War Wounds Quotes

“Matthew had won this battle—a battle in a war marked no more by yards on an open field, but by scars unseen.”
― Steve V. Cypert, Scapemaker

“One small boy jumps over a table, pulls his jumper and shirt up, and turns his back to us to show where shrapnel wounded him when he was three. His classmates shriek with laughter.”
― Richard Flanagan, Notes on an Exodus

“I'm sorry," she said quietly, knowing that he was thinking about Mark Bennett, the friend he hadn't been able to save. "I know why this medal is so odious to you."
Christopher made no reply. From the near-palpable tension he radiated, she understood that all of the dark memories he harbored, this was one of the worst.
"Is it possible to refuse the medal?" she asked. "To forfeit it?"
"Not voluntarily. I'd have to do something illegal or hideous to invoke the expulsion clause."
"We could plan a crime for you to commit," Beatrix suggested. "I'm sure my family would have some excellent suggestions."
Christopher looked at her then, his eyes like silvered glass in the moonlight. For a moment Beatrix feared the attempt at levity might have annoyed him. But then there was a catch of laughter in his throat, and he folded her into his arms. "Beatrix," he whispered. "I'll never stop needing you.”
― Lisa Kleypas, Love in the Afternoon

“I imagined what cutting off a leg entailed, what it must have looked like lying beside the rest of his body. What does one do with a severed leg? I wondered.”
― Karie Fugett, Alive Day: A Memoir

“Though the drugs were prescribed to treat the pain of physical wounds, the guys also used them to bury the emotional ones that doctors largely neglected.”
― Karie Fugett, Alive Day: A Memoir