Time Machine – July 18, 1918
Ernest Hemingway, 18, is seriously wounded on the Italian front by an Austrian mortar shell that explodes just feet away. The blast knocks Hemingway out, wounds many others, and kills an Italian soldier. Accounts of what happened next are unclear.
One of Hemingway’s comrades wrote that, ignoring over 200 pieces of shrapnel lodged in his legs, Hemingway manages to carry a wounded soldier back the first aid station. The Austrian line makes their offensive, and Hemingway is shot in the legs multiple times before reaching safety.
Though this specific event is not certainty, Hemingway’s sacrifice is unquestionable. He is awarded the Italian Silver Medal for Valor with the official Italian citation reading: “Gravely wounded by numerous pieces of shrapnel from an enemy shell, with an admirable spirit of brotherhood, before taking care of himself, he rendered generous assistance to the Italian soldiers more seriously wounded by the same explosion and did not allow himself to be carried elsewhere until after they had been evacuated.”
Hemingway was denied entry into the military due to his poor eyesight. He volunteered immediately for the Red Cross’ ambulance service. While he survived his tour, Hemingway was heavily affected by the things he saw; his day-to-day jobs would often involve collecting dismembered bodies and slaughtered civilians.
The experience he gained from seeing combat and experiencing war became the foundation for some of his greatest work, especially A Farewell to Arms. Hemingway never escaped the haunting shadow of war, and had to wrestle with his memories throughout his life.
“There was one of those big noises you sometimes hear at the front. I died then. I felt my soul or something coming right out of my body, like you’d pull a silk handkerchief out of a pocket by one corner. It flew all around and then came back and went in again and I wasn’t dead any more.”
God Save the Books,
C. Harder
Pages to Pixels 
Hemngway was one of my favorite authors in high school, but I haven’t read him in a long time. Thanks for this little reminder.
I’ve never seen that top picture before. It doesn’t look like his others. I love the stoic reputation he constructed for himself.
Hemingway’s that jam.
It does help me have more respect for him- I am in a Fitzgerald/Hemingway class at the moment, and I have a tendency to get irritated with the expatriate scene. But I am just about to start reading A Farewell to Arms, and I think I will like it better than The Sun Also Rises, which I just finished (Lady Brett Ashley really pissed me off!)
Ironically, that class sounds like my dream for me. The A Farewell to Arms is fantastic. The Sun Also Rises is weaker, but it’s good that Brett pissed you off! I think that was the intended effect. You should post back after reading A Farewell to Arms and tell me what you think!
You mean after I finish Farewell to Arms? I just finished TSAR. I am actually liking A Farewell to Arms more. His war imagery is brutal.
The main thing I didn’t like about TSAR was the ‘adults who don’t work and just travel around Europe getting drunk’ part. I liked reading about Pamplona, and so I think I may pick up Death in the Afternoon at some point. And of course I like his fishing stuff.
Sorry, yes my mistake. I loved A Farewell to Arms. Something about his understated style coupled with his ability to explicitly emphasis the horrors of war (like you said) gets me. I haven’t read Death in the Afternoon, but I think I might as well.
edit: Re-reading my post, I got everything all mixed up. I must have been out of it.