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Show EDWARD G. LUEDERS Febru To go down and play piano for them - I loved that experience becau e it wa to others. I still do it. 1 200 imp rtant WIN: That's wonderful. Well, Ed, you've had a great life. If you look back on your lifl how would you evaluate the military experience - as far as how your life has developed? How much ... EDW: I can't conceive of my life without it. It would be entirely imagined. It was so central at that time. This is true of all the young men who have military experience, I expect, whether it's war centered or not, the military experience for you - you give up your liberty in the name of liberty. You give up your freedom, in the name of freedom. WIN: Not always voluntarily, though. EDW: Not always voluntarily, except that if it isn't voluntary, and you fight it - probably you'll have a different set of memories. I did, to some extent, illustrated in this recurrent dream I have about being in the Army .. It's a great- I already did that! I'm not supposed to have to do that twice! Or, if I do, I'm going to do it myself because I choose to. Well, I did it. And I was a part of it. And that whole sense of the pre-war, postwar, as well as the war time itself, is undoubtable. That set of experiences when I was in my 20's, that formidable age when you are no longer a teenager, no longer developing in that respect, you're embarked, you're not mature (as maturity defines itself in time). But you are an adult, and you are living into an adult life which is not yours, it's your mission's, it's your country's, it's your people's, its your beliefs, it's an irreplaceable part of a life that I've lived. I can't imagine myself without it. 70 |
