Old Tom

Back in the early 1970s I worked with a guy named Tom.  We worked in the carpenter's union and would ride together into the city each day.  Tom was a quiet, good natured guy in his 50s, of Italian decent and a Catholic.  He was a World War II veteran who was wounded and captured at the Battle of the Bulge.  A sober and true personality; he was of that "aw-shucks" generation who would not hesitate to defend his country, or open a door for a lady.  Tom was an all around decent guy, not given to sarcasm or enmity, nor cheap flattery or deception; the kind of guy you could depend on.

 One day while driving to work I mentioned a movie I had watched the night before; "Agnes of God."  It is a true story of a Catholic nun who gave birth and then murdered and buried the child.  Apparently she had sex with a gardener or workman.  After much sparing and bantering between police and church authorities, the nun was transferred to another diocese.  I mentioned to Tom how upset I was at the nun getting away with murder.

Tom didn't comment immediately.  He stared out the window and after a while began to speak.  He told me that he was in the combat corps during the war, in France.   The combat corps duties involve construction projects.  This particular project was a road and approach to a bridge to be built across a small river.  The excavation for the road took the crew behind an old convent.  As they were working, they suddenly unearthed a small skeleton, the remains of an infant.  As they continued to work they found more little skeletons, soon there were dozens.  The commanding officer ordered the work suspended and the French authorities were notified.  Crews were brought in to dig the bodies up and transfer them elsewhere.  That is all he said.  Tom was still staring out the window, neither of us said another word the rest of the ride in to work.