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Today’s Blog Post
The grass rustled slightly. Then it happened again. Some one was coming, fully armed, ready to do me in. I wasn’t sure who it was or how soon the ultimate attack would come. Then everything exploded.
“Bahahaha! Toof! Toof! Bahahaha! Bahahaha! Pecuuuu! Pecuuuu!”
Which was answered by… “Kerbam! Pow! Pow! Katoooie! Katooie!”
Then a very loud… “Your DEAD! I got you first.”
Does that sound a little like a battle in a foreign land?
Well the action took place about 55 years ago in the large lot just north of 1422 Elliott Street in Regina, Saskatchewan. I was 10 years old and my brother Glen was 5. He was a good sport and loved just playing with all of us. He made a GREAT “JAP”!
“Jap” of course was short and very negative for a Japanese person… particularly a “Jap Soldier” – that everyone hated with a passion. Our God given duty was to kill every Jap.
To change the setting but still act out in the same field the little brothers were declared to be “Gerrys” and on those days they were foulest of foul enemies.
“Gerrys” were of course Germans and we had switched from the Far East Conflict to the Eastern Front of the war with the rotten and hated Germans. Our God give duty that day was to kill every last German in that big open field. Oh how we hated the Germans!
Little Brothers made great enemies – so did little sisters. But the sisters often became bored easily while waiting in the grass for someone to shoot. They walked out of the field and played with their dolls, or the kitten or something that was plain stupid! What a bunch of “sucks”! All the boys were glad to get rid of them.
The date of this happening was around 1954 and the Second World War had ended about 10 years before that. The Japs and the Gerrys were all defeated.
The Korean War however was pretty fresh and people were very much in the war mode yet. It has started in June 1950 and ended in July 1953. We were playing war only one year after it was kind of over. For us War was real – very real!
Some of our dads on that street had fought in the WW II. Many of the dads didn’t want to talk about it. Some of them saw us playing and simply turned away. For them it was not a game.
In think the thing that fed our imagination the most was the stacks of comic books that came our way.
All of the verbal stuff that we used with our wooden guns, like… “Bahahaha! Toof! Toof! Bahahaha! Bahahaha! Pecuuuu! Pecuuuu!
Kerbam! Pow! Pow! Katoooie! Katooie!”… came out of the comic book pages. We simply sounded out what we were reading.
I was probably between 12 and 14 when I saw the full affect of that war on the men in our community. I was at my dad’s work place and one of bosses came over to talk to dad and me. The boss was very drunk, very early in the morning. I could smell the booze and heard the loud way that he talked. He was really obnoxious. Dad scooted me out of the way of the buffoon, and into the car so we could get away from the place.
When I asked dad why the man was like that… his answer didn’t make much sense at the time. “He is like that because he fought in the war. He drinks to cover up what he is feeling” Dad said.
As a young teen I couldn’t understand how alcohol would help you when it appeared to make you so stupid.
A lot of men that came home from horrible places tried to cover the deep emotions that they had.
As a man I now see the full extent of how bad it was for many. They couldn't face the long nights and the horrific images that kept coming back to them. So they drank lots.
“Bahahaha! Toof! Toof! Bahahaha! Bahahaha! Pecuuuu! Pecuuuu! Kerbam! Pow! Pow! Katoooie! Katooie!” – is not a game. It was real… and it was forever.
Today I remember the fallen soldiers. But I also remember the ones that struggled for a life time to shake away the demons that hounded them forever.
It seems very odd that today is the release of the new game entitled C.O.D. – or “Call Of Duty” – the newest and fastest and most realistic game that I have every seen. Talk about blood, guts and fears.
One fellow raved on about his newest purchase of COD. He intended to go home and play it all night… then go to work the next day… to return home and play it another night. “This is so real… it is totally awesome!”
So was it 65 years ago… “Bahahaha! Toof! Toof! Bahahaha! Bahahaha! Pecuuuu! Pecuuuu! Kerbam! Pow! Pow! Katoooie! Katooie!”
I remember.
~ Murray Lincoln ~
http://www.blogger.com/www.murraylincoln.com/
Source:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Korean_War
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