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understood that when David had died.

    *    *    *

    As their fourth weekend at Kirkstead approached, Holberg told them all to rest on the forthcoming Sunday because that evening they would be going on a night-flying exercise.
    It was overcast with a definite chill in the air, the sort of day that held the promise of dreary autumn. Harry decided that was a day he would write home.
    As he sat staring at the blank sheet of paper before him he couldn’t quite believe the situation he found himself in – he couldn’t guarantee he would even see his eighteenth birthday that October, never mind the coming Christmas.
    He knew he couldn’t write these things in a letter to his mom and dad. What would they think if he told them he was convinced he would be killed in the next few weeks? They were worried enough about him going off to fight already. He also knew that the crew’s letters all went through the communications officer and were all read and censored.
    He picked up a pencil and began to write.

    Dear Mom and Dad,
    You wouldn’t believe what happened the other week … we all went down to this pretty little village straight out of the movies to a rummage sale and I bought you a couple of cute little treasures, which I look forward to giving to you.

    Even as he wrote it he felt a twinge of unease. Wasn’t that tempting fate?
    He rubbed out I look forward to giving to you and wrote will look good on the fireplace , then racked his brains trying to think of something else to say …

    This nice old lady called Mrs Gooding took me under her wing and helped me out with the Limey money. Then she took me and John Hill back to her house for cake and tea. We met her granddaughter Tilly, who is staying with her for the duration of the war. She was really sweet.
    They’re not all sweet though, the English. If they fight Hitler as fiercely as their old ladies judge their cake baking contests, then we’re going to win this war easy!
    Please don’t worry about me. My crew are all really good buddies and I feel safe up there in the sky in our Flying Fortress.
    Every day brings new excitement and amazing experiences. We’re all looking forward to having a chance to get back at Hitler. I’m taking everything one day at a time, wondering what tomorrow will have in store.
    Your loving son
    Harry

    He was quite pleased with that. He hoped he’d make them smile and stop them worrying about him for a brief time at least. He knew that as their only remaining son they must be terrified of losing him too.
    Harry had always felt guilty about his brother and wondered if he had been responsible for his death. Thetwo of them had been out in Manhattan in the high summer of 1941 – on a trip to the Museum of Natural History. It had been a few months before Pearl Harbor. Harry had been fifteen, David sixteen. On the subway there, David had started to feel ill and Harry had cajoled him into staying with him. They had been on their way to see some new exhibits in the Museum’s Akeley Hall of African Mammals. They had both been talking about it all week and Harry didn’t want to miss it.
    Throughout their childhood David had always taken his elder brother duties very seriously so he stuck it out, keeping his younger brother desultory company as Harry admired the herd of elephants and the pride of lions – marvels of modern taxidermy.
    It was only when Harry noticed David had gone white and there was a sickly film of sweat on his forehead that he realised he needed to get his brother back to Brooklyn. By the time they got home, David was feeling dizzy and having trouble standing up. Harry was beginning to feel sick too, but he didn’t mention it. He was feeling bad about the way he had behaved.
    The Friedmans had taken their elder son to the Beth-El Hospital and when they got back Harry was delirious with a fever. He was taken in too. Harry and his brother were among the first casualties of the 1941 polio epidemic.
    No one really