Dream - In France in World War II

On July 10, 2008, I had a dream that was at least suggestive of reincarnation, though I don't know if it actually was of a past life.

I remember thinking, while asleep, of US soldiers, and lists of them, and soldiers eager to volunteer for combat missions, feeling that it was an honor. I then saw a tall white cliff with metal rungs driven into it, with the enemy somewhere at the top, and soldiers, widely spaced, climbing the rungs. It was France during World War II.

I was on the beach, on the sand, and I had a huge thick rectangular pack that I had been wearing across my front and apparently another one on my back. I was taking the pack off my front now, apparently feeling that it was too awkward to move around with it on, and as I was lifting it slightly and moving it to the side a heavy bullet struck it about half a foot in from the lower corner, on the side that had been moving across the front of me as I was moving the pack off to set it down. A fraction of a second later and the bullet would have hit me instead. The pack seemed to have stopped it, with the bullet somewhere inside. When the bullet hit I stopped moving the pack and hesitated, then looked around the edge of it at the hole, with interest and wonder rather than fear.