Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Christmas Cards (11/06/08)
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TITLE: 1967 -2007 A Brothers Story | Previous Challenge Entry
By Paul Potenza
11/07/08 -
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1967
I stood on the street looking in.
I heard the laughter and the singing and I remembered a thousand Christmases in my past where I was a part of the celebration. Today I was just a spectator.
I had returned on a late night flight from Phu Bai, VietNam. December 1967. I hadn't gone home yet. Just walking around on Parris Island. I'd killed my last man 1 day ago. A bullet strike to the neck. I crawled up next to him and held him in my arms while his Christmasses drained out of his arteries. I'd be a liar if I said I didn't cry.
Anyway, I had returned to "the world" and I really didn't feel ready to rejoin. I wanted a few minutes to process things before I took the redeye back to Rhode Island. As I walked the streets, I could hear the carolers wth their songs of Peace on Earth & Good Will Towards Men and I started to cry again.
2007
I stood on the street looking in.
I heard the laughter and the singing and I remembered my brother telling me about VietNam and the day he came home. I had caught the last flight out of the AnBar province in Iraq to land at Charleston SC with a short bus ride to Parris Island. I walked the same streets and I heard the same noises and I felt the same feelings. I had killed my last man 3 days earlier. I detonated him from close range. His face lay in the street where he fell. The face remained completely intact. We called it the mask. Some joke. I cried.
Anyway, I had returned to "the world" and I really didn't feel ready to rejoin. I wanted a few minutes to process things before I took the redeye back to Rhode Island. As I walked the streets I could hear the carolers wth their songs of Peace on Earth & Good Will Towards Men and I started to cry again.
At that moment I wanted two things. I wanted to tell my brother "Merry Christmas...THANK YOU for what you did." and I wanted to feel Momma's arms around me...protecting me and keeping me safe so that I could know that I wasn't just a spectator.
I took the redeye back to Rhode Island.
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