Uncle Elwood was my mother’s young brother. He was so handsome, like Errol Flynn. I suspect his childhood was pretty bleak with no money and no father. He was in trouble when he joined the Army as a teenager. After Pearl Harbor, all we knew was that he was somewhere in the Pacific. With Uncle Elwood fighting the Japs, I figured I was okay.
When my mother was working, our maid Maddie would let her son come over. “Those Japs skin our soldiers alive!,” he said. Maddie punched his arm for saying that in front of me. It was too late.
When we didn’t hear anything for years, we assumed he was dead. And then he was back. Uncle Elwood had survived a Japanese prison camp. He never left the Army, so they gave him a promotion and sent him to some safe place far away from combat.
Fate knew where he was. Uncle Elwood was in a jeep accident that left him shattered again.
It was cruel of my mother to dismiss him as an alcoholic. He married the nurse who cared for him, he continued his Army career, and when he died he was buried with military honors.
Poor man. The Japanese thought of those who surrendered as disgraceful and treated them in a way consistent with that belief. Elwood and Fate. The latter, as with Oedipus, didn't play fair.
ReplyDeleteWhat a tragic story and depicted with love and admiration. 💞Camille
ReplyDeleteJoanie, I never heard this story before. Thanks! Robyn
ReplyDeleteMy mother didn't talk about him much. I didn't realize how bad it must have been for him until I was older.
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