In his quest for information about the bombing of Dresden, the narrator wrote to the Air Force, hoping to learn more about the reasons of the decision. His only official response at the time was “that the information was still top secret” (11). How the bombing of Dresden could be considered classified when it had such a devastating effect on so many people is just one of many absurdities highlighted by the narrator in his quest to provide a balanced view of the war. Private Slovik by William Bradford Huie details the only execution of an American soldier for desertion during World War II. The narrator cites the opinion of a judge advocate who supported Slovik's conviction, stating: "If the death penalty is ever to be imposed for desertion, it should be imposed in this case, not as a measure punitive nor as punishment, but to maintain that discipline through which only an army can succeed” (45). It is difficult for those who are not in the military to sympathize with the idea that a soldier should have to die so that the army can maintain unit cohesion and, essentially, teach a lesson to other recruits who may want to desert their job. Furthermore, it illustrates the paradoxical nature of militaristic actions, where one is forced to fight against enemies who wish to harm them, or risk death at the hands of their fellow soldiers if they choose not to beat. At a Lions Club luncheon Billy witnesses, Ilium, a Marine Corps major who had served in Vietnam addressed the attendees. The Marine spoke of his experience serving in Vietnam and his view that "Americans had no choice but to keep fighting...until the communists realized they couldn't forcing their hand... middle of paper... Presenting the bombing of Dresden as tit-for-tat in an attempt to rationalize civilian killings is abhorrent to those who view life as sacred, regardless of which side of the line. civil where we are. Saundy is much more sympathetic to those who lost than Eaker. their lives in the Dresden attack. Saundy believed "that the bombing of Dresden was a great tragedy that no one could deny" and that it was unnecessary to the Allies' efforts to win the war (187). However, he defends those who directed the bombings, saying that they "were neither evil nor cruel" but were forced to make a difficult decision at a decisive moment in the war (187). Saundy presents a much more humane view of the bombing of Dresden than Eaker. Saundy does not attempt to justify or condemn the bombing; rather, he describes it as one of the many horrors of war that can only be viewed as such in retrospect..