With the clock ticking down toward takeoff, the airline looked for one volunteer
Good luck with that, I said to myself. Even with the $200 in airline credit they were offering, why would anyone give up his seat? Still, I was curious how they would select the unlucky passenger. A lottery? A spelling bee? A boxing match? I took a seat near the gate to watch how things would play out.About 20 minutes before boarding was due to begin, the gate attendant clicked his microphone and made another announcement.
A few more minutes passed uncomfortably. There was a second airline employee at the gate now and the two co-workers conversed in hushed tones. Was it time for the battle royal at last?One of the gate agents walked from behind the desk and approached a man I’d noticed sitting by himself in one of those airport wheelchairs. The man was elderly and wore an embroidered ball cap that marked him as a veteran. I couldn’t see what was written on it. “Vietnam,” probably. Or maybe “Korea.
Even before the enticement had been sweetened, I’d made my decision. I walked to the elderly man. I could see now that his hat said “Iwo Jima.”“I bought my damn ticket three weeks ago,” he said.Wilmington, he said. He’d been at the Hilton Crystal City for a reunion of veterans of Iwo Jima, the bitter battle that began in February 1945 and ended five weeks later at the cost of 27,000 U.S. casualties, including 7,000 Americans killed.
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