several of my friends never came back the same. they are older, of course than I. I am mostly going on stories and them telling me about their younger days. i saw the toughest, meanest teacher we had in high school break down and cry one year on Veterans Day. seeing that, really hit home. made a huge impression on me, to see that strong of a person break, instantly. like he was hit with a horrible memory. it embarrassed him, that was the point in my life i started to understand it was not simply "going off to fight a war and coming home".
i remember the first time i read All Quite on the Western Front . the prolouge has stayed with me. becasue when i read it, i could only imagine what the author had seen.
"This book is to be neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for death is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a generation of men who, even though they many have escaped its shells, were destroyed by the war."
