Your favorite Nazi.

thomas_sf — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:27:41 GMT

My father, on the top right, was 18 when the 2nd world war started. Now 82, he was forced to fight on Germany's side during the war. He never talked about it, until he sent a letter to his 3 children, just recently, describing the horrors of his adolescence. At an age when we partied, played video games, traveled the world, got drunk, and laid, and educated, he was forced to run for his life and shoot people no different from himself, just wearing a different uniform. In his letter, written on an old typewriter, he described the horrors of marching at night and fighting during the day, of being totally exhausted, always on the edge, emotionally and physically. Of being 'cannon food', sent before tanks, jumping off airplanes behind enemy lines. Of leaving at dawn in a platoon of 5, scared to death, and after a few hours in the trenches, everybody else would be dead. Of being shot 3 times, 3 times in a hospital, near death, having received the final rites, 3 times sent back to the front. When he turned 21, he shot himself in the foot to get out, holding his rifle as far away from his foot as possible, as physicians where held to report any trace of carbon, which - equivalent to desertion - resulted in immediate execution. He got imprisoned by the allies, escaped, stole a bike to ride hundreds of miles back home, hiding in a British uniform. He spent the rest of his life hiding. Today, 61 years later, he still has nightmares. And some metal grenade pieces somewhere in his back.

Food for thought

Your favorite Nazi.