Chapter Seven
Raji
On the long flight from Burma, I rode in the number three aircraft, while Fuse was in number eight. I saw him for only half an hour at the airfield near Columbo, Ceylon, while the planes were being refueled. We were then off again on the last leg of the flight to Ethiopia.
When my plane landed at the remote airstrip, everything seemed peaceful. I stood under the wing of the plane with Major Kala-Byan, watching the other planes come in.
When the ninth and final aircraft touched down and cut power to its engines, I was startled by the booming explosion of an artillery piece that had been camouflaged in the brush at the far end of the runway. Almost immediately, the ninth plane was blown to smithereens.
The whole place erupted in a roar of machinegun and small arms fir
