Journal WWI                                                         June 30, 1917              A soldier died in Johnny’s room today. He had both of his arms amputated. But before he went with God he said,” Let those who live through this hell be strong, kind, and respected by those around them. For no one knows the meaning of life until they go through war.” And then he was gone. It was a moment in which I will not forget.              Johnny had not improved over the last 2 weeks. He had only gotten progressively worse. The burns and cuts had become infected on his arms and legs and they had began to show signed of gangrene. The doctors wanted to operate on his to remove the damaged tissue and hopefully take away the infection. I knew that there was a possibility that he wouldn’t make it through the operation but I never thought that it would actually happen. I hugged him just the same and hoped to god that he was able to come through this.                They operated for 2 hours and finally when he came out he was covered in bandages once again. He was sleeping and I wanted to be there when he woke up. He slept for 5 hours before he began to stir…he started to cry. He didn’t say anything but tears streamed down his eyes.                 “Are you in pain Johnny? What’s the matter?!” was all I could say. He looked at me with his blue eyes and he squeaked out,” Dimples…I love you.” And then his eyes closed and he went limp. I just looked at him in disbelief….”Johnny! Johnny!” I tried to revive him for 20 minutes, for half of an hour. All of the nurses stood and watched and  just stood. I didn’t want to give up but the orderlies had to take the body away.                  My brother…my only brother…my twin…why did he sign up for this?…why didn’t he go to college?…why was there a war anyways?… I sat in my room for hours crying. I tried to look on the bright side of things- well at least I got to spend time with him, at least I was the last thing he saw before he left, and at least I was able to be with him when he needed someone. But there was always the dark side- I would never see my Johnny again. Susie died on August 16, 1917. She had swallowed some mustard gas which aggravated previous stomach problems and caused disease. It was two days away from her and Johnny’s 18th birthday.