A War Worth Fighting (Robert Lowe)

I had just completed my nightly rounds when I glanced into Robert's room. He was awake in his bed just staring at the ceiling.
"Hey Mr. Lowe, how ya feeling?"
"Like a thousand pennies. Heavy as hell and not worth a damn." I laughed. It amazed me that even with how grim things looked he still had a sense of humor.
"Well I think we could get a bit more than ten bucks outta ya." He smiled before waving his hand at me. I looked at him solemnly for a moment. "Mr. Lowe, I wanted to ask you... how can you be so fearless in a time like this?"
"What, you mean being sick?"
"Yes. I think if I were told I was dying I'd be pretty upset."
"Well, when you've seen true courage, you realize just how small of a thing dying can be..."

It was 1917 and I, being a headstrong young man, felt it neccessary to help our neighbors across the sea. I joined the military and sure enough President Wilson had us sent over. The first few weeks was relatively peaceful, but when the fighting came, it came hard. I was stationed in Austria-Hungary. When we arrived the fighting had already begun. Our English comrades were peppering the German lines with grenades and shots as they prepared for a run. The last group to try and cross No Man's Land fell about half way through leaving a bloody line marking mid-field.
"Men get ready! You're the freshest we got so get ready to move!" The general yelled over the gun fire. I looked over the walls to see two rows of Germans making a move toward us, and saw the next second when they all stopped crawling at about the same point as our crew.
"When you go, crawl! Makes a smaller target even if it is slower!" I was practicaly shaking in my boots as we lined up ready to go. The Machine gunner prepared his gun to give us a few minutes of cover while we made our way across.
"Alright boys! Three two one... GO!" At his word we jumped from our places guns in hand and rolled onto the dirt. The machine gun fire behind silenced the German fire for a bit, but only until it reloaded. Next thing we saw was rows of German barrells pointed our direction. The gunfire fell upon us like a metal hail storm as we crawled forward. A shot hit the two men beside me. I was scared so much that I jumped from my position, just to be hit in the leg. I fell over onto the ground and lay still, hoping that a stray shot didn't come over to hit me. I lay there for what seemed like forever when I felt a hand grab my jacket and start pulling me to safety. Next thing I knew I was thrown into the trench and stared at my saviors sillouette as he rushed back out to get whoever else was left.
Hours later as I layed in the medic tent I found out that the man had been General Kufeir. I also found out that he had died from multiple shots he had aquired during his resuce of five men. I remained at war till it was over, and now I look back and see that it was all to make his sacrafice not in vain...