He had a couple of interesting experiences as a reporter for Stars and Stripes in Europe. He flew as cargo on an Eigth Air Force Raid (over Schweinfurt, I believe). His plane took flack damage and it scared the bejeebers out of him. He narrated a film of the raid.
He also crossed the Remagen bridge on the first day that it was captured. At the time the area was very weakly defended by the Wehrmacht, and only a handful of U.S. troops and a couple of tanks had gotten across it. (The Americans, finding it hard to believe their luck, rushed reinforcements across as soon as possible.)
He also possessed that most essential of all elements for happiness: gratitude. He appreciated how lucky he had been in his life. He made a show of misanthropy and loved to grouse, but we loved him, because deep down, we knew it was a fascade.
He never shook off the reflexive and unthinking New Deal liberalism that most people of his generation had become innoculated with. To Andy it was always 1965 in Selma, 1969 in Saigon, 1940 in Europe, 1929 on Wall Street, 1968 on campus.
For Andy, Ed Murrow was still reporting the blitz from London and Bill Paley was building the greatest broadcast news team in history. Dan Rather was a young pup, who still had to learn the ropes. And Hyannisport truly was Camelot.
Great thoughts on your #65 post.