Dear soldier,
Every morning, to this day, does your memory haunt a lover you had, as the war swept you away from them? Does a woman, does a man, hold your love in their dust filled hands, or does your memory, your forgotten name, still stain the lips of their children? It’s funny how war impacts the lives we lead. It’s the facet of life that plagues the people, because we all want peace and love, but we are so strung up on being better and being powerful we lose our ideals in the heat of gaining more. In the heat of doing what’s right, protecting the world from evil. I hope your memory never goes in vain. I hope the love you left behind, being whole and pure, was swept across everyone’s skin you met, and to their descendants. I hope when the ash, and when the smoke settled, that you were in a euphoria, that the love you had for everyone back home, covered your skin, and you felt nothing but safety in your bones. Many years have passed, and your statue still stands reminding us of what war is, and what war takes away. Lovers, brothers, even sisters now, fathers, workers, shelters, people who cemented themselves into daily life and were then taken away. Time has collected the events of the past and has put them in books, in other letters, in telegraphs, in memories. These events will never go unnoticed, and the people who fought will never go unnoticed. You will never go unnoticed. No matter the time. We recollect the past from writing, because some of us were never there, and some of us will never know the true nature of a war. But you did. But your bones creaked in the night, your heart beat as the guns were fired, your ears heard the bombs, and the screams of others. And your statue still stands reminding us of what people have gone through, and what they will go through again, because the human way is one of power and demand. One of selfishness and gain. And I hope your memory serves as a symbol for peace and love and a better future. I hope your presence shapes everyone into people of progress and not distress. You are loved, you were loved, and you will be loved as long as humans remain, as long as time remains, and long as memory remains, your name will rest on someone’s lips, you are not forgotten, you are remembered.
Love and Respect,
Mateo, 20 years old
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Letter To An Unknown Soldier
Short StoryThis story is a collection of short letters that have been submitted to the Unknown Soldier project. The project is inspired by a statue that stands on Platform 1 of Paddington Station in London, representing all the millions of soldiers who died –...
