When I was a child, I had hundreds and hundreds of plastic soldiers of all sizes and types.
I could play for hours with my toy soldiers.
Setting them up and knocking them down was fun, I even made my own sounds and noises and sometimes spoke for the soldiers.
Sometimes to them.
A few months ago I was at a garage sale, a man about 70 years old had a box of soldiers, and plastic trucks and tanks from World War II. German Soldiers, Japanese, American. all in a shoe box. Price tag $20.
I bought them and asked who they belonged to, he said “ME”.
I said not any more, they are mine now.
Would you like to come over and set them up and knock them down with marbles.
He said, yes, but getting down to shoot would be a PROBLEM.
I said me to him, me too.
I think he did want to play, so did I.
As children, we did not consider the losses to family members when a soldier became a fallen statistic.
Or what happened to soldiers who were with their buddies when their buddy was killed or maimed.
We as children would just set them back up and knock them back down again.
Today, I know better.
This website is intended to let you hear the voices of soldiers who have fought in our wars.
Their victories, and losses.
I do hope you enjoy these radio shows!
I was the HOST of THE VETERAN NEXT DOOR for 6 years and when I would be invited to speak to veterans, I would always tell them, you were who I pretended to be when I was a child.
-Randall Baxter
Host and Author of: THE VETERAN NEXT DOOR and VIETNAM:ON THE OUTSIDE LOOKING IN.