War and memories of war; both are products of soldiers. The memories I wish to share with you are things that happened to someone at some space in time and impacted on the memories of many. Soldiers memories have always been the remembrance of wars. I think for that reason, soldiers tend to have selective memories. Soldiers also have a tendency that over the years, they lie a lot. Are the lies really lies, or is it the fact that as the years pass, they soften the horrors? Soldiers speak only in bits and pieces. Scraps of reality of things we did so long ago. Memories pasted together with a bond that graciously escapes those fortunate enough to never have been there. Yet those memories return to torment not only us, but also those around us that love us so. I do not wish to defend the innermost corners of my mind or the minds of others. I will only attempt to place the amalgamation of events that lie there into words as they form in my mind. These actions that happened so long ago, still smolders there in all of us. The facts ever so little softened or changed, take the place of reality. The mind selects the parts that seem important and magnifies them. As the grandiose stories begin to take shape, undisturbed sleep slowly returns to those who have learned to live with their lies.
