We Remember

A GRIEVOUS INJURY

Blog Post 9 of 11

Although he had bravely succeeded in his first two missions to disarm the enemy, they young soldier did not turn back to the safety of his infantry’s burrow.  No this brave, American heart would not let him rest.  He was fighting against the tyranny that threatened the world’s freedoms.  He would not rest from his grueling quest.  He headed back out on his risky undertaking and once again began crossing the hazardous battlefield towards his next lair.  

The enemy bombarded him with their machine guns, frantically trying to stop his advance.  As he neared this final goal of his, the enemy countered him in a last ditch effort to stop his advancement.  In earnest they fired a concentrated bombardment of artillery at him.   In this shell burst, his luck ran out and he was grievously wounded.  His left leg shattered and his right blown open, held together only by two tendons.  

As he lay there he pondered his situation, perhaps he was thinking of his bride, Elizabeth awaiting his return home.  Or the idyllic summer days of in his Massachusetts home town where he had spent most of his life until now.  At any rate, he had to do something or risk capture or even death on this unforgiving terrain.

“I was still under fire and I knew I'd have to do something. I studied it for a while and then pulled my sheath knife and cut through the two tendons that were holding my right leg on. I was able to crawl after that."

In survival mode, he astonishingly had self-amputated his nearly severed leg, applied a tourniquet it and agonizingly crawled back to his unit.  

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