“How many?” I asked.
The general paused.
“Twenty-three people came out because that seven-man team went in.”
I stared at him.
Twenty-three.
Grandpa had never mentioned one.
The general continued.
“The operation became complicated afterward.
Some details remained restricted.
Recognition was delayed.
Then records were scattered across commands.
Several members wanted no publicity.
Your grandfather was apparently the strongest voice among them.”
That sounded like him.
I could hear his answer in my head.
That was a long time ago, sweetheart.
“So the ring…”
“Was made by the men themselves afterward.
Seven rings.
Same symbol inside each band.”
“What does the symbol mean?”
The general’s mouth tightened into a faint smile.
“A route through mountains.
At least, that’s the simple explanation.”
I turned the ring around my finger.
“And you recognized it immediately?”
His smile vanished.
“My father had one.”
The room seemed to shrink.
I looked at him.
The general reached into the collar of his dress uniform and pulled out a thin chain.
Hanging beneath it was a silver ring, more worn than mine but unmistakably similar.
He laid it in his palm.
The same shape.
The same aged metal.
The same small engraving inside.
“My father was one of the seven men who followed Thomas Hail into that valley,” he said.
For a moment I couldn’t speak.
The general looked at Grandpa’s ring, not me.
“My father talked about Sergeant Hail exactly three times in my entire childhood.
That was more than he talked about almost anyone from the war.”
“What did he say?”
The general swallowed.
“He said Hail was the reason he came home.”
I looked away.
I had made it through Grandpa’s hospital room without crying in front of him.
I had made it through the funeral.
I had made it through packing his house while my parents discussed a real-estate agent over the phone.
That sentence nearly broke me.
The general continued quietly.
“My father was wounded during the evacuation.
He told me your grandfather carried part of his weight for several miles.
When another man wanted to leave equipment behind and move faster, Hail redistributed the load so nobody had to abandon him.”
“That sounds like Grandpa.”
“I imagine it does.”
Then the general asked the question that hurt most.
