Unusual War Story

War stories can be strange. This one is about a World War II American POW named Bud Wolfe who was held in... Southern Ireland! At the time Southern Ireland (now the Republic of Ireland) was neutral and interned any German or Allied servicemen who accidentally landed within their borders. Read about Wolfe here. It is quite an unusual war story. The best part is that he escaped but his superiors sent him back!

This Is Real

Here is an article in the Toronto Star about Canadian troops "IED hunting" in Afghanistan. I especially liked the disparaging comments about The Hurt Locker which in typical Hollywood fashion gets it all wrong. But the eyes of the soldier in the picture is worth a 1000 words. The man isn't very old, probably in his early twenties, but his eyes are much older. Tells you everything you need to know about what these guys are experiencing over there. This is real, not some Hollywood fantasy.

War Stories

My father never did any military service. He was very young (around 5 or 6) when WWI started and was too old for front line service in WWII, but he did volunteer for a type of home guard in Cape Town. The city had a strict blackout policy at night since it would be a navigational aid for enemy submarines. One duty of the home guard was making sure that the blackout was being observed. If they discovered a house which was leaking light, they had to inform the occupants. After fixing the blackout, the patrol was supposed to report the occupants. Everyone knew that breaking blackout was serious trouble, so the occupants would bend over backwards to avoid being reported. If the patrol members were acquainted with the occupants of the house, a sip of brandy was often enough to avoid going on report.

My parents never spoke about WWII, and this was the only story my mother ever told me about that time, and for that reason it has stuck in my memory. Sometimes I wish I has asked them more about that time in their lives, but my feeling is that they preferred not to talk about it. Even though the fighting was far away from Cape Town, it was still a difficult and uncertain time for everybody.