So in my high school there is a class open to seniors that covers the history of World War II. As the class begins to wind down my teacher got a hold of a local veteran who fought in the Pacific Theater during the war.
It was very interesting hearing this man tell us about his experiences during his time in the United States Marine Corp. during this time. I mean sure we play games like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor all the time, yet the reality of that time period still seems so far off in the past. It almost changed my view of games based on historical wars, not so much in the way that I will never play them again but it just made me appreciate the people who served in those times even more than I had before.
Some of the stories that he told us were amazing. One story that we heard was about when he and squad were clearing out a Japanese tunnel that was littered with bodies of Japanese soldiers. So they began walking through the tunnel with nothing out of the ordinary happening and all of a sudden the man tells us that his friend yelled "Get Down!" and as he hit the dirt a Japanese soldier fell to the ground also. One of the Japanese soldier had been playing dead and tried to take a swipe at our speaker with a samurai sword. That sword is now a sovereign of the veteran who spoke to us.
We always see veterans speak on History Channel specials about their experiences in World War II and I have a profound amount of respect for them and any veteran who has served their country, but it was just a great experience to meet this man and hear his stories about his life as a Marine during this time.
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