THE WALL OF FACES

my name is fred arnold. as a kid growing up on north franklin street in wilkes-barre, pa. everybody called me freddie. joey borick was my next door neighbor and we were friends. he was a year older than me but we played together alot. he came from a family of seven children and he was the second youngest, older than only one sibling, a sister named stella. she was a year younger than me. anyway, we were friends and did a lot of stuff together. sometimes we got in trouble for doing things that boys normally got into trouble doing in the 1950's. but we had good times together. when he got to high school we weren't as close but we were still buddies. when he enlisted in the army during the war, i was scared and i know he was scared too because i wrote to hhim before he went to nam and after he got there. he told me he was scared and and worried. he was lonely for his home back in wilkes-barre and his family. he was looking forward to when he completed his tour of duty and could leavethat hell on earth. he was only there a month and then he was dead. when i found out, i was numb and shocked. i could not believe he was dead. his family could not believe he waas dead either because his older brothers: sonny, stevie and richie had all been in the military and had survived. i was an altar boy and served at his funeral mass. i will never forget how sad his mother, julie, was at the mass. she was in so much pain and it showed on her face. joey's brothers and sisters were also very sad but i will never forget julie clutching the american flag to her chest and crying uncontrollably. no one should have to outlive their children. in the bible it was looked upon like a curse from god to outlive your children. julie should never have had to bear such pain. i cried then and i am crying now because joey and i never got the chance to develop a friendship that would have carried us into adulthood. at the age of 18, he was still a kid and was never given the chance to have a full life. i am gratefull today that he was patriotic but i wish i could share that with him now.