Stories tagged “World War II”
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Hardtack and Brittle Bones
“Hey you boy!” a gruff voice shouted to my slumped, tired back. I choked on the hard bread they had given me, as I slowly turned around to face the owner of the voice. A tall man stood about five feet from where I was slouched, a thin-lipped grim...
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Old Glory
I…I’m dying. Heh, life does flash before your eyes. How about that. Mom and Dad…life sure was good back in New York. Hey—this is my earliest memory! My third birthday in 1906! P.S. 118…twelve years of my life I spent at that school…...
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The Touch of Winter
Vasily waited. He was good at waiting. He’d been good at it before the war started. Now it served him even better. Be patient, he told his students, Winter kills with coldness. In the dark, it was difficult to see anything moving at all amongst t...
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Through the Iron and the Trees
I wonder if he has family back home. That’s a stupid question, of course he does. Seventeen, eighteen at best. I don’t know how the drafting worked with them. Maybe it was like ours. Maybe he lied about his age. Maybe he was forced in. I wo...