Thank You for Your Service: Story Starter

Bella barked furiously, as simultaneously, a knock rapped at the front door, and a text came on my phone from the Army. Rising to answer the door, I read the text informing me that seventy-eight years after serving my country in World War Two as a member of one of the Negroes-only platoons, I was being awarded a medal. I was shocked at the belated recognition, never actually believing that, as black men, we would ever be acknowledged for our part in ending those awful, horrible, inhumane concentration camps.

Oh, how thankful the captives were to be free! They didn’t see our skin color, just that we were soldiers doing our duty to our country but also to our God. They had seen our humanity, and that was award enough!

At age 97, reaching the door took me a little while, but I finally got there. Standing in front of me was a young Army officer. He delivered the medal and told me that my country appreciated my service and courage. It wasn’t an honorary medal, for we had lost comrades in the war, young men in their late teens and early twenties who didn’t live to return home to parades. I still have shrapnel in my legs from those days.

As Bella looked on at the presentation, old dog and companion that she is, even she looked proud of me! How I wish some of the other guys had lived to receive their awards. But they are in heaven, where their true awards will never tarnish or be lost.

As the young soldier saluted me and left my home, I thanked God that I was still alive to accept the award for all of us. It was late, but in more ways than one, it was on time! Our humanity is acknowledged at last!

Fiction written for the Saturday Mix, Story Starter, from Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie. The Three Things Challenge prompts are Medal, Presentation, and Honorary.