I'm really diverging now. But here goes. The book I'm reading is about a battle that the US Marines fought on an island called Pelileu. It is all but forgotten these days. But it was one of the worst battles the Marines ever fought in the Pacific in WW2. Worst ... in terms of the casualty rates. The island was all solid coral - they had nowhere to dig in.

Anyway, I sat down over breakfast in L.A. this past weekend. There was an 85-year old man across the table. So I got talking to him ... and lo and behold the guy had served with the Marines and had fought at Pelileu. He lied about his age when he was 16 years old, got into the Marines, was sent across the Pacific, and got thrown right into the "meat grinder". I could not believe it! So I bought him breakfast. :-)

The story of what happened is in the book "With the Old Breed", by E. B. Sledge. It's a book that a lot of Americans should read.

Pete #2