Army & Navy - COMMAND,THE DRAFT,MORALE: Not in Bed

COMMAND

Near Iceland, the big B-24 Liberator bomber bored through dark and dirty weather. A British base had radioed a warning: weather bad. From the bomber came the laconic reply: "Continuing."

Visibility was zero. On his first pass the pilot missed the field; he circled for another try. Staff Sergeant George A. Eisel, in the tail turret, caught a blurry glimpse of the ground. Then, with a rending crash, the plane tore itself to wreckage against a low hillside. Eisel was hurled from his seat, forward among the dead. Flames licked close enough...