What is it that binds combat veterans together? It isn't friendship. We all have friends.You can go to a company picnic or a convention and you will not feel the same emotion in the air as when you attend a veterans reunion! It is something beyond regular friendship.It is knowing that "You and they have been to hell and back." It is a deep rooted emotion that binds you together. It is the knowledge that when things were tough, you and your buddies stuck it out and lived through it. You can attend High School reunions, College reunions, Company conventions. The whole civilian works, But there isn't the "Band of Brothers" feeling that is felt when combat buddies get together. You and your buddies may have less hair on top and a lot more inches around the belt-line, but deep within all of you is the same comradship that you had during those horrible days of War. Whether it is ten years or fourty years.When combat buddies meet it seems like yesterday! All the memories seem to assemble in your mind memories that you thought had been pushed back into the recesses of you memory bank "Whatever happened to..."a nd "Remember when.." You try not to. You try not to let on that these old Veterans mean a lot to you, but by the time Auld Lang Syne has been played and the flags furled and the stationwagon,packed There is a tear in your eye as you part company with the men who once lived and fought beside you. You tell your wife: "Damn it was good to see them again and it was! Yes." Memories flood your head as you head for home. No one knows the feeling except those of us who were there. You wonder if you will see any of them again. Combat was Hell and you may have many terrible memories of death and destruction, but the memory of total Comaraderie with men who shared that Hell will forever be embedded in your heart.. There is no friendship like that of combat buddies. Shipmates: May God Bless you all! Back to Cry Havoc! #45 Table of Contents Back to Cry Havoc! List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 2004 by David W. Tschanz. This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com