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This was all depicted to her in the first of
A woman peered out of her window Wildcat fighters and various other several of his letters to come.
Aboard amidst her heart racing with aircraft, its might and power in full She received a letter like any other on a

uncontained excitement. In front of her
display. The deck and runway were a
lay a parade of fatigued homecoming sight to hold. He was recruited for the fateful day with gloomy skies of ominous
the soldiers yet with happy faces. Amongst candour and confidence of a twenty grey. However, it contained words that

echoed his hopelessness and despair.
the crowd full of commotion stood
two-year-old with the rosy glow which
out a tall, skinny, rather plain looking dimmed his eyes from the truth. Despite Having witnessed first hand a fire
Enterprise individual with brown eyes, a flat nose that, a vague feeling still loomed in him, breaking out in one of the hangars below
something big, destructive was always
deck, with some of his crew perishing in
and sharp ears.
lurking around the corner. Nonetheless, the carnage. In his fighter squadron, the
A familiar face. At first glance, he pride still boomed in his spirit. Although number of fighter aircraft getting shot
Written by Teoh Ooi Pin Liang reminded her of someone she knew. the daily exercises, such as flight drills, down had become a common sight. He

were exhausting, his efforts were all sensed a gigantic battle looming ahead,
As he approached nearer, the smile worthwhile. He felt he was serving a involving the likes like no other, with
on her face vanished. It wasn’t him. A greater purpose to both the country rumours of the enemy’s planes dotting
consoling gust of wind led her to the and men. The runway was always a the sky, blacking it out. A simple letter
pile of opened letters strewn across the welcoming sight to him when landing, may be a final farewell to her. Soon came
table, mildewed with the passage of with lights illuminating its deck during many sleepless nights, he felt his fate
time. stormy weather and choppy seas. being intertwined with that of the ship.

However, he comforted himself with
The Enterprise, an aircraft carrier, There was a mention of the Armed the thought of returning to her warm
advanced for its time, 30,000 tonnes Service Editions magazines at his bedside embrace with her look of weak innocent
of steel floating in the Pacific. Bristling in the letter’s contents, though the nature and vitality, which he had long
with anti-aircraft guns, its deck riddled sleeping quarters with its navy grey walls lost. He had changed. He spoke no more
with Douglass torpedo bombers, and vanilla white bunk beds were rather of the youthful zeal he once possessed.
cramped and a dull sight for many. This He had come to the knowledge that
was compensated with the Enterprise’s letter writing was a trial. Youth, dreams,
gorgeous hull. enthusiasms and appetites had been his
enemies and had betrayed him into the
grasp of the war.

He was not the same man who first

35 Illustration by Yip Zhen Yen 36