Had a DAV who worked for me as a handyman. He hated Clark with a burning passion. He could tell you names of his friends who died stupidly, going up the boot. Nothing like attacking, uphill, into dug in and sighted in defenses. He remembered every buddy, both where and how they died. A lot of bad memories. Vic carried a flame thrower most of the time. Germans hated them and went to great efforts to kill them.
But even in war, Vic could remember humor. Like his best friend who chipped a lower rear molar and went to a field hospital to see if they could fix or pull it. They had a treadmill operated, belt driven dental drill, that they used to drill out his tooth and put a silver filling in it. No novacane. Doc told him he had a bad tooth on the other side and if he came back the next day hed fill that one.
That night he volunteered to take ammo and supplies up to the frontlines the next day, leading a pack animal under direct fire much of the way. Told Vic the Germans were only going to kill him once, where Doc could kill him with pain over and over again. He never did go back to get that tooth fixed. Vic was still laughing about it 40 years later.
God bless all those brave men. Im sure we all knew a Vic even when they tried very hard not to mention the war at all. My mother had a uncle who earned a bronze star and a silver star in less than a month. Never told a soul. Found the metal in a drawer after he passed. Ive read his citations and shudder to think how he earned them. In the 35 years I knew him before his death he never talked about the war. Not once. Told me all I needed to know about his war. As they use to say he had a hard war.
