Tag: soldier
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DEAD ROSES
Dead roses in winter, withered and defeated. The Grand Armée reduced to an icy hell. The villages they entered had nothing to offer. They had stripped them bare of what little they had on their way to Moscow. Starving, frost-bitten and dog-tired, he stumbled on. To drop now meant certain death. No comrade would burden…
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ARMISTICE DAY, 1918
‘The decoration’s are a bit much, those candles’ll set the place on fire.’ ‘You hush. We can’t have him coming home to a dull house without some sort of celebration.’ ‘He won’t be back for days yet.’ ‘But we’ll be ready for him when he does come home.’ She stepped down and looked at the…
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THE WAY ACROSS THE WATER
They called it a victory. It didn’t feel like a victory to him. He had seen to much to call it a victory. The bombed-out buildings; the fighting; the gunshots; the gas; the bombs; the dead bodies; the dead soldiers, theirs and his own comrades; the bloodshed; the injured; the children crying in the streets;…
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GUARD DUTY
Why had they taken the time and effort to build the tunnel like this? The trees sculpted into a square that created an enclosed walkway leading to the side entrance of the lair. Why not just a line of trees? Why not a concrete tunnel? Perhaps it was for camouflage. From the sky above the…
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MUD PIE MOJO
‘Man, all I want is to eat a Mud Pie Mojo at the Cold Stone Creamery on North Marion Street. I’d give my other damn leg just to get back there.’ ‘You’ll get there. Give it time.’ ‘Easy for you to say.’ ‘Never said it would be easy.’ Rachel felt the scar tissue and the…
Iain Kelly 