I kind of liked your post, Steve. It reminded me of what my father said about his first firefight with the Germans in WWII, in a field not far from Normandy. More than anything, he wished desperately that he could be anywhere but there, and he decided right then that he was going to get through it alive one way or another...whatever it took...until the fighting ended...and then never go to war again. He did that, and managed to be a pretty good soldier too in the interim, winning medals for valour.

A lot of the young Germans he was fighting against must have felt the same way he did, and a lot of them (and more than a few of my Dad's mates) didn't make it. Those who did rebuilt the postwar world, and they accomplished with peace far greater things than they had ever done in war.

War is a tragedy and a misery I wish upon no one.

- LH