Author
This isn't erotic, nor is it a fantasy. This is History as I remember it, through the eyes of my Quaker grandmother.
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Amistice Day
I remember Grandma, God Rest her soul. She wore a poppy, so I could ask her what that was about. She was at the Trenches, not the front line, but in the rear. Being a woman, she wasn't allowed at the front, but being a Nurse, she was close enough to hear the guns. The big ones, and the shells going off.
All she could do was wait, for the dough boys to bring the wounded back to her. She got drunk, and told stories, but not her stories. The worst part for her, and all those men was not being able to do anything about it. At least in World War II, they had tanks, and airplanes. "That's what this means." She held out her blouse, by the shiny red pin.
"Not the blood-shed, but the End of the bloodshed. The day when both sides, the whole world in a way admitted that it was for nothing. There was nothing Great about that war, nor did it End All Wars. It was just a bloody waste of human life."
She killed herself, not on Veteran's Day, nor even Memorial Day, but Armistice Day. She was British, but she was buried here. In Arlington, right next to her husband, who she met on the battlefield. He was American, and I never met him. He wasn't brought back on a litter, he came with the rest of the Americans at the end.
When it was too late, and all he was there for was to re-supply. Help them pack up after, and to drive them back to the airfield, where they could get a plane for the coast. A ship back to England, but they fell in love. I suppose it was almost a pleasure cruise, he helped her forget the horrors.
That's what their marriage represented, the same thing as the shiny red flower she only got out once a year. That it was over, they could go on with their lives for a time. Back in the states, here is where she found out that it wasn't over. London was still under Rations, while here it was almost as if it had never happened.
The 20s wasn't just about Gangsters in Chicago, at war with the brand new FBI. It was also the Highway Robbers, John Dillinger, Bonny and Clyde going on rampages. A crime war over the right to drink alcohol. A drug war, and a Civil War, as much as anything. She served in that too, in Hospital. Only now, instead of the gassed, and shrapnel, it was those poisoned by the cheap bathtub gin, and whatever they used to make it.
Then, World War II. She laughed, "Ha." One of her bitter jokes, "It was the same war. The Germans would never had elected that pervert, had it not been for the Treaty. They were mad, absolutely mental, because the Allies persecuted them so. They decided to take it out on the world, and make it Perfect, like them "Deutsheland Uber Alles." That was their madness. To save the world, from people with dark curly hair."
She'd stop then, she didn't have to say it, but I cried with her. Her beloved husband, when America finally got involved again. He was re-enlisted, only this time it wasn't to drive a truck. It was to storm the beaches of the Pacific, only he never made it. His ship was sunk, with all hands, before they even got there. This time it was the Japanese, but it doesn't matter who kills you.
That's what your friends, and family don't tell you, in their Support the Troops teeshirts, and Make America Great Again ballcaps. What all those men, and women fought and died for.
She shook her head. "What?"
"Nothing. Soldiers fight, and die for the next war. So that the politicians, and leaders have something to take Revenge for. Remember Korea! Now we're talking about War with North Korea. Why is Kim Jon Un so pissed off? Because his daddy was, and his daddy's daddy, for the Korean War that basically made them Kings. He wants revenge on South Korea, and America for putting them in Power. Honestly? He's got all these guns, and all this anger, he doesn't know what to do with. So, he threatens the 1 nation, who's nuked civilians to force a surrender, twice with nuclear weapons, and literally holding guns to Seoul's head.
Did you know that? Did you know that's why we can't just take off fro the carriers we have, in the Sea of Japan, right now? Not because they are working on Nukes, but because they have the most powerful Howitzers that have ever been mass produced, all pointed at Seoul South Korea, and if anyone attacks them, they will open fire. That's why, because the capital is within range of the border, and they have mountains, with bunkers to dig in the guns. Because if we do, thousands will die within the first few minutes our planes are flying toward their coast.
"Jesus."
God isn't there either. We are, threatening a man that's holding a nation hostage. Not because we don't believe he'll do it, but because we elected another hot-head, that doesn't know any other solution, except the Final one. That's what my Grandfather dies for. So America can remember when America was great. When we vaporized 2 cities to prove a point, and now we get to say who gets to have that Power.
That's why I'm wearing this pin today. For what America never knew to forget in the first place: That war is an excuse for war.
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Author
Forgive me for using a strawwoman in that "Dialog."