How to Save a Life

There is a bronze soldier standing on the courthouse lawn in Smithfield. He has been there since 1926. He stands at parade rest — chin up, eyes forward — with the posture of a man who doesn't yet know what's waiting for him.On the stone beneath his feet: forty-seven names.Buck Hill. Pearlie H. Harris. Maudius Godwin. Charlie Wall.Tobacco farmers. Mill workers. Farm boys from Four Oaks and Kenly and the banks of the Little River. They went to France. They did not come home.