父親の思い出 Memories of My Father

昨日、高校の同窓会があった。みんな７６歳か７７歳である。私の隣に座った男と戦争のことを話していたら、このようなことを言った。
「私は、父親の思い出がない。というのは、私が赤ん坊のとき、父は中国で戦死したからだ。湖南省の衡陽市というところだ。父は徴兵検査の時に甲種合格で入隊した。入隊後、近衛兵に選ばれた。近衛兵に選ばれるのは、県下で一人か二人だ。体格が良くて、特に優秀なものが選ばれた」

彼は、県下で一人か二人ということを、何度も繰り返し、父親の自慢話に変わっていった。「俺の父親、家系は偉いんだ、お前らのとは違う」と言いたげである。私は適当に相づちをうって、いやいや聞いていた。
私の父は、体が小さくて、丙種だった。丙種の者は戦争に行かずに国民兵役についた。父は体格が貧弱であったおかげで、８２歳まで生きた。私には父親の思い出がいっぱいある。

Memories of My Father

I attended my high school reunion yesterday. The participants were all either 76 or 77 years old. When I was talking about WWII with my neighbor at the table, he said: “I don’t have any memory about my father, because I was a baby when he was killed during the battle in China—in Koyo City in Hunan. He passed the physical examination as a first-grade coscript and entered the army. Soon he was chosen as a member of the Palace Guard. Only a few men were chosen from each prefecture as the palace guardsmen. They had superior brains and strongly-built bodies.”

He repeated the words “only a few men were chosen” and sounded as if he wanted to say, “My father and my family are superior to your father and your family.” I felt frustrated and just pretended to be listening to him.

Since my father was small, he was ranked as a third-grade man in the body check. Because of that he was not assigned to battlefields aboard and lived to be 82 years old. I have a lot of his memories.