Canadian Soldiers Examine A German Mauser T-Gewehr. Behind Them Is A Male Mark V Tank. August 1918.

Canadian soldiers examine a German Mauser T-Gewehr. Behind them is a Male Mark V tank. August 1918.

British soldiers from 'B' Company, 1/6th Queen's Regiment try out their collapsible boats in a farmyard in preparation for crossing the Volturno river, Italy. 8 October 1943

Kriegsmarineman climbing the fjords with Tirpitz in the background, WWII.

Heer (German army) Sd.Kfz. 250 half track in action near Cherkasy in Ukraine, late 1943

I heard the crunch of feet in the snow and turned to see Roe coming my way. I could tell by the look on his face that this wasn’t a social visit. “Malark, I’m sorry, but it’s Skip,” he said. “He’s dead. Penkala, too.” I simply sat on the edge of a slit trench like a man who’d been out in the cold too long. Numb. My brain told my mouth to speak but it was like the words were frozen in place. “How’d … it… happen?” I asked, my voice but a whisper. “‘Bout a hundred yards down the line. A major shelling. Muck and Penkala were caught out in the open, then finally found a hole. George Luz had been scurrying around during the blitz, too. Muck and Penkala yelled for him to get in their foxhole.” Roe paused. I kind of nodded, rocked forward and backward a bit. Put my hands over my face, fingers as numb from the cold as my brain from the news. “Luz is down on the snow, snaking his way toward them, and—boom—direct hit on the foxhole. Shell found them as if it had eyes.” I looked away, toward nothing.

~ Don Malarkey

British battleship HMS Rodney fires her secondary battery during exercises, December 1940