All combat soldiers have felt itthe nerve-racking, soul-shaking wave of fear that comes with the first real baptism of firebut few have been able to describe it. One of the best descriptions was recorded this week by Captain Bruce Bliven Jr., in his father's New Republic.
An artillery officer, boyish-looking, 28-year-old Captain Bliven landed in France on D-day with a group consisting mostly of green soldiers who, like himself, "didn't know enough to be adequately frightened."
It was not until the first bombing that he really found out what fear was like. It came in the middle of a bright, moonlit night...