William Brown

A Slow Song on the Wireless

You must understand I was only a child then, and I did not truly grasp the nature of that day. There was a tense stillness throughout the house, that I remember. Of course, I don’t think any child grasped the gravity of the situation at the time. It’s one thing to be told your father is leaving to fight in a war, and another thing entirely to understand what that means. Everyone understood war in some way or another at that time – everyone except for the children. Though in truth, I’m not sure my father truly understood either. He seemed enraptured by the sense of glory and duty, with the horrors all too readily swept under the carpet. Perhaps that was for his own sanity.