THE VALLEY OF SHADOWS
The late U.S Senator George McGovern who died at the age of 90 was a bomber pilot in the Second World War. In his book my life in the service: the world war 11 diary of George McGovern he says that every bomber pilot was tasked with flying 35 missions. And once you got to your 35 th mission, you were allowed to go home. The 35 th mission ought to have been a source of great joy but it was a source of tremendous terror. It was famously unlucky to fly on the 35 th mission. Many were terrified of it because so many of their friends died on that last mission. George remembered as a young bomber pilot, being ready to take off to bomb Germany. Far ahead of him was a long line of bombers taking off. The first bomber in the line was piloted by a very young pilot on his first mission. And as he was preparing to take off, the pilot spawned his plane, crashed and effectively blocked the runway. Just behind him in the line was a crew of pilots flying the 35 th mission and George wo