my dearest anna,

i am very happy to tell you that this will
be my final letter written from the battlefield. I will be headed
stateside very soon and am excited to see you again. my time here has
passed without scarcity of good men. The entirety of this company has
become family to me. every one of them has displayed valor and have
shown themselves outstanding beyond any doubt. These men have saved my
life countless times and through the thick of it have helped me to pull
through. we all wish to express to you our gratitude for the events that
have us all
shipping home within the week.


Our enemy
was fierce and it dawned on us that any man fighting so hard must be
fighting for something he loved. We would share stories about home and
loved ones any time we could afford to remind of us that we could not
die. we figured the men on the other side of the line most likely did
the same. we longed to return to peace more as each day passed and
eventually decided to find a different solution to this seemingly futile
war. we looked for a way to resolve the conflict peacefully.


having not been able to advance for some time, we figured being so
evenly matched meant that we may have many things in common with the
opposing troops. we wanted to know what they were fighting for at home
and so it made sense to us that we show them our reasons.

The
next morning we prepaired for another attempt to advance on a bunker
that had us pinned in trenches for days. we filled our pictures of loved
ones into an old can pulled from the dirt and vowed that we would get
to them no matter how far. i pulled the picture that has
comforted me through hell from my pocket and attached a small note to it with glue from a
med
kit. i remember a tear running down my face as i kissed the can saying a
prayer. i placed the can in my pocket and began crawling toward the
bunker near dawn.

we flooded the trenches on our bellies with
me at point to get the message sent. many of us were closer to the
bunker than anyone had gotten yet. we were terrified. I put a rock in
the can fearing that it wasn't heavy enough to throw to them from where i
was. i was too scared to go any closer. i laid on my side and couldn’t
help but believe that an angel was carrying that can as it flung from my
hand right into the gun hole of that bunker. there was a loud ruckus of
men screaming in terror for a brief moment and then, only the sound of
sand shifting in the wind.


"white flag! I see hands!" a man from the rear yelled.


I am told that the four men who first came out first stuck their hands
out from the side of the bunker then slowly walked around front with no
weapons. when I raised my head up from the trench they were already
sitting on the ground with their hands on each-others shoulders.
Everyone's riffle was aimed at the bunker when our rear let out a cry
with the megaphone saying "the rest of you come out and we will not
attack. we do not want to attack. we want to go home."
I quickly
wiped the mud from my eyes so I could see what was going on. I have
never been so scared and happy enough to cry at the same time. paranoia
trumped my confusion but I
seriously had no idea what was happening. a total of 64 men had surrendered in front of our remaining 25 that day.


still expecting deceit, the men searched all soldiers sitting in front
of the bunker at gun point. a few of went inside to clear the building
for any explosives that may have been set and the bang that we found was
nearly beyond comprehension. There were three men inside
chattering across radio and frantically flipping channels. before we could stop them one of or
translators
almost lost his shit as he told us that they were radioing everyone
they could to tell them what had happened and to spread the news to the
other American troops down the line as well. one man was on the line
with a high ranking officer demanding a truce!

I immediately
walked outside and let them know that the building was clear, that we
found what looked like all of there weapons laying around as if they had
all dropped them where they had stood. I then told them about the
situation on the radio and almost everyone lowered there rifles, some
men dropped to their knees and began crying. It was clear then that none
involved on that field wanted to serve war any longer.

a man
reached forward to give us the can of pictures I had thrown and soon
after everyone was showing their pictures of who they loved. like an
annoying squeak that had sounded forever finally stopping there was the
very alarming sensation of not knowing what was to come.
fortunately it was dinner.


as we shared our rations across the field we got to know a little
about who we had been fighting. we came to an understanding that we were
all forced to be here by men we didn’t know. all for reasons we didn’t
know other than we were told our family would be killed by the enemy if
they were not defeated.

I was handed a radio, it was my
general calling. He said that the enemy was relaying a message across
the front lines on open channels and that the origin of it was the
bunker that we
occupied. he told me that white flags were popping up
on both sides of the line in all directions and that a diplomatic
hearing has been scheduled to happen A.S.A.P

he had been
monitoring the transmissions personally and had come to find that those
first for men that came out of the bunked had no loved ones. he said
"the reason those four soldiers risked their hides was because of your
note. the reasoning for the rest of them was being the ones with
something to loose, they should be the ones to honor it." the general
then told me that for being the man who threw the can I was to receive
the medal of honor. when I told him that I would not accept it unless
all 25 of our men were awarded he agreed.

we got word on
radio that the whole front had put up white flags on both sides and had
forced the government into calling a cease fire. two days later a field
reported showed up to get my interview about my nomination for the Nobel
peace prize. I told him it was news to me and I didn’t want anything to
do with it. I sent him back with a message explaining that what we did
was express an emotion inherent in all men. we simply wanted the freedom
to love our family and realized that fighting couldn't grant it. I told
him we didn’t want a medal we just wanted peace so to let the world
know we're coming home.

your last letter tells me that you will be away for the next month so I have arranged a short
layover
in Florida to see a few relatives before making my way to Montana. I
will see you very soon. we could not have done it without you.

with every bit of love,
Michael

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