19-year-old Artillery Gunner, Leon responds to his fiancée, Korean War, read by Edward Norton:
KoreaHill 10-6-2
Dear Babe,I just received your letter in this morning's mail. I held it in my hand for a minute while a little voice in the back of my head whispered, "This is it. This is the one."
KoreaHill 10-6-2
Dear Babe,I just received your letter in this morning's mail. I held it in my hand for a minute while a little voice in the back of my head whispered, "This is it. This is the one."
You tried to "let me down easy."
I never said I was the greatest guy on earth; you did. Anyway, he's there. I'm here.
"Be careful," you tell me. "Take care." I almost laughed out loud. We wouldn't want to see me hurt, would we? There's no need to worry about me. I'll be all right.... Do I say something brilliant like "may all your troubles be little ones"?
How about "If you ever need a friend"? That presumes a future.
There are 500,000 N. Koreans and Chinese on the other side of that hill bound and determined to make sure I don't have a future. Over here where your past is your last breath, your present is this breath, and your future is your next breath, you don't make too many promises. Which leaves me what?
Goodbye,Leon
Two days later, Leon charged an enemy machine gun nest and was killed.
Response:
When I read this letter, I felt really sad for the guy. I mean the fiancee dumped him while in the war. While reading this letter, I can complitely understand what the guy is goiong through. The fiancee gave him hope for the relationship. She pretty much stated that she would be there for him but now wasn't.
I also dont think that he overacted in the letter.
What is he supposed to do now? Are they supposed to be friends? Yeah right. She was wrong to do that to him while he was in the war. She should have just waited until he came home.
From what I know, I assume that most military folks keep going because they have someone to come back home to. They know that someone is back home waiting for them to come back.
4 comments:
Wow, this is a touching letter. it shows how these are real people, just everyday men and women fighting for our country. I especially like the line, "Over here where your past is your last breath, your present is this breath, and your future is your next breath, you don't make too many promises." That makes a lot of sense and is put very nicley!
This letter was interesting because it’s unusual—I usually think of a love-related letter from war as being either the typical love letter or a “Dear John” break-up note. I had never really thought about what the response would be to those letters all the soldiers with girlfriends, fiancées, and even wives probably dreaded the possibility of getting. I agree with you, Leon didn’t overreact. He was just left by the person who was probably most important to him, and he felt there was nothing at all left for him.
This was a suprising and touching letter that you found Winnie. It shows how hard that kind of situation can have on a relationship. I don't agree with the woman's decision to let him know how she felt in a letter. For the man to be in war is hard enough, but most likely he can't control if he's comeing home. I think that even knowing it would've been hard she should have waited to face him because I'm sure that took his mind off fighting to a certain extent. Overall I just thought that letter was sad.:(
That was so said, those letters that guys receive in the war about their girlfriends dumping them are called "Dear John letters". I feel so bad for the guy, it is so tough over there and the only thing keeping those guys going is knowing that they have people back home that love and care about them. I don't think he overreacted exactly, war messes with you and when you're all isolated things can get blown waaay out of proportion and then they do stupid stuff to react to it. Overall, I thought the letter was really really sad. =(
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