The Veteran

"I moved for my health; winters in Wisconsin
were getting too hard on me.  It's the lungs.
I was a POW, worked the coal mines in Japan
for three years," he shrugged, embarrassed.

"My father was a POW in Germany," I said,
guess you guys had it a little worse."

"Oh, I don't know, maybe sometimes. My boat
got blown out of the water. I bobbed around,
finally washed ashore on Bataan, and they decided
to keep me," he smiled.  "I weighed 155 then;
when I got out, I weighed 90."

"I can't imagine it," I said, shaking my head.

"I was one of the lucky ones. I'm 64 now.
Besides, everyone has something to go through.
I can never quite get it out of my mind, though.
I mean, I don't dwell on it all the time,
but sometimes I just...I don't know.
I like to fish; that's my therapy;
Just sit there and look at the water."


(Arkansas Magazine, Arkansas Democrat, November 17, 1985)