Duffy's Army (standard:non fiction, 1143 words)
Author: Lou Hill	Added: Mar 20 2002	Views/Reads: 3508/2237	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A group of young boys play "army" in a small Vermont town during WWII

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trees and sumac.  To us it was thick tropical undergrowth filled with 
all kinds of exotic animals, insects, and snakes and, of course, the 
"enemy." 

Unfortunately I suffered my only "wounds" of my military career during
one of those jungle campaigns, a severe case of "red rump" which may 
have been poison ivy or some allergy to the plant life growing in the 
jungle.  Fortunately it responded to the calamine treatments 
administered by "Nurse Mom."  In fact my mysterious rash was about the 
only real medical emergency suffered by any of the troops. That in 
itself is remarkable considering the duration and intensity of our 
activities. 

One of my vivid memories of the "jungle" was a mountain of empty quart
oilcans piled up behind the station. Since this pile was the highest 
point around, it had significant tactical value.  Many of our missions 
required scaling the heights of "Oilcan Mountain" to establish a 
lookout post. There was still a little oil remaining in the cans even 
though they were all drained in a special rack after their contents 
were poured into a customer's car.  We would end up with liberal 
coatings of oil all over us after a few minutes of mock battle. This 
did not endear us to our mothers. 

On occasion we made longer treks down to the banks of the Missisquoi
River and to the Central Vermont's railroad trestle spanning a small 
brook.  There we would either blow up the trestle for the umpteenth 
time or engage an enemy force led by "Cookie" LaFlamme, another local 
boy who had formed his own troop of fighting "men". 

We also made forays to the point of land extending into the river below
the local Electric Light Department's dam. This area  was off limits to 
most of us by parental order and to all of us by order of the Light 
Department.  Consequently this was a mission that fell into the "Top 
Secret" classification.	Usually these missions deteriorated into a 
search for "fools gold" which used to be found in the area.  As hard as 
I searched, I never found any. 

Eventually all wars must end, even play wars.  Ours was	 no exception. 
The entry of the world into the Atomic Age brought the end of World War 
II as well as the end of our war.  For Tommy and some of the older 
boys, it also signaled the end of youth. 

Some of us complained because we wouldn't have a chance to really fight
Japs and Nazis.   Little did we know that there would be other wars and 
other chances to serve in places with names that we had never heard of 
at that time.  Places with names like Korea, Vietnam, Iraq Bosnia and 
Afghanistan. 

Revised 03/16/02 


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