Memorial Day
I read this story today and cried. Here’s to all the men and women who stand on that line. Even an old hardened cynic like yours truly takes heart in knowing that there are still heroes in the world.
And I salute them.
The young Marine came back from the war, with his toughest fight ahead of him. Merlin German waged that battle in the quiet of a Texas hospital, far from the dusty road in Iraq where a bomb exploded, leaving him with burns over 97 percent of his body.
No one expected him to survive.
But for more than three years, he would not surrender. He endured more than 100 surgeries and procedures. He learned to live with pain, to stare at a stranger’s face in the mirror. He learned to smile again, to joke, to make others laugh.
He especially loved his nieces and nephews; the feelings were mutual. One niece remembered him on a Web site as being “real cool and funny” and advising her to “forget about having little boyfriends and buying hot phones” and instead, concentrate on her education.
But he was closest to his mother. When the hospital’s Holiday Ball approached in 2006, German told Norma Guerra he wanted to surprise his mother by taking her for a twirl on the dance floor.
Guerra thought he was kidding. She knew it could be agony for him just to take a short walk or raise a scarred arm.
But she agreed to help, and they rehearsed for months, without his mother knowing. He chose a love song to be played for the dance: “Have I Told You Lately?” by Rod Stewart.
That night he donned his Marine dress blues and shiny black shoes — even though it hurt to wear them. When the time came, he took his mother in his arms and they glided across the dance floor.
Everyone stood and applauded. And everyone cried.
Clearly, it seemed, the courageous Marine was winning his long, hard battle.
May 26th, 2008 at 2:30 pm
Why cry? Celebrate him, and the men who are like him. Without such men, the luxury of holding foolish opinions wouldn’t exist. If you really care, well there are opportunities for anyone to help. I’ll be more than happy to make a few suggestions that might lighten the day of some young Marine.
You really should watch William Wyler’s classic The Best Years of Our Lives this afternoon on TCM. The scene where William Holden, the former B17 bombardier now minimum wage soda jerk, listen to the wiseass civilian tell Harold Russell, the real life disabled vet with hooks for hands, what a sucker he is for going to war is priceless, and instructive.
May 26th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
My mistake, it was Dana Andrews.
May 26th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
Why cry? Because after everything this young man had been through, over “100 surgeries and procedures,” he “died after routine surgery to add skin to his lower lip.” After all he accomplished in three years, how freaking unfair is that?
So yeah, when I read about the dance with his mom, how he encouraged so many others wounded, what an impression he made on the people around him - whether he was a soldier doesn’t matter. He seemed a fine man who got dealt a cold deck, and I think it’s OK to be a little sad and I’ll hold him and his family in my heart for a while.
Oh, and I added The Best Years of Our Lives to my Netflix list, I’ll be interested to watch it.
May 26th, 2008 at 11:37 pm
I just watched a slew of military movies…platoon, patton…and i came away with the distinct impression that i hate military movies.
May 27th, 2008 at 4:33 am
Of course you did Dawn. That’s because you have shit between your ears. You should take my direction rather than rely on your own.
And Tae, he wasn’t a soldier. He was a Marine. A distinction lost on the world of nitwits. But as Rummy would say, for you folks, it’s an unknown, unknown. As foreign as it may be for minds that abhor facts, there is a gruesome execution at the end of every life, no matter how exalted or tawdry. His had a great deal heroism connected with it. It doesn’t make me sad. It makes me rather proud.