The Death of Anton

Anton grabbed the mouse, squeezed it until he could no longer feel life in the little beast, and then quickly popped it into his mouth. 

"I told that story one time and four people quit eating and walked away from the table," he later told The Old Man.

"He ate little insects and worms," The Old Man said, tearing up a little bit.  "Anything to survive."

But stories like these were not important on Saturday, the day when Anton was laid to rest in a small cemetery in mid-central Minnesota.  The little memorial flyer featured a picture of a fisherman, and highlighted his love for fishing.  It was a time to grieve for the man that had a family and was a member of the community.

But it wasn't his fishing that made Anton remarkable; it was his ability to cheat death and live to be an old, old man.  You see, Anton ate that mouse over sixty years ago, and only because he was very hungry.  He survived the Bataan Death March, when the Japanese moved POWs mercilessly.  Then, if that wasn't enough, he was loaded on a Japanese "hell boat."  It was torpedoed, and Cichy was only one of a few men that didn't drowned. He was rescued while floating on the sea by a Chinese freighter.  Later, as he was being flown back to Europe, the airplane engine stopped, and the pilot made an incredible landing.

Anton's obituary was brief, and mentioned nothing of his wartime service.  His headstone will have nothing on it referring to his active service, nor did his memorial service flyer.  And that is the way it should be, for Anton Cichy knew that the whole of one's life is not defined in any one decade.  It was not defined in what was done to you, but how you survived adversity. 

Thousands of World War II veterans die every month worldwide.  With them go the remarkable stories that hopefully will be captured forever.  That's the only way we will help the next generation remember how important it is to try to survive the most difficult times in life.