"He died shortly after that was taken," Reid says.Reid is telling his stories again today somewhere in Marche or La Roche-en-Ardenne, Belgium. Virgil York, changing socks in a snow-filled scene in Samree, Belgium. Another shows him standing with a machine gun at the Siegfried Line in Germany.
We were talking about health care when he tossed out that tidbit.A few days later, I was sitting in his living room in Oakmont, flipping through old photos.One shows him with his 81 mm mortar. Reid, an 85-year-old retired dentist from Santa Rosa. Reid in his World War II memoir "Never tell an infantryman to have a nice day."This column started with a "by the way."As in, by the way, "I am leaving on Tuesday for Belgium to participate in a number of activities commemorating the 65th Anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge."(I'm often amazed at how many people I encounter in Sonoma County have such remarkable "by the way" stories.)This one came during an e-mail exchange I had last week with Robert S. I can assure you that we were getting mighty concerned." - Robert S. And if you haven’t, hopefully they give you some small measure of understanding for what those who have fought have been through."In the afternoon, we could hear the rumble of tanks heading our way and soon we were called upon to fire at the tanks of the 2nd Panzer Division and the 116th Panzer Division that were headed directly at us. (We did not, however, count Star Wars – go cry into your Wookiee dolls, nerds.) If you’ve ever been on the frontlines yourself, these movies will resonate. As a result, this list runs the gamut, from depictions of very real conflicts, including both World Wars, Vietnam and the so-called ‘War on Terror’, to fictional battles occurring on faraway planets. In considering the greatest war films ever made, we paid special attention to those movies that view combat from multiple angles. Why do we fight? What happens when it’s over? And ultimately, is it ever worth it? They ask the important questions about the nature of war itself. But the best war movies go deeper than mere cinematic bravado. Military conflict is at the centre of some of the greatest films ever made, and no wonder – few other man-made nightmares serve as such natural backdrops for suspense, horror and heroism. War is hell, but hell makes for great drama.
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