In his remarkable memoir “Quartered Safe Out Here: A Harrowing Tale of World War II,” George MacDonald Fraser shares his experiences in the Burma Campaign as a 19-year-old private in the Border Regiment fighting the Japanese in 1944-45.
In it, he writes about many of the universal experiences of men in combat, noting:
Nobody in his right mind longs for battle or sudden death. But once you’ve trod the wild ways, you can never get them out of your system.
Fifty years ago, I returned home from Thailand, having spent the first four months there flying combat missions over Cambodia. The day I left the war zone lingers in my mind.
On April 19, 1974, I boarded a “Freedom Bird” heading home. That day, my friends turned out to see me off as I returned to “The World,” as we called the U.S. GIs had performed this ritual many times since the war began. We popped champagne and passed it around, and friends said goodbye. It was all so fast, almost a blur, and then over.
I boarded the “Freedom Bird” aircraft taking us home, stowed my carry-on gear, and strapped in........