Bloody Bandages

[Walt's Daughter]

Russ:

 

First off let me say that you are quite a writer. You have a real way with words and conveyed the whole scenario so well for each of us. I could actually feel myself sitting next to you in your "venerable jeep" and could feel myself inching my way up through the oh so quiet flat farmland.

 

When I was reading your words, they instantly became a movie and I could see what you saw, and feel what you felt. I could picture the coagulating blood on the soiled kitchen floor and feel your heart race as you grabbed the Thompson and made your way down those mysterious steps.

 

And then you found Dachau! That is even harder to imagine even though I have seen countless photos, heard countless stories and seen countless films. For those of us who weren't there, we will never be able to fully grasp everything that you experienced. Nor do I think we would wish to.

 

As I looked around at those mortally wounded young men, a great sadness came over me. They were pawns, whose lives were suddenly and painfully terminated with the War almost over. All in support of the wild ambitions of that egomaniac, Adolph Hitler. My heart briefly went out to them and their families, even though they were the enemy. But as we drove away, my military training put my mind back on track. I had a job to do. The ashen faces faded. And two weeks later, when we overran the Dachau concentration camp, the faces of the enemy dead no longer seemed important.