#5: Stronger than war

[A true story]
There was a soldier in World War I who was from England and had been sent to the front in France. The front was the most dangerous ( خطرناک ) place you could be sent to fight. It was September 1916. 
     The British soldiers had been ordered to leave their trenches (گودال) and run to attack ( حمله کردن ) the enemy. The British soldier ran through all the horrible gun fire, through all the smoke and noise, and then came to a German trench. But, strangely, the trench wasn’t filled with soldiers. There was only a blond, teenage German boy all alone. His helmet ( کلاه ایمنی ) was
in the mud, not even protecting
( محافظت کردن ) his head. His gun was at his side and his hands folded
( دستها جمع شده ) in his lap. His blue eyes looked up at the British soldier with tears ( اشک ) in them. The two of them were all alone, in an amazing way, looking into each other’s eyes.

     The British soldier slowly put down his gun, gently put his hand on the boy’s shoulder and then ran off. After the war, the soldier finally returned home. He remembered lots of things from those horrible days but, most of all, he remembered that boy, hands folded, and silent.

Now jump ahead 25 years. It’s now World War II and the retired
( بازنشسته ) soldier was at his home, sitting on a white bench in front of his house. The Germans had been bombing cities in England and, on their way back to Germany, they flew across the English countryside. They flew very low and destroyed ( نابود ) homes with their machine gun fire.

     On this particular day, the retired soldier looked up from his white bench and saw a German fighter plane in the sky flying right toward his house with his machine gun aimed at him. He didn’t move but closed his eyes, with his hands in his lap—and waited. At that moment, he remembered his hand gently touching the shoulder of a young, frightened German boy:  It was the gift of love in the middle of war. It was a gift given to both of them. 

     Then there was complete silence ( سکوت ). The retired British soldier looked up. The fighter had flown away and not hurt him. Mercy ( رحمت ) given long ago, came back.

—This story is adapted for English Language Learners from a story by Godfrey John.