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Before the major could speak, Barsov pointed at the letter and exclaimed: "I know the handwriting on that letter, and unlike you, I'm not going to quibble with you for an hour about whether it's real. That letter was written by my wife . . . I know anything that's in that letter you've forced her to write . . . I'm still not going back." After nine hours the major finally returned with his lone catch, the flight sergeant, who wanted to go back in the first place. The plane was also returned.
"Everyone Listens." Last week Pirogov and Barsov held a mammoth press conference in the Camp McCauley officers' club. They explained to the world what made two officers in the Red air force, the most privileged group in Russia, choose to join the tens of thousands of Russian soldiers and civilians who have made their way to the West since 1945. "The Party," said Pirogov, "does nothing to meet the needs and desires of the people." "And elections aren't free!" shouted Barsov, banging his fist on the table. "They must vote at the point of a gun . . . The army doesn't live badly, and especially the air corps; but the farmer who represents the majority of Russians lives so badly and is treated so badly it pained me, so I decided to leave."
Both flyers had been regular listeners to the "Voice of America" broadcasts. Said Barsov: "I believe everyone within range who has a radio listens to the broadcasts . . . The Russian people are really interested in life in the United States and they know the Soviet press and radio are not giving the true picture."
Pirogov and Barsov were eager to start learning about the western world. Shown a bathtub, they started to climb in with their shorts on; they thought it was a small swimming pool.