My son in laws parents took me and my wife to several Catholic Churches while we were in Austria. They took us to the one they were married in as well. However, they are much younger than me because they were born around 1965. And my wife was born in 1955. However, I was born in 1948 much closer to when the war ended (World War II).
On the wall of one of the Catholic Churches which dated back as far as 900 AD in this area were all the boys this church lost during the war which reminded me of the faces of all the young men who survived being Hamas Hostages. I think about 25 young men survived it said in the news yesterday. I wondered what had happened to all the women and children who had been hostages of Hamas (Just like everyone else on earth) and why only 4 bodies of these were returned out of many more).
However, I thought as I looked at the photos of the 25 or 30 dead young men who were Austrian who died as soldiers during World War II in the Church I was very moved by the pain the locals had felt when they all died. All these young men had likely grown up in this Catholic Church because Austria is a Very Catholic Country just like Italy.
I began to think of one of these soldiers being a
Messerschmitt Fighter pilot trained in 1940 who died it said in 1942 on his plaque at the church. I imagined him and what his life was like and what is was like for all the people then who were very Catholic and forced to fight in this war. They had no choice really if they wanted to stay alive. I suppose some fled to Switzerland but then their families might not let them back when the war was over. But, if they wanted to stay in Austria they had to fight in World War II whether they wanted to or not.
This made me think about all the wars in Europe and Around the world and all the people forced to fight for people they didn't believe in. Like for example, how many soldiers in the U.S. (of every rank and service) really hate Trump and wish he was gone because he is destroying our democracy and stealing all our rights and freedoms one by one?
So, being in Austria is giving me an entirely different perspective than the brain washing every country does to it's young people so they will fight for that country whether they should or not and die along the way. So, what is real?
Especially with Trump in Charge I began thinking: "How many soldiers that are American are dying right now around the world with all journalists (at least American ones) forbidden to report about their deaths?" (and how and why they died). So, it's possible Americans will never know who they were or how they died or what strange thing they were doing when they died.
Sort of like the Movie "A Clear and Present Danger" with Harrison Ford. So, that would be in relation to Venezuela right now or anywhere else on earth.
I imaged this
I began to think of one of these soldiers being a
Messerschmitt Fighter pilot trained in 1940s a fighter pilot flying many missions mainly to England to protect German Bombers from British Fighter planes protecting their country. And I imagined this pilot being shot (his plane) where the bullets from the spitfire British plane pierced his gas tank so when he flew back across the English Channel he didn't have enough gas to make it to France or Germany or Austria and had to ditch the plane after it glided into the water without any gas. I imagined how he died there that day with no one to rescue him alone in the water. Then I realized this must have happened many times to Austrian and German Pilots (Most of which didn't want this war in the first place) because they really had nothing at all to gain in it and likely could only lose in the end. then I imagined their parents and relatives and wives or lovers or potential girlfriends some killing themselves directly or indirectly when this handsome Austrian pilot didn't come back from the war.
Being here in Austria gives me an entirely different version of all of this because of the Catholic Churches going back to 900 AD.
My son in laws Parents also told me that anyone who became a Protestant was forced to leave their village which they felt as also wrong to happen too.
This happened in waves from the 1600s on.
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