I have this great anthology edited by Ernest Hemingway called Men At War. Excellent book. It's a compilation of the greatest war stories of all time, and is laid out in an interesting fashion; an overall theme attached to a particular grouping of stories. Some of these themes include, "War is the Province of Danger and Therefore Courage Above All Things is the First Quality of a Warrior," with memorable passages including The Pass of Themopylae and, How David Slew Goliath. "War is the Province of Physical Exertion and Suffering," contains a passage called Vale of Tears.
It is a long story that takes place in a medical ward in France during the second World War. The main residents of the ward watch as new 'meat' from the front is wheeled in when a Marine Lieutenant is wheeled in, left side of his face patched up. Over the course of the story, a mystery builds about who this man is and what the extent of his injuries are, because of his reclusive and quiet behaviour. During the course of the story, it is rumoured that the Lieutenant's face and eye are the least of his worries.
Whenever I read/hear about something like this, I am reminded of this passage:
Captain Jackson dropped his roasting turkey' "If the young man don't pull through," he said softly, "and if I was a marine and he wanted a gun, I'd get him one."
"It's not everything in life," Dozier said youthfully.
"I'd put it ahead of breathing," the captain said quickly. The old man stopped the laughter that followed.
"No, boys. I'm an old man, and yet I have not laughed at a thing like that. We think we are all pretty tough because we are here minus some hide and some hair; but the young man in the dark room has an unnatural hurt. You'd as lief laugh at a mother who loses her first-born. I swear that when they bring him out of the dark room into the light of day, if there's any joking of any nature regarding the only misfortune a full-born man can suffer, I'll crouch out of this bed and kill the man who starts it."
The captain lighted a cigaret and smoked the ward into silence.
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