Rudyard Kipling"
“When you're left wounded on Afganistan's plains and
the women come out to cut up what remains, Just roll to your rifle
and blow out your brains,
And go to your God like a soldier”
General Douglas MacArthur"
“We are not retreating. We are advancing in another direction.”
“It is fatal to enter any war without the will to win it.” “Old soldiers never die; they just fade away.
“The soldier, above all other people, prays for peace, for he must suffer and be the deepest wounds and scars of war.”
“May God have mercy upon my enemies, because I won't .” “The object of war is not to die for your country but to make the other bastard die for his.
“Nobody ever defended, there is only attack and attack and attack some more.
“It is foolish and wrong to mourn the men who died. Rather we should thank God that such men lived.
The Soldier stood and faced God
Which must always come to pass
He hoped his shoes were shining
Just as bright as his brass
"Step forward you Soldier,
How shall I deal with you?
Have you always turned the other cheek?
To My Church have you been true?"
"No, Lord, I guess I ain't
Because those of us who carry guns
Can't always be a saint."
I've had to work on Sundays
And at times my talk was tough,
And sometimes I've been violent,
Because the world is awfully rough.
But, I never took a penny
That wasn't mine to keep.
Though I worked a lot of overtime
When the bills got just too steep,
The Soldier squared his shoulders and said
And I never passed a cry for help
Though at times I shook with fear,
And sometimes, God forgive me,
I've wept unmanly tears.
I know I don't deserve a place
Among the people here.
They never wanted me around
Except to calm their fears.
If you've a place for me here,
Lord, It needn't be so grand,
I never expected or had too much,
But if you don't, I'll understand."
There was silence all around the throne
Where the saints had often trod
As the Soldier waited quietly,
For the judgment of his God.
"Step forward now, you Soldier,
You've borne your burden well.
Walk peacefully on Heaven's streets,
You've done your time in Hell."
After a while, Piao was dead. Monday, May 17, 1954
Saturday, November 11, 2006
There was little evidence against the Communist jungle-fighter, Piao, except that he was occasionally noisy and sometimes insubordinate, that he once lit a fire when his commanding officer told him not to and that, in the early days of liberation from the Japanese, he had been befriended by Chinese Nationalists. Nevertheless, the rumor spread that Piao was a spy. His trial took place in the middle of the Malayan jungle.
"Are you guilty?" asked the prosecutor. "No," said Piao, whose hands were tied behind his back. Left : October-November 1955 Physical description: Black & white Summary: Portrait of 2/6745 Private John Milne, of 8 Section, 3 Platoon, A Company (A Coy), 2nd Battalion, The Royal Australian Regiment (2RAR) not long after his arrival on Penang, with the unofficial mascot of A Coy, Wilddog. Wilddog was said to be found and adopted by members of A Coy when 2RAR served in Korea in 1953. To reflect this, his collar was decorated with the Korea Medal and the British General Service medal denoting his service during the Malayan Emergency. He was reputedly taken back to Australia from Korea and he lived with A Coy until he was redeployed for active service in Malaya with 2RAR. Pte Milne first met Wilddog as he was preparing for active service in Malaya and they both sailed on the MV Georgic to Malaya in October 1955. He was known to be a boisterous dog and on at least one occasion, tipped a dispatch rider off his motorcycle. On another occasion Wilddog assisted in the theft of a leg of mutton from the cookhouse and was rewarded with the bone. Unfortunately Wilddog was run over and killed by a British truck in early 1957. Credit line: Donor J Milne Copyright: clear
"Were you sent into the jungle by an agent of the Chinese Nationalists?" "No," said Piao.
That was all there was to the trial. The verdict: guilty. Sentence: death by strangulation, to be carried out on the spot. A length of rattan fiber was wrapped around Piao's neck; two comrades seized hold of each end of it and pulled hard. After a while, Piao was dead.
Thus, in the jungles of Malaya, was one Communist recently rendered "politically reliable" by his own comrades, the British army command in Malaya learned last week. There were other evidences of a widespread purge and toughening of the hard-pressed guerrilla forces. British High Commissioner Sir Gerald Templer's firm drive against the Communists has apparently spread discontent and created waverers among the Communists. Over the past few weeks, some 40 suspect jungle fighters have been strangled, buried alive or beaten to death with rifle butts, according to British army sources. After a formal inquiry into the executions, the Communists' own Central Executive has admitted that in some cases, local Communist regimental commanders have acted too hastily. The source.
