Mickey Plass was an old man. He had a limp when he walked and he wore hearing aids, but his memory was still sharp as glass. Mickey carried a black and white photo of a soldier on a half-blown-up bridge. The young man’s legs dangled off the side.
“This way,” he said to his wife, Penny, as they made their way through the beautiful city of Salerno, Italy. She held his hand.
It had been over fifty years since Mickey had last visited Salerno. The last time life brought him this way he wore a helmet on his head and held a rifle in his hands. That was back in 1943. He had lost his good friends Dominic and Jeremy here. Sometimes he still saw their blood on his hands, still heard the bullets – felt the rumble, the thunder of heavy shelling and artillery.
Sometimes in the dead of night, he still woke with a start, hearing the call of “Medic!” from somewhere beyond the grave. Maybe it was dozens of his brothers checking in on him.
Mickey stopped walking. As he peered at the pedestrian bridge before them, the photograph trembled in his hand.
“Is this it?” Penny asked, her voice a breath above a whisper.
Mickey stood in muted silence, for his mind had gone somewhere else.
“Make it out of this thing, okay?” Dom had said to him through a mouthful of blood as bullets rained all around them. “Live a good life for me…you hear me, dammit?”
Tears rolled down Mickey’s cheeks. “I did, Dom. I came back to tell you I did.”
“What’s that?” Penny said — quieter, somehow.
Mickey pulled her close as the two took in the sight of the bridge. “Oh…nothing, dear.”
***
Jeremy Plass holds a picture frame in his hands as his father is lowered into the ground and the flag is raised.
There are two photographs in the frame. The first – on the left – shows a young soldier on a bridge, legs dangling, a small smile on his face as his eyes squint against the sun. The second photograph shows an old man on the same bridge, legs also dangling. His smile stretches a mile wide – perhaps he is laughing. And his eyes…his eyes twinkle in a magical brilliance, somehow transcending time, place, and memory itself.
Thank you so much for reading “Salerno” — I hope you enjoyed it. Even more importantly, thank you to all service members who have fought and died to protect freedom and democracy both here and around the world.
Happy Memorial Day!
A perfect Memorial Day story.
Excellent and touching story, Justin. A fine tribute to the brave souls who gave it all for their country.