Sergeant Dick Gunn

So I have this neighbor. He is an adorable 90 year old man. Sits on his porch every single night and waves to every single person who walks by.

Well last night I got to hear him tell some of his stories from World War 2. It was strange because that is the sort if thing I've really only learned about in school. Thinking about everything he was telling us taking place at the same time Anne Frank was writing in her diary and people were being tortured in Auschwitz Concentration Camp was so real. Dick Gunn and all the men he told us about were true heroes.

One of the stories he shared was way impactful to me. One night he was on guard duty and he had received specific orders that if any man should come through not wearing the right uniform that he should shoot him on the spot and ask questions later. It so happened that this night was Christmas Eve and a man came wandering by wearing no uniform at all. Can you imagine being in this situation? Commanded to shoot someone knowing absolutely nothing about them. Wow. I always learned about the war in a textbook like the number of casualties was really casual. It's not. Those deaths were people killing people.

It ended up that Sergeant Gunn didn't kill the man. And all was well for a merry Christmas. That story sure got me thinking though. Also, speaking of Christmas, there is only one other man still alive from his squadron and they still send each other Christmas cards. So tender. What a life changing experience.