The cost of war (A debt that can never be fully paid)
By Bill Shepard
“Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars,” those are the words of Jesus Christ. Matthew 24.
I have heard those words repeated many times and for as long as I can remember, and that is a long time. I suppose the inhabitants of planet Earth will continue to hear them for as long as man is in control of affairs. One would think that by this time in the development of mankind there would have been found a better way to settle disputes and differences instead, the wars continue!! What a high cost we paid and the cost continues long after the last shot is fired, the last bomb explodes, the last plane is shot from the sky and the last ship settles on the bottom of the sea. What then? We are reminded of that truth every day by scenes we see and the plea for help is heard over our TV.
Bill Shepard
I am an old man but my memories go back a long way and across many years. As a little boy, I recall listening to veterans of World War I tell their experiences in that war. Gathered at the little store near the village where I lived, they would be talking among themselves about their sufferings during the war and their lack of help after returning home at the end of the war. These men had been wounded, seems one had suffered from a gas attack with “mustard gas.” These men would talk about their trips to Washington and camping on the White House lawn in an effort to get attention and help. I could add a list of names of those I listened to, but won’t; they are all gone and hopefully found peace at last. Remember the League of Nations? No more wars! Never again! The cost is too great!
By the time I was a young teenager the war clouds were forming again! The world was still wrestling with the ravages of that terrible war that had plunged the world into a Great Depression and now rumors of war were being heard again! Had world leaders forgotten?
The year was 1939, a man called Hitler was flexing his muscles in Germany and all of Europe was listening and wondering what it all meant. Rumors of war were rumbling again. Actually another war was in the making. Franklin Roosevelt was the President of the U.S. and was searching for ways to break the hold the Great Depression had on America. As the rumors developed into war on Europe, the President declared that America would not become involved. We know that declaration had a short life! December 7, 1941 America found herself involved in another World War. The history books have been written and a few shall remember the high cost of that war that raged on for year. When it was finally over, the cost of lives, not to mention dollars spent, was staggering, and the cost continues to this day. When the world learned of the atrocities committed by the Germans and the Japanese it was horrified! How could it all have happened? The answer…freedom loving people being slow to act against the aggressor!
After World War 2, various organizations formed to prevent future wars. There has to be a better way to settle disputes, so said world leaders, we must never see this kind of brutality again.
Then came the Korean War, Vietnam, Desert Storm, Iraq, Afghanistan and the conflicts all over the globe. Will man ever learn a better way to settle their differences? I have heard of wars and rumors of wars all of my long life! One thing I have decided…war veterans will be in plenty for a long time.
According to some reports I have seen, there are less than one million World War 2 veterans still living! That was ended seventy-two years ago but the cost goes on. If all wars ceased today and another was never fought, the cost of those already fought would go on for hundreds of years! Think about it!
At special gatherings we see veterans of past wars; some are in wheelchairs, dressed in their faded and frayed uniforms. They raise a shaky hand to their wrinkled old face and give a snappy salute as Old Glory passes by. For a moment, they are back in time. A tear may appear on their cheek at they remember. It is to them that the world owes so much, a debt that can never be paid. They know the Real Cost of War!
Mr. Shepard is a native of Darlington, S.C., and a current resident of Piedmont, S.C. He is the author of “Mill Town Boy” and “Bruised”. He has been sharing his tales of growing up in Darlington for decades, and we are delighted to share them each week.
His mailing address for cards and letters is: Bill Shepard 324 Sunny Lane, Piedmont, S.C., 29673.
