¹𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗺𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘆 - 𝘴. 𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘨𝘦𝘳𝘴 ✓

𝗰𝗵𝗮𝗽𝘁𝗲𝗿 𝟭

𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝘆𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗰𝗶𝘁𝘆
𝗷𝘂𝗻𝗲 𝟭𝟵𝟰𝟯

Steve Rodgers sat in this enlistment office in his underwear. Around him many other young men were doing the same. Most were reading newspapers. All the headlines were bleak, ELITE NAZI FORCES OVERRUN NORWEGIAN TOWN read one, U-BOATS TORPEDO SHIP OFF COAST OF VIRGINIA, read another.

Steve was currently reading about a Czech village being burned to the ground when the army doctor called, "Kaminsky, Henry." The man sitting next to Steve stood up.

He glanced at the headline on the newspaper Steve was holding, "Kinda makes you think twice about enlisting, huh?" He asked Steve.

He lowered his paper to look at the man. Steve was much smaller, shorter, skinner and frailer compared to the other men in the room. But he refused to let that intimidate him.

"Nope." He answered.

"Rogers, Steven." His name was called. He made his way over to the army doctor.

He stood anxiously as the man examined his file, "What did your father die of?"

"Mustered gas." He answered. His father had served in The Great War many years earlier "1918. He was in the 107th Infantry. I was hoping to get assigned to them if-"

"And your mother?" He cut him off.

"Few years back, she was a nurse in the TB ward. Got hit, couldn't shake it." He answered, his face expressionless.

The doctor shook his head, "They weren't weak, Doc; they were fighters. If you just give me a-" he tried to plead.

"Sorry son. Your ineligible on your asthma alone."

"Your can't do anything?"

"I'm doing it. I'm saving your life." He stamped a 4F on his file.

Steve stared glumly at it as the doctor put it in a filing cabinet, "step aside please." The doctor said as he called the next name, "Brown, George."

He walked out of the building. He had been turned away so many times. Each time he would make a new identity and hope that just this once he would be accepted, but he never was. He knew it was illegal to enlist with a fake identity but he didn't care. He felt useless. All the other men had gone off to war and here he was, working in a factory.

Across the street there was a movie theater. He decided to catch a show to take his mind off of things.

"One ticket please." He said to the women working the booth.

"25 cents please." He handed her a quarter and got his ticket.

He settled down in his seat just as the newsreel started. "As Hitler's troops continue to ravage occupied Europe, on the home front, enlistment
centers teem with the able-bodied, eager to help our allies."

A few rows ahead a man yelled, "They're just tryin' to get outa workin' for a livin'."

Steve looked down the aisle to see a women with tears streaming down her face, she clearly had a man over seas. Steve felt sorry for her. He knew what it was like to have a family member serving.