It's A Small, Ugly World

It seems that one of the POWs currently being held in Iraq is from Pennsauken, NJ, where I lived for a largish chunk of my childhood. According to the article, the guy is exactly my age and graduated from Pennsauken High, so I probably attended the 9th grade with him. His name doesn't ring a bell, which is odd, because according to the article he's a science fiction fan, and you'd think I'd remember that. Then again, I never really talked to much of anybody when I was in the ninth grade, so maybe it isn't all that surprising.

In the last Gulf War, a guy from Cherry Hill, NJ, where I lived in my late teens, was a POW. I didn't know the guy, but, if I'm remembering rightly, he was a good friend of a friend of mine's brother. I do remember that his badly-battered face was on the cover of Time magazine, and that local businesses refused to display copies out of respect for the fellow's family.

Connections like that really do bring it all home a bit, I suppose...