Letter from a Navy Pilot
Anonymous
Battle of Midway
The Fates have been kind to me. When you
hear people saying harsh things about Amer-
ican youth, you will know how wrong they all
are. So many times that now they have be-
come commonplace, I've seen incidents that
make me know that we were never soft, never
weak.
Many of my friends are now dead. To a
man, each died with a nonchalance that each
would have denied was courage, but simply
called a lack of fear and forgot the triumph.
If anything great or good has been born of
this war, it should be valued in the youth of
our country, who were never trained for war,
who almost never believed in war, but who
have, from some hidden source, brought
forth a gallantry which is homespun, it is so
real.
Out here between the spaceless sea and sky,
American youth has found itself, and given
of itself, so that a spark may catch, burst into
ame, and burn high. If our country takes
these sacrifices with indifference it will be the
cruelest ingratitude the world has ever
known.
You will, I know, do all in your power to
help others keep the faith. My luck can't last
much longer. But the flame goes on and only
that is important.
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