Drown

XI: Hero of War

Thursday 6th September 1945
Stephen-Paul's RCAF award ceremony
Ajax, Toronto, Canada
NARRATOR'S POV

It is now Stephen's award ceremony, but what he doesn't know is that I've written to his friend and pen pal Douglas from the RAF and I've invited him along to be the one who awards him with his respective medals. We've now arrived at the ceremony where we will see our boy get awarded medals for an incomplete mission, where he almost drowned to death but at least he's alive now thankfully, so I think having invited Douglas it'll be a nice surprise for him to see his saviour award him with the medals that he deserves for his participation in the battle and his dedication to the RCAF and his small crew in his bomber plane when they came under attack by the dreaded Luftwaffe. The award ceremony is now underway and after sitting listening to one of the senior officers of the RCAF reading and calling out the names of the recipients who went before Stephen, after going through a couple surnames starting with W the officer called:

"Stephen-Paul Thomas Whibley!" He gets up and heads towards the small stage where the officer is standing, he stands in front of the man who then says to him:

"It won't be me who'll be awarding you with your medals, son. It's Douglas Bader from the RAF who'll be awarding you with your respective medals" just then Douglas appeared from the side of the stage and on his way toward Stephen, picked up his medals that he would be awarded with in a few minutes time. I should perhaps mention Stephen's irrational fear, Thalassophobia (the fear of deep water), which he developed not long after returning home from London after the Battle of Britain because obviously he nearly drowned, so it would make sense that he's developed this phobia after a considerable amount time under water. Douglas then stands in front of Stephen and starts to award him with the medals, starting with the Victoria Cross, then the Cross of Valour, the Order of Ontario, the Medal of Bravery, and finally the Medal of Sacrifice. He then stands beside all of the other recipients, sporting his new medals that adorns his dark blue pilots uniform. With the ceremony finally over, I'm glad that I won't have to see Stephen in a military uniform again because as I've mentioned before, there can't possibly be another world war after this because there would be no point at all, because Hitler's dead, the Nazi regime has disbanded due to the death of their ruler; not so sure what can be said about the Communist Stalin and Fascist Mussolini, though. All in all, I guess everyone is fed up with dealing with another futile war, if there was ever going to be another one again in the foreseeable future which I highly doubt anyways. In the last thirty one years ever since World War I started, I've dealt with Deryck's sensorineural deafness and shell shock after the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917, dealt with the Prohibition in the 1920s, the Great Depression in the 30s, and of course more recently, needing to deal with Stephen's drowning in the Thames during the Battle of Britain five years ago and the aftermath of that disaster which is of course his developed fear, Thalassophobia. When Stephen went up to receive his medals, James and Christopher tagged behind and once Stephen's medals were pinned on his uniform, he picked up the two boys who were each fiddling with Daddy's new medals. After the event was over, we all went our separate ways. With the Second World War finally over, we're all relieved that we won't have to put up with anymore trauma within our family and our friends.

He said "Son, have you seen the world?
Well, what would you say if I said that you could?
Just carry this gun and you'll even get paid"
I said "That sounds pretty good"

Black leather boots
Spit-shined so bright
They cut off my hair but it looks alright
We marched and we sang
We all became friends
As we learned how to fight

A hero of war
Yeah that's what I'll be
And when I come home
They'll be damn proud of me
I'll carry this flag
To the grave if I must
Because it's a flag that I love
And a flag that I trust