Hogan walked through the woods. As he looked at himself he wondered, because he still wore his American AirForce uniform.
As he walked deeper into the woods, he was attracted by a shimmering light from the forest floor.
There, beneath the brown leaves lay a dogtag, which blinked in the light of the full moon. As Hogan reached down a small voice in his head seemed to warn him, it seemed like a little reminder of what had already happened. His mind wanted to protect him from this experience, because it remembered the past.
Hogan ignored this, reached down and picked up the tag.
Andrew James Carter, Sergeant, Us Army AirCorps, 87654321.
Hogan did not have the time to wonder, because another blinking caught his eye. It was Newkirks dogtag.
As he proceeded with his journey, he found another one. LeBeau.
The dogtags seemed to pave his path towards something and he followed, picking them up.
Kinch, James O´ Connor, a member of the Goldilocks crew, Luke Brown, his navigator, Michael Riley, the tail gunner.
This seemed to go on for kilometres and Hogan continued to pick up the tags of the men he had come to know since the early 1930´s.
Finally, he reached the end of the trees and he looked over a field, which seemed like liquid silver in the moonlight. Suddenly, he realised that he was no longer holding all the dogtags. They now paved the field in front of him, together with the tags of many, many others.
Out of curiosity, he picked up another one, but it contained the name of someone he did not know, Hans Müller. He picked up more of the tags and only found German names, Italian names, even a few, that seemed Japanese.
As he looked up once again, he saw that all the dogtags were gone. They had been replaced by pieces of paper. Curiously, he picked one up and read.
We regret to inform you, that your son Sergeant James Geoffrey Hogan was killed in action.
He threw the paper away, as if he could throw the truth away, together with it. Then he picked up another one.
We regret to inform you, that your son Colonel Thomas Dean Hogan was killed in action.
Hogan shook his head and grabbed fiercely to get another paper, and another one.
We regret to inform you, that your son Sergeant Andrew James Carter was killed in action.
Next paper.
We regret to inform you, that your son Sergeant Ivan James Kinchloe was killed in action.
He continued, only to find that all those people he knew had obviously died. What had happened? Anger washed over him, together with pain and hatred, but in the moment he felt the hatred the papers vanished and were replaced by crosses. Crosses with German names.
Confused, he turned towards the woods, only to find his confusion rising at the sight of his long dead father walking towards him.
"Son, you hate the Germans for what they are doing, but haven´t you killed as well?".
"Yes, but I did not want to, I-".
"Even on the German side are people who are doing things they do not want. There is more pain in war than gain. You say, that the allies are winning, but both sides will have lost to this war, lost young men, lost the innocence of others. There are more victims in a war than those who die, son.".
Hogan nodded.
"After the war, there will be a lot of hatred in the world. Even after sixty years, the memories will remain. Young Germans will be held responsible by some people for what their grandfathers have done. This is not right, they are not responsible for what has happened, always remember that. People who hate Germans, because they are German are nothing better than the Gestapo. Son, after the war, go back to Germany and see, what will become of this country.".
Hogan nodded again. His father gave him a wink and walked away.
Hogan looked at the field again and saw, that it was green. The crosses had vanished. The only thing left were the dogtags of his friends in his right hand.
He placed them softly onto the ground. Then he reached for his own and put them together with the others.
There was a bright flash of light, then darkness. Suddenly, as if a large hand had hit the light switch, the moon lightened up again, but now, words were written inside it.
In a German land, the friendship grew
and the hope of the world, was forged anew
five heroes held the head up high
and marched against a darkened sky
when darker days have faded past
the friendship will still be there to last
When he had finished reading, the moon fell down onto the earth and the dogtags melted away in the bright light. When Hogan opened his eyes again, he saw that the tags had melted together and formed a small figure.
He picked it up and looked at it. It was a silver sculpture of a bear. Hogan smiled.
Papa Bear
He turned the sculpture around and found a small inscription on the bottom.
Made in Germany
A soft knock brought Hogan back to reality. He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and looked at Kinch, who had come in.
"Colonel, message from London. Another mission.".
Hogan smiled. Papa Bear.