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News Group: REC.ARTS.PROSE
In the early summer of 1946, I was a S/sergeant with the 3rd Army, APO 170, Munich, Germany. My commanding officer asked me to take a message to the commanding officer of the 9th Division stationed at Augsburg, Germany, approximately 60 miles away. It was a beautiful day and being alone, with plenty of time, decided to take the small roads through the countryside instead of the autobahn.
Shortly after leaving Munich, I saw two young men walking down the road. I stopped the jeep and asked if they wanted a ride. "Where are you going?" one of them asked. I replied "to Augsburg." He answered "What a coincidence, that is where we are going." I invited them to join me and we were off. Knowing that all stores were closed, and hunger was prevalent due to the recent war, I reached for a bag of sandwiches the mess sergeant had given me and gave it to the two young men who were seated in the back of the jeep, telling them I could eat dinner at the casern of the 9th Division. Also I had picked up my cigarette and candy ration at the PX that morning; I gave each a package of cigarettes and a candy bar. We continued traveling along narrow roads that led through farmyards. We stopped for a short time at the edge of a beautiful small lake and watched rainbow trout in the shallows of the lake. The trip was uneventful, we arrived at Augsburg in the early afternoon. I was saying goodbye to my travel companions when one interrupted, he said, "Let us tell him the truth," the other nodded. I waited patiently for the conversation to begin, finally one said "I don't know exactly where to begin - we were prisoners of war in England for over three years, we were captured in Africa, and only released last month, we arrived in Munich five days ago. Our family is gone; the house, even the stones have been destroyed by the air bombing; we have nothing; we decided to kill the first American soldier we met. You came along and were so nice to us, we could not." I hung my head and looked at the ground, I said about the only thing I could have, "War is no good," what else could I have said.
The life I saved was my own.
Another story...
To The Child's
News Group: REC.ARTS.PROSE
