Good work with short sentence bursts.

Excellent....

marvelous story

Brilliantly written. Short, sharp and straight to the point. This is excellent. In Berlin, Boys aged 12 were dragged out of their homes and given guns and thrown at the Russian lines. Few survived. Actually 'soldiers had their 'Papers' taken away, told, if they fell into Russian hands they would not know what units they were facing. The next minute, the S.S. Police would arrive and tell the troops, if they were found from their units without papers, they would be hung from the nearest lamppost... There are many books by German 'Vet's' that tell of things that huge numbers of people never knew. Sad really. Your story tells of one.... I'll shut up now! Rob.

a great moment of inspiration!

Well written and an interesting point of view ... never thought about the other side ... !!!!! tom

The internal thought process is fascinating and is a great way to share this story. Very well done, my friend.

Well written. Life is difficult both in and out of wartime. It is good to view things from a different perspective.

This story you tell is powerful and poignant beyond words. It speaks of a time most of us never knew and of the young men on the other side. No matter, whose "side" you were on, when it ends, no one wins. The toll is tragic. As the line in the song goes, "When will we ever learn?" Beautifully written. You have found your voice here and you speak it so well.

wonderful work

It's apparent virtually all the comments above come from people who never lived through WWII, like I did, and are feeling some kind of moral equivalency in what you quote. Both sides were not the same in this conflict. I have no compassion for the soldier. He wouldn't have gone through all that angst if he, and/or other Germans, had assassinated his Fuehrer, Adolf Hitler, at the beginning. Check out the movie, Valkyrie.

This is so well done, my friend. You've done a beautiful job conveying tension, and the common humanity we all share. It was worth the wait. Now you've got me on the hook for part 3, and I'm already on pins and needles!

Fantastic story.

(this'll be an involved comment...) A fine bunch of responses, I appreciate them all. My uncle would say just what Harry said, because my uncle was a Ranger in WWII and really would've a hard time sympathizing with a German soldier. I can't begin to blame him, as he was at Anzio and helped liberate a concentration camp, among many harrowing things. So I deeply respect the passion of Harry's response, I mean to the toes. But I'm sure you do as well, I know you're not defending Naziism, but portraying the feelings of one human being who was born to that view and now speaks. So I understand the other comments, that many soldiers were young & fought for their country and may have been just as scared if not cowed. It's very weighty, isn't it; I've talked to so many who've been in combat; it's so difficult to write these things. My uncle once said, "sometimes I know I could've been friends with some of those guys, if we weren't fighting them back then...it's just, when you're there, you can't think that, you just can't..." You're making peace across the gap of time, and hopefully these tales will help younger people avoid what Europe allowed in those days; and while we bow to our veterans who fought in unthinkable circumstances & who helped make it possible for me to write these things today, we can also appreciate that you've shared our common humanity, as I know you don't condone the SS, rather you're showing us the heart of a human being... On the writing: You write this poignantly, you group thoughts sensitively—3 stanzas of lines beginning with "no," simple lists which are very effective—and you end in your usual manner, drawing us into the inner thoughts & fears & realizations of your speaker, and leaving them with us in the end. You speak in his voice throughout, which isn't easy, and you do it effortlessly. I feel his humanity, that's what you offered here, that's what this piece is about. You did it beautifully, as I know you were in VIetnam & confronted those realities there. So, deep respect to all those who find this very hard to read. But you've offered something poignant & sensitively written; and maybe it'll help younger generations avoid the madness that led to that conflagration in the first place. Many thanks for your obvious sensitivity and effort. Your writing uploads have been wonderful & powerful pieces.

A very touching text!

Wow! I will look for your future uploads to read what happens.

Another moving piece Bill, I can't add much to what's been written above but will echo "you've found your voice and speak it so well". I applaud 'goodoleboy's' frank an honest sentiment and defend without question his right to his opinions, but.... VALKYRIE ??? come on!.... try the History Channel mate.

Interesting story.... Hope the world will find and live in peace. Aloha

Yes Interesting Story my friend!

A story well told P

Bill, I think you have achieved what I think you intended to achieve, response and discussion. I had wanted to respond earlier but I am glad I waited. It gave me a chance to read the other responses. I doubt very much that anyone here at renderosity is old enough to have met a Waffen SS guy personally during WWII. So all responses are based on second hand information, whether passed on by older family members or gleamed from newsreels or history classes. Movies don't count, they are made to make money!!!!!!!!!! Talking about movies! There is a little round movie theater in Arromanches, I think, anyway somewhere along the Normandy invasion beaches, that shows about 20 minutes or so of combat footage that was shot during the invasion. No sound, just black & white. This footage was never shown in any newsreel, it is too graphic. It leaves one stunned. This theater was not completed in 1994 during the 50th anniversary, but it was there in 1998. I saw similar graphic footage of Iraqis fleeing from Kuwait with cars loaded with loot at the end of the first Gulf War. They were decimated by Allied air power. This footage was cut from the official release, because it also was too graphic. You tell us the story of this old Waffen SS guy, and some people condemn him for having been a member of this branch of the service. But when he told you his story, years later, how do we know whether he told you everything, or just things he figured you wanted to hear? Did he embellish his story? Did he tell you why he became a member of the Waffen SS? Was he coaxed to join? Did he join willingly? Was it peer pressure? We will never know. Even the Waffen SS had leaders and followers. Was he a leader or a follower? Did he carry out his orders willingly? Did he feel pleasure in doing so or was he reluctant? Did he feel sorry for some of the things he did? Was he ashamed of some of the things he did? We don't know. It is so easy to sit in front of a computer in the knowledge that we have free speech and offer our opinions. I make no excuse for anything Germany did during the war. As a matter of fact I am ashamed of that period of time. But I think I earned my right to speak up on this. I became a US citizen in 1966. The question of citizenship came up when our unit was notified of deployment to SEA. It took 6 weeks from the first call to the Immigration until I had my papers. The day after I got my citizenship papers we shipped out. It was made easier in my case to get citizenship because I had just had a background investigation by the Seattle OSI office to be eligible to get a secret clearance and the US Air Force was behind it. They needed me. Back to the turmoil after the WWII and your poem. The times right after the war, the first year or so were tumultuous. Literally millions of people were on the move. Right before the end of the war people were fleeing ahead of the advancing Red Army. After the war displaced people of all ages were on the move, to relocate, beg for food, black maketeers etc. Rail was the only way, other than walking. And rail was infrequent and unreliable. Many wealthy Germans made their fortunes during that time. Many others had no papers or had fake papers, anything to survive. This Waffen SS guy was 25 years old at the end of the war. That made him a teenager at the beginning of the war. Did he know what he got himself into when he joined? I had an uncle that one day showed up at my grandmothers home at the end of the war. He was never captured, and he had to hide out ocassionally in the barn. I don't know where he served. As a matter of fact I don't know anything about his activities during the war, and I don't know if he had any papers. But I wonder if anyone on this website has ever given it any thought whether humans can be pushed to the point of killing. The first time I saw footage about a concentration camp was in 1957 or 58. And I was stunned. It seemed that nobody knew anything about that. Obviously there were plenty of people that did, or it couldn't have happened. But the broad masses probably didn't. Anyway Bill, thanks for writing and posting this, Sig....

keep it on, Bill. I don't think 'excitement' or 'suspense" are the right word here, but still...keep it on

oh Bill, I can so feel with this, remembering my father who had a similar story to tell...thanks for this one

A very nice balancing of hope and fear in your writing of this event, both the frailty and tenacity of the human mind is well showcased here. And you've chosen subject matter that has evoked strongly heartfelt responses. Kudos to you on all counts! : )