"Kharkov"
by Anthony Roberts
an old man who rolled with Patton sitting on my grandfather’s porch always talked about tank battles long into the night had model tanks in his dining room I was not allowed to touch them or the frame on the wall that held Tech Sergeant Stripes 3 bronze stars (all with Vs) 4 Purple Hearts the World War 2 Victory Medal the busted duck He held the models with care (I didn’t know he’d built them) compared them Shermans Tigers Panthers the T-34 he spoke with admiration of the simplicity of the Christie chassis talked about Kursk and Kharkov “That must have been a hell of a fight watching the Russians blow the shit out of those Nazi fuc-“ -a stern look from his wife, I was only 9 after all- “Anyway, those were tank battles, nothing like what I saw” I thought he’d seen it all the medals said so for him to be awed Kursk and Kharkov they became places enshrined in my mind battlefields like Gettysburg where once ended there would be no further fight the ground could hold no more blood oil hydraulic fluid tungsten iron copper steel humanity Until today when I heard the news tanks fighting in Kharkov
Anthony Roberts is a veteran of Baltimore and Afghanistan. He currently lives in New Jersey in a home with beautiful views and interlocking fields of fire.
Listen to our Savage Wonder episode with him here.
He is the author of the Pushcart Prize-nominated Pigtown and The Clearing Barrel.
You can follow him here.
Learn more about the Veterans Repertory Theater here.
Loved this.