RISK TAKING ON STEROIDS

Our pain was incredible, exhaustion followed us, and the anxiety was overwhelming. Yet, we carried on and did our duty.

What reserves existed within us were depleted until we collapsed from fatigue. It always seemed that given a chance, we could sleep forever and a day, but that only came with death and severe injury.

We persevered for our buddies as much as for ourselves. We became an integral part of their survival as we did our own.

We formed an unforgettable chain that needed all the links to survive.

To this effect, we took oaths, made promises, and deeply inhaled. And yet, for all our courage, more than 58,000 of us died.

I shall never understand.

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