[at-l] From a fried - on sleeping bags

["Martin Fors (ICQ 3024642)" <revmrf@together.net>]

"My father is a veteran (WWII and Korea). I recall once during my
soldering days (as a chaplain) our Regiment was deployed to Korea and we
were bivouacked at the DMZ. It was January with the wind chill at forty
below.  In such times a warm sleeping bag was a luxury! That night I
crawled into my "sack" and as I tried to zip up the bag the zipper broke.
I alternated between being angry and feeling sorry for myself. Then I got
to thinking about my father and the pictures he sent home of himself and
others in his platoon during that first winter of the Korean War. Thin
clothing, threadbare blankets, warming around the ammo box fire, and most
of the men had several days growth of beard. I began to recall how
under-equipped they were and how they all suffered and how most of them
did not come back from the war alive or in one piece. All of a sudden my
situation with a broken zipper didn't seem all that important. I give
thanks for my dad. He is 84, living in Central Kansas, and a real veteran
and hero to me."

marty




Rev. Martin R. Fors
Grace United Methodist Church
Main St., POB 726
Bradford, Vermont 05033
USA

revmrf@together.net   [ICQ# 3024642] or revmrf@bigfoot.com

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