Ensign Scott Bradley James wasn’t at his post on the morning of Dec. 7, 1941. Waking up far from his base to the sound of buzzing, James wondered if he was back at home in Florida, tending to his mother’s beehives. A few moments later, he realized that the insistent sound was, in fact, waves of Japanese Zeros attacking American soil.
It’s a moment that somewhat echoes Pvt. Prewitt, in James Jones’s famous tale “From Here to Eternity.” Luckily for James, he’s AWOL for a much gentler reason: to spend the night with his girl, Kai.
