“My father cried too. It meant he didn’t have to go from Berlin to the Pacific.”
I’m here for exactly the same reason. My Dad was Infantry. The number of Japanese killed in the atomic bombings was but a small fraction of what the horrific carnage of a Japan home islands invasion would have been.
The older I get the more I realize what the factor of sheer chance has to do with one’s own existence.
But then, for the gift of life I give thanks to He who made it possible. May God be praised!
My father shot in bridge of nose dragging his wounded lt through a trench. Looked up at the wrong time. 3 inches off bullet in brain. Fate or luck or grace of God