Arnie Silverman – Thoughts on Real Heroes
Real Heroes
It’s been 55 years since I left that darned place, and believe me I don’t miss it one iota. Oh, I might have written a few stories about some experiences there, but once having completed them, I quickly if not forgot it, put the memory of it in some subliminal area of my mind. I mean with those perpendicular hills that we were forced to climb with that constantly swirling snow in our eyes and those killer, knife-edged, bitter, cold winds, I’m commencing to get cold even now just sitting here, and thinking about that place, Korea, Land of the Morning Calm.
A few nights ago the memories returned with a sledge hammer bang. David McCullough, the historian, in that soothing grab-and-keep-you listening tone of his was narrating the “Battle of the Bulge” on a documentary film. There were those courageous men, in those frozen holes, valiantly not only holding their positions as ordered, but also desperately trying to just stay alive. You could watch the ever-deepening snow being whipped by the unrelenting winds, and, if you were like me, you commenced to feel the painful cut of the cold as it crept over every inch of your body.
It was 10pm and, though lying in a comfortable bed with a blanket, I was shivering as if I were lying naked on that pile of that icing snow. For a brief moment I was no longer watching a documentary of the Bulge, but was back in that other place experiencing that killing cold, and not able to do a damned thing about it.
The battle sounds of the program and Mr. McCullogh’s pacifying resonance quickly returned me to the comfort of my room and the warm bed, and I continued watching. Our Korean experience was not like that. Facing a more powerful, better-trained army than the ones we faced, those who fought at Bastogne were true heroes. A professional, experienced, well-trained and equipped enemy confronted them. As with us, their clothing was inadequate for the conditions, and there were shortages of ammunition and food. Nonetheless, against great odds in that overcast, bitter winter weather, outnumbered and outgunned, they courageously dug in and held their positions. And they died. They died from enemy fire and they froze to death. It was that cold.
We too had our battles and skirmishes. But the North Koreans and the Chinese did not have the awesome, sophisticated firepower or numbers of battle-conditioned troops committed by the Germans. What we did have in common, however, was that painful, debilitating cold weather, and the memory (and fear) of that cold will be with me for the rest of my life. I think I’ll get another blanket just in case.
ASilverman
