Soldier Dead
Soldier Dead

Author: Michael Sledge

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2007-05-11

Total Pages: 371

ISBN-13: 0231135157

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What happens to members of the United States Armed Forces after they die? Why do soldiers endanger their lives to recover the remains of their comrades? Why does the military spend enormous resources and risk further fatalities to recover the bodies of the fallen, even decades after the cessation of hostilities? Soldier Dead is the first book to fully address the complicated physical, social, religious, economic, and political issues concerning the remains of men and women who die while serving their country. In doing so, Michael Sledge reveals the meanings of the war dead for families, soldiers, and the nation as a whole. Why does recovering the remains of servicepeople matter? Soldier Dead examines this question and provides a thorough analysis of the processes of recovery, identification, return, burial, and remembrance of the dead. Sledge traces the ways in which the handling of our Soldier Dead has evolved over time and how these changes have reflected not only advances in technology and capabilities but also the shifting attitudes of the public, government, and military. He also considers the emotional stress experienced by those who handle the dead; the continuing efforts to retrieve bodies from Korea and elsewhere; and how unresolved issues regarding the treatment of enemy dead continue to affect U.S. foreign relations. Skillfully incorporating excerpts from interviews, personal correspondence and diaries, military records, and journalistic accounts-as well as never-before-published photographs and his own reflections-Michael Sledge presents a clear, concise, and compassionate story about what the dead mean to the living. Throughout Soldier Dead, the voices of the fallen are heard, as are those of family members and military personnel responsible for the dead before final disposition. At times disturbing and at other times encouraging, they are always powerful as they speak of danger, duty, courage, commitment, and care.

The Paranormal Story of a Dying Soldier
The Paranormal Story of a Dying Soldier

Author: Ruben Amaro Soriano

Publisher: Palibrio

Published: 2016-06-30

Total Pages: 98

ISBN-13: 1506515215

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Jose Albino Lucio Amaro! A few minutes before his death, his grandson, a young doctor, called him by his name. Upon hearing it, the old man became confused and in his mind flashed the supernatural works of the gray and scaly angels of death he had seen lurking in the war eighty-three years ago, devouring dead French and Mexican soldiers. With these memories deeply etched in his mind, he had been preparing for death in the midtwentieth century. The somber sound of tolling bells from the atrium of Pueblas cathedral announced the death of a war hero and brought him memories of a distant day, May 5, 1862, when the tolling bells announced the commencement of the war. Without realizing that it was his grandson calling him, he cried out in response, Present, General Zaragoza! The voice of the old man quivered in the last breath of life that remained in him. He answered with the same or perhaps greater amount of ardor in his words when he uttered the same words on that unforgettable day of his youth when he was among those forming rows of thousands of peasant soldiers that comprised the disadvantaged Mexican army. All of them held rusting weapons and swore their allegiance to the motherland in front of the Mexican flag that quietly waved in the thin air of the morning inside the strongholds of Loreto and Guadalupe on that cloudy and gloomy Cinco de Mayo.