Harry and Oliver used to be pupils at Ysgol-y-Preseli.After school theyplayed basketball in Whitland andoccasionally,I went to fetch them.

Tired beyond talking by then, they'dhave theirsandwiches and power-drinks from the Co-Op in Hendy-Gwyn-ar-Daf.

Once,we sawHawks from Brawdyout on an exercise.

'How old do you have to be to fly aircraft?'

I wasn't sure, but George Bush Senior was an eighteen year old pilot during the Second World War.

'He was eighteen?' -(they were fourteenish then). I knew how their minds worked. Four years and they could be in the air.

'He was often sick before going out on a sortie'.

'You mean really sick? Because he might be shot down?'

Thenthere was the eighteen year old Japanese pilot whotook part in the attack on Pearl Harbour.

'Sitting downto breakfast one morning he heardthe words,'Tora, Tora,Tora'.Thecode they were waiting for.

He returned to his room, changed into clean silk underwear.'

('Why? Because hemight be shot? Killed?')

'He ate two rice cakes,prayed to the Buddha. (Harry had a Buddha in his room. They'd learnt about comparative religionin school.)

'The Wing Commander led the formation. He putthe eighteen year old last, at the back, with an experienced navigator.

Thepilot keptone hand on the bomb release button and the other on the joy stick. It was difficult to keep in formation, because of the turbulence created by the other aircraft.

He expectedto beshot down at anytime.'

('Because he was the last? And the guns would get him?')

'The navigatorcounted themdown.The pilotwent very low, lower than the others.

Hereleased thebomb, they hit target.The plane had to turn sharply,slowing it down, butthey got back to base.'

'How do you know this?'

'I read itin the "Sunday Times".An American Museum asked the pilot for his uniform.'

'Did he give it?'

'Raid on Entebbe', the 'Yangtse Incident', 'Sink the Bismarck' and others I forget now were also popular with the boys.

I stopped these stories. Oliver and Harry liked them too much.

They're going to the School ofArt, Sir Gar. I'm relieved.

'Why?' asked my daughter.

'I was afraid they'd go into the Forces after the stories I've told them.'

'Mum. Are you nuts? They'd never get into the Forces.I have to drag them out of bed each morning, otherwise they'd never make it anywhere'.