the time of great danger remained 'almost' the secret that he took with him when his life was at a close. He never thought his act of bravery was anything more than, expected. Waiting in a doctor’s office, he lacked patience; but, rushing in to save the life of another human being reveals that he had timeless patience for the events that give life a deeper meaning.
During World War II, he enlisted when Germany attacked France; he was 33. After basic training, he was stationed in Puerto Rico as a cook in the Army while waiting for orders to ship overseas. Within days of his platoon being readied for transport to the big war raging in France, he was scalded with a gigantic pot of boiling coffee when a soldier at least twenty inches taller than him tripped and immersed his entire body in hot brew. Before he hit the ground, his skin began to blister and bleed; first, second and third degree burns. He was soon unconsciousness from the agonizing pain. Weeks later he was released from the hospital only to find that his commander and troop had been shipped to the war zone for the attack on the beaches of northern France. Dad had been left behind and he was angry beyond words; upset that fate had left him injured when all he wanted to do was be with his friends for the most important period of their lifetimes. He was a patriot and his fate was to save lives by performing his assigned battle tasks to stop Hitler; and in so doing, he was prepared to die for the cause.
He was inconsolable. From the first day of his release from the hospital, he pleaded with his new commander to send him to France to rejoin his squad. He didn't know it yet, but the repeated 'no' answers from his officer had something to do with another type of fate. Purpose was about to present him with an opportunity to save a life in a completely different way.
It began with the sounds of distress in the air above his base; sirens and the wailing of fire engines accompanied the dire sounds overhead of an airplane coming in for a crash landing. Without thinking about danger, he ran out the door of the tarpaulin building used as a mess hall just as a huge transport plane crash landed. As he stood motionless, it was skidding right toward him with flames shooting out from the under belly. It came to a stop very near where he was standing. Without thinking twice, as the door opened to the airplane and men began to emerge, he raced toward the wreckage to help the injured.
The tarmac was on fire from the flames expanded from the bottom of the airplane where the fuel had spilled and began to burn the tar covered landing strip. The heat was like an inferno, melting everything as he raced directly toward the wreckage and through the open door of the airplane. He entered and looked around for wounded; he spotted an officer unconscious and bleeding in the front cabin. He pulled out his kitchen knife and cut away a harness that was holding him hostage and pulled him onto his back. As he reached the exit of the airplane, flames were everywhere and the dark cloud of burning airplane parts was preventing him from taking a breath. Dad took little notice as he made his way with the stranger on his back to the safety of the grassy edge as the plane exploded behind them.
It was only when he laid the soldier on the ground in a safe place that he noticed the heat from the fire had melted the soles of his army boots almost completely away. He couldn't feel that his feet were burned badly nor could he feel that his previous burns had begun to bleed again. He waited with the man until the hospital carrier and medics arrived to provide medical treatment. The airman had many broken bones so they splinted his limbs and rushed the injured man to emergency care.
The next day, Dad was recovering again from new burns in the hospital when he learned that the airman had been seriously injured with a broken back. He'd been flown to a Naval hospital state side. He also learned that this soldier who was much younger than himself would survive.
When the airplane crashed, everything happened so fast. No one took the officer's name, so Dad never knew who he had pulled from the fire. There was such chaos on the tarmac that no one even noticed Dad’s bravery of pulling another soldier from a burning inferno. Those at the scene assumed he had been on the transport and exited with his injured buddy instead of running toward a burning plane when every one was running away from the inevitable explosion. Dad never told his new commander or anyone else about his heroic act of saving another man’s life, so his injuries were assumed to be part of a recovery effort to put out the flames.
It was only after my mother's sudden death that my Dad opened up to me about this part of his life. He was 92 when the story surfaced. It was a story about 'purpose'.
Whenever he asked the question about why God had allowed him to live such a long life, I would remind him of this true bravery. Perhaps it was part of his selflessness and courage in saving another’s soldier’s life without concern for the personal dangers that contributed to his longevity. Perhaps it was a blessing; more time to allow his story to be told as his legacy. It was certainly evidence of his existence.
Soldiers are a rare breed, strong, silent; true heroes. It's sad that life presents them with wars to fight. We should all listen for the moments they one day decide to share what the war experience did to them. It's truly an honor to experience their quiet emotion.
I miss you Dad; I know you know that.
|
