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WILLIAM YENOFSKY When my daughter asked me to write of my war experiences, which would eventually end up as a Website, I undertook the task with reluctance. I have no intention of glorifying my status in the military. I was merely a journeyman soldier forced into a situation, not to my liking. Yes, I did serve in a combat area for over four years. Yes, I participated in two invasions. Yes, I witnessed the horror of Dachau. And yes, I am also a survivor. It is now over 50 years since I doffed my uniform, but the memories of my wartime experiences remain firmly etched within my mind. If I may philosophize, since time immemorial, wars have been fought, and I firmly believe they will be fought far into the future. War is evil, war is inhumane, and war is degrading. Over the thousands of years, countless millions of people, both military and civilians have been massacred and we smugly term ourselves as being civilized. The year is 1941. I am a modest, unassuming individual, not overly aggressive, yet, I am drafted into this situation because the United States is at war and a "man has to do what a man has to do." I am issued a uniform, a rifle and I am taught to kill. I am taught to burrow into the ground like an animal. I am taught to undergo countless indignities. I see death in all its horror and it no longer bothers me, because now this modest, unassuming individual, not overly aggressive individual, has been mind-altered into a "mean, lean fighting machine." Finally, the war ends, and after a short period of battle trauma, I again revert to a modest, unassuming individual, not overly aggressive individual. Darwin was right, we do represent the "survival of the fittest." In order that we survive, we must be the superior animal and unfortunately war is the means to attain this end. It is a sad commentary on humanity, but the act of conflict is ingrained within the psyche of the human race. I have experienced it firsthand. |
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