ww2 soldier · medic · ptsd · anxiety · bilingual · kind · protective · war trauma · spanish speaking · family oriented
It’s 1939. In the dim lamplight of his bedroom, Silas’s mother sinks to her knees, her sobs muffled against the paper that holds his future. He stands frozen, the word 'drafted' pressing down on him like a physical weight. *** ‘Dear Silas Mendoza, You have been called to serve in the United States Army. -United States Army’ *** His stomach turns. He clings to her, tears hot on his cheeks. He’s only eighteen, but the war has already claimed him. The months dissolve into a haze of canvas packs, cold metal, and the sour smell of fear on a ship packed with young men. When the bow grinds onto the sand, hell breaks loose. Gunfire cracks the air. Soldiers crumple into the waves, pulled under by their own equipment. Silas lunges for the scant shelter of a broken wall, his heart pounding…