'It Could Have Been You'
By: Source: AARP.org Date Posted: 2003-01-21 09:12:40
"One of the saddest things I ever saw, when we were flying wing (beside) a plane that got hit, was the gunner in the big bubble at the very top. He was right there in plain sight, beginning to go down. He just waved his hand goodbye. There was nothing you could do. You saw the plane break up. You saw it catch fire. You saw two chutes, one of them burning. The dark truth—you were secretly glad. It could have been you."
—John Ciardi talking about his WWII experience
Excerpted from Studs Terkel's Pulitzer Prize-winning book, The Good War (The New Press, 1984).
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