60 years on, his memories still painful

Even now, George Julien can’t bear to watch battle scenes from World War II movies.

It just hurts too much.

Sixty years later, the emotional wounds of war remain as raw as ever, especially whenever he finds himself flooded with memories of gunfire, bloody bodies, the dead comrades he left behind.

“There were so many people who did not make it,” wrote the 81-year-old in his recollections of the war. “To think about all the living I have had that they gave up makes me want to cry.”

Julien, a lifelong Spokane resident, was 20 years old when the U.S. Army drafted him to fight the Germans in February 1944.

He started out as a lineman, then became a messenger for the 695th Armored Field Artillery Battalion. Toward the end of the war, a sergeant assigned him to become a tank driver even though he’d never received any training. One of the drivers had been wounded in the head, and no one was left to drive the M4 tank, he recalled. So they turned to Julien, who ended up in a vicious tank battle the following day.

“It was a real strain on me that I would foul up and get us all killed, but after a short time I got the crew’s respect,” wrote Julien, who spent hours poring through the tank manual to learn more about his new job.

Being out there in battle was “like living on death row,” he said. He prayed a lot of Hail Marys, fearing that each day would be his last.

“Life was worth nothing,” recalled Julien, his eyes brimming with tears as he described watching friends die and the piles of bodies that littered the streets. “You got used to seeing death in a hurry.”

The effects of war lingered long after Julien returned home. For years, he hardly spoke of the atrocities he had witnessed in Europe. But the memories continued to haunt him. He suffered from nightmares. On several occasions, family members found him hiding in a closet, shaking as though he were reliving the trauma all over again.

War also led to permanent hearing loss as a result of being too close to all those explosions. During one battle, a bomb blast blew out his eardrums and blood spurted out of his ears. Since he was still standing, medics didn’t bother to treat his wounds.

Julien hopes Americans will never forget the lessons of World War II and the sacrifices that were made in the name of freedom. Only if people remember can we prevent future world wars, he said.

“I love my country so much that I was willing to give my life,” said Julien, now retired after starting his own excavating company in Spokane.

“I was young, I was tough then. … But I learned how fortunate I was to come back alive.”