I am reading Jack H. Lucas' book, Indestructible, The Unforgettable Story of a Marine Hero at the Battle of Iwo Jima. The Foreword was written by Senator Bob Dole. I particularly want to note the following because the wording struck me in relation to Archie's war experience:
"Jack (Lucas) and I know the horror of feeling life draining from our bodies as we lay on the field of battle, trapped in a dull haze and comforted only by morphine. We are given only one body, and when it is broken in service to others, we have given a most precious gift. Jack and I would learn to write left-handed, athletics would forever be out of the question, and our internal injuries would require a lifetime of attention. We were fortunate; at least we would have a lifetime.
“Jack and I have looked over the edge into the darkness that is death and survived to tell of the ghastliness that is war. War is not glamorous. It is ugly business and no one escapes its effects. It can’t be explained adequately to someone who has never been there.
“Men are never closer than when they are under fire together. In World War II, we were all brothers on the battlefield. As survivors, we are left to remember those who paid the ultimate price. They too are our brothers, a relationship born in battle, baptized in blood, and immortal in spirit. We honor their memory.
“From all walks of life they came, from the mountains, prairies, cities, and farms, they joined to serve. Death gave no heed to the privilege of their birth. They laid down their lives for the cause of freedom and for their buddies in the foxhole with them.
“I have always felt that what gets people through a physical or emotional crisis is having a foundation of faith in God, believing that life matters and that there’s a bigger plan in play than what we can see with our human eyes. In my own memoirs I wrote [We] need one another to defend one another, to depend on one another. They say every soldier on the front saves every other soldier’s life and has his life saved by another soldier nearby.
“That’s the fighting man’s job. Jack did his job well and, like so many that have served their country, I am proud to call him my brother.”
Written by Senator Bob Dole in the Foreword in Indestructible, The Unforgettable Story of a Marine Hero at the Battle of Iwo Jima, written by Jack Lucas, DaCapo Press, 2007.
Archie Harvey died in 1924, six years after he returned from the Great War. I may never know exactly what he thought, but I can see him thinking in a parallel way. He talked about the Supreme Hand of God, he served in some of the worst battles of World War I, and he carried his seriously wounded officer off the field of battle. His letters were written to his mother from the trenches in France, Meuse Argonne and St. Mihiel.
I can see the connections…
