Inspired, if I'm not mistaken, by an actual incident. A wonderful piece of writing.

Kendall put his finger on something too - that war turns men into animals. How many of us on here have actually been to war? Not many, I'll bet, certainly not me. Yet so many seem to know all the answers, take the high moral ground and criticise those who have, and who have faced things we can't even begin to imagine.

A very old friend of mine, a member of the Parachute Regiment who fought in Italy and was taken POW at Arnhem during WWII, and who died not so long ago, used to say that, in war, the enemy don't have a monopoly on acts of evil. He was a kind and gentle man, but he'd been there and knew what men are capable of. Doesn't justify wrongdoing, but puts a perspective on some of the things that happen.

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.