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."
LAST year, Google catapulted Sybil Kathigasu into the spotlight by
dedicating a doodle to the wartime nurse on her 117th birthday, which
fell on Sept 3. As a result, Sybil’s name became one of the most trending searches of
that week and with it, her epic display of courage gained global
attention. Sybil’s refusal to yield to Japanese soldiers who tortured her for
information on resistance fighters earned her the George Medal for
courage in 1948.
Time magazine, in 1948, referred to her as the “Edith of Malaya”
after Edith Cavell, a British nurse who was executed by a firing squad
for aiding the escape of allied soldiers during World War 1. Sybil and her husband, Dr Abdon Clement Kathigasu, operated a clinic
in the small town of Papan, on the outskirts of Ipoh, Perak, where they
covertly supplied medicine, and provided medical services and refuge to
resistance fighters for years until their capture in 1943.
The couple also surreptitiously shared information gleaned from BBC broadcasts on banned shortwave radio sets. Sybil’s lips were sealed even when Japanese soldiers hung her
7-year-old daughter, Dawn, from a tree with her hands bound and a rope
tied around her chest with burning coal placed under her.
