“He used to sit on my lap when he was a kid and we’d read The Red Badge of Courage. That was far and away his favorite story.”
“Now I despise the day I ever picked up that wretched book.”
Sliding his arthritis-ravaged fingers under his thick glasses, Anthony Bradford wiped the tears from his eyes.
“I think we all knew from his letters that he was getting the feeling like something was moving in on him. He asked us to pray for him–I mean really pray him.”
“I’d pray that God would keep him safe and bring him home to us. But that’s not what my grandson prayed for. He prayed for courage and that he wouldn’t be afraid. I think most of all, he prayed that he wouldn’t compromise like that Fleming kid did in the Red Badge story.”
“Well my grandson didn’t compromise–he’s a hero and, more often than not, heroes come home in pine boxes.”
Looking down at the worn carpeting, Anthony Bradford carefully folded his hands and pursed his lips.
“Now, I’m not proud of what I’m about to say but I’d a rather have him run and live instead of fight and die and there’s nothing in this world that’s gonna make me feel different.”
The Red Badge of Courage, written in 1895 by American author Stephen Crane, has been hailed as one of the most influential war stories ever written. In it, the main character–Henry Fleming–learns about the true meaning of courage only after he runs away from a battle. Later, Fleming achieves redemption by returning to his Battalion and courageously engaging the enemy in a fierce encounter. Following the battle–in which Fleming sustains a wound and finally gets his ‘red badge’–he returns home a hero and a changed man.
But what makes for good reading doesn’t always hold true in real life.
On October 26, 2007, the 2,000th U.S. soldier died in Iraq. Of those dead, more than 500 have been Marines. More than half of all the casualties have been 17 to 25 years old.
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