Their planes were side by side on the tarmac, and their pilots were already there, checking the engines. Ed drove up minutes after Pru got there. He looked fresh and alert, and he smiled when he saw her. Emma had already climbed the ladder into her own C-47 and was checking the supplies. They had used a lot the day before, and her corpsmen had restocked them. Ten minutes later, they were ready to go. Pru glanced at the empty beds on her plane. They were ready for twenty-four men to be brought back to the base.

“Where are we headed?” she asked the pilot. He had the flight plan and the map. She put her parachute on as they taxied down the runway a few minutes later. They went where the battles were hottest, and where they’d been radioed in code that the need was greatest. They would have the wounded ready for them on litters when they arrived.

“We got a call an hour ago. Luftwaffe hit about eighty miles from here. They have thirty-nine men injured. It won’t take us long to get there. They’ve got the boys ready to load, we can take twenty-four and another transport will pick up the fifteen or sixteen walking wounded after us,” he said matter-of-factly, in the jargon that was familiar to her now.

Emma’s flight took off first, and they were right behind her. Pru saw them take off in the opposite direction. The Luftwaffe had been busy the night before. It was an ugly thought, but she hoped that their own boys had done just as much damage in Germany that night. She was so tired of the war. They all were.

The heavy C-47 took off in a velvet sky filled with stars. They would land at their destination before the dawn, and bring the boys back to the base, restock supplies, and take off again. They would spend the day ferrying broken bodies and bleeding men back with them, twenty-four of them on every flight, a never-ending stream of wounded after four and a half years of war. The cities were in rubble. Almost every family had lost a son, or several, and children had lost parents. Prudence sat in her jump seat looking at the night sky. It looked so peaceful. It was hard to believe that they kept killing people every day.

“Beautiful up here, isn’t it?” Ed said softly, sitting just behind her, and he handed her an apple. She nodded in answer and took a bite. “We’ll miss this one day.”

“No, we won’t. How can you say that?” She turned to look at him.

“It gives our lives purpose, and meaning. We know why we’re here. We have a mission, and we fulfill it many times. We have a chance to win again every day, and save lives.”