Simona Škurková

 

     I was young, definitely too young for this kind of experience. But let me tell you the whole story. At the beginning, many many years ago, I was really eager to join the army because I wanted to prove my courage by fighting for the freedom of our country. But when the big day came, I was afraid, terribly afraid. It was a real nightmare, only with one difference - I wasn’t asleep.

     I was sitting in a plane several miles above the Earth's surface, shivering with cold but sweating at the same time. I couldn't stop thinking about pain and death. The plane was heading south towards the French coast – the most terrible place of that time. Normandy – even the sound of this word made me shiver.

     But the worst thing was that we didn't know what to expect … or rather we were afraid to admit to ourselves that this terrible journey into the Unknown might be real, that we are finally going to face the enemy.

     What is it like to kill a person? Are the enemy soldiers human beings like were are? Those questions got into our minds and we couldn't get rid of them.

     Everything was changing too fast. One day we were at the military base complaining about flavorless food and boredom, and the next day we were in the middle of the enemy gunfire.

     It was the most traumatic experience I’ve been through in my whole life, but it definitely proved one thing – that we know absolutely nothing about our future.

     We were well-trained for fighting and killing, but nobody could ever prepare us for the uncertainty and anxiety we had to face there. All those memories … I wish I could get rid of them. Or maybe people need these memories not to forget how awful the world might be when the only certain thing is war.