Did you ever shoot anybody?

“Why the Marines?” I asked my uncle as I sized him up in his funky maroon jumpsuit he always wore.

“Because they were the toughest”.

“Hmmph”. I didn’t get it. I didn’t get much actually. I was eleven. My uncle was seventy-something. And a war hero. Who fought on Iwo Jima. And Guadalcanal.  And Okinawa. And little did I know, fought for my ability to happily fight my way to the next level of Donkey Kong without a care in the world.

I had no idea.

For some reason I can’t quite remember, I felt compelled to drill my uncle about his military background that day. It was probably just an impulse to stave off the intense boredom that usually surrounded a weekend at my grandparent’s house.

“Did you ever shoot anybody”?

“Oh yeah”.

Oh yeah? That’s it? Like, “Did you ever drive a Mustang?” Or, “Have you ever had the flu?” How could you be so matter of fact about shooting somebody?

“Really? Didn’t you feel bad about it?”

“No!!”  He said with laughter at my naiveté. “They were trying to shoot me!!”

Simple. Profound. And frightfully true. It was either him or the other guy.  Us or them. And they started it. Thank God there were people like my uncle around who helped  finish it.

Happy Memorial Day.

For a glimpse into the nightmare my uncle endured check out ‘The Pacific” on HBO. (Or bittorrent. Or ninjavideo.net –but I didn’t tell you that).

For my list of Top Ten War Movies you must see click here.