Gentle autumn breeze and scarlet leaves never fail to bring a smile on my face. With a cup of coffee in my hand, I gazed at the newspaper, only to find on the front page that a sunken boat from 1942 in WW2, was found and brought back to the surface, from the deepest depths of the sea. My eyes welled up with tears, reminiscing that horrible day.
It was a sunny Friday morning in June of 1942, and the sun was cool in Maine. Perfect weather for fishing. My whole family got ready for our annual Friday family fishing trip. If we only knew what dangers awaited us, we could have avoided the tragedy.
My son Alex carried the fishing poles and bait, and my wife got the ice coolers, while I packed our lunch boxes. Our neighbor Jim carried our boat, the Lone Star, to shore and after we got in, pushed us out to sea. After catching some easy minnows and tuna, my son said to me surprised,
“Dad? What is that below the water?”
I quickly said, “ Nah it’s probably nothing” as I saw a huge bluegill.
My wife then said alarmed, “Something is headed for us!”
I then said again, “Don’t worry, as I said before, it’s noth-”
Then, everything went black.
I remember waking up the next day in a hospital, noticing first that I was badly injured, and around my closest friends. I asked them,
“What happened?”
My friends all looked at Jim, my closest buddy as if he should tell me the news. He said sadly,
“Your boat was hit by a torpedo from a German U-Boat, and your boat exploded, killing your family.
“NO! THAT CAN’T BE TRUE!” I sobbed.
“I’m afraid it’s true Mike, you survived because instead of you exploding, you got thrown back to shore, where I saw you and took you to the hospital. We’re sorry Mike. Deeply.”
In the years following by, I decided to become an accountant. Being a fisherman would bring back too many unpleasant memories. It was very different from being a fisherman, but the pay was better and the work was easier. My friends kept telling me to start dating other women, but no one could replace my beautiful wife, and no child could replace my lovable son.
In 1945, WW2 ended. I rushed to the village memorial site, to give my roses to my wife and son’s grave. My eyes welled up with tears, remembering that horrible day. After I fell into tears, I got up, and slowly walked back to my house.
After 5 years, I still get nightmares of that horrifying day. Even though I think I’ve accepted the reality, I haven’t, and I miss them so much. War never brings anything good, it only brings death and destruction.
Great story….emotions and learnings from history…well written Neil!
Great Neil
Incredible depth, vocabulary and emotion for someone so young. Well done.
The flow of story is good and gives a clear idea in the end that war brings only destruction which thou we all accept don’t follow.
Incredible well written
Well done Neil. German U boats were notorious in WWII and you captured it so beautifully. Loved it
Hey Neil
You did great on the story, maybe you could have added more on the part where “I remembered waking up in the hospital the next morning”, you could have maybe added a part like “he widened his eyes seeing the sun glare at him, he realized that he was at the hospital” but otherwise your story is great.