In the men’s room of the officers’ club that night, he ran into a non flying rear admiral who did not know what the AVG wings were and was drunk enough to inquire. “Commander,” the admiral asked, “what the hell is that pinned to your jacket?”
“They’re AVG wings, Sir,” Ed replied, properly modest. “What say?”
“AVG wings, Sir,” Ed repeated, and when there was no glint of understanding in the admiral’s eyes, he explained: “The American Volunteer Group, Sir. In China.”
“Chinaman’s wings?”
“Americans flying for China, Sir.”
“I would suggest, Commander,” the admiral said nastily, “that you remove those immediately from the uniform of the U.S. Navy. Chinaman’s wings!
Good Christ! On a naval officer! The admiral stormed out of the head.
Fuck the old fart! Bitter thought angrily. Dumb chair-warming shore sailor didn’t even know what the AVG is! I earned those wings, and I’ll god damned well wear them! In ninety seconds he was calmed down enough to realize that he was reacting like Dick Canidy, who questioned every order he was ever given, and not like an Annapolis graduate and lieutenant commander in the Regular Navy. He wondered again what had become of Canidy. He had thought often of writing to him after Canidy had been sent home in disgrace, but had never done so. He really hadn’t known what to say. It was uncomfortable to say anything at all to a man who had shown the white feather in combat, even though he himself now understood with insight born of his own combat experiences how close anyone could come to that. But as he stepped to the men’s room mirror to comply with the admiral’s order, he realized that his feelings really had nothing to do with Canidy. He had earned the wings as a Flying Tiger, and so far as he was concerned, AVG wings lent distinction to the Navy uniform rather than shaming it. He didn’t take the wings Off, then, and he was wearing them the next morning when he went by the transportation office and picked up his tickets for the trip to Chicago.
The first couple of days at home were a euphoric emotional bath. Al on S though he professed to be embarrassed, he was really pleased to see the letters from the Chinese Embassy attesting to his all-around heroism expensively framed and hanging on the dining-room wall. When he went with his father to the Commercial Club for lunch, a half-dozen of his father’s friends came by the table to warmly shake his hand and to tell him how proud his father-and for that matter, everybody who knew him-was of him. The same thing happened when he went with both his parents to the Lake Shore Club for dinner, and there, if it hadn’t been for his mother hovering around him, he felt sure that he could have made a date with at least one-and probably two-of the young women who followed their parents to the Bitter table. On the third day, there was a telephone call for him. One of the maids came out on the patio. She was carrying a telephone on a long extension cord, and wordlessly she handed it to him. “Hello,” he said. “Commander Bitter, please,” a crisp military voice demanded. “This is Commander Bitter,” Ed said. He was stiff not used to his new rank, and rather liked the way that phrase sounded. “Hold on, Commander, please, for Admiral Hawley,” the crisp voice said. Faintly he heard, “I have Commander Bitter for you, Admiral,” and then another voice came on the line, deeper, older.
“Commander Bitter?”
“Yes, Sir.”
“Admiral Hawley, Commander,” the admiral said.
“I’m Chief, Aviation Allocation, BUAIR. “Yes, Sir?”
“First, let me welcome you home, both to the States and the Navy.”
“Thank you very much, Sir.” Who the hell is he? I know the name from someplace. What does he want with me? “Commander, I need an aide-de-camp, preferably someone like yourself, Annapolis, who has been in harm’s way, and one who is not at the moment on flight status. What he’ll be doing, rather than passing hors “U.S. Navy Bureau of Aeronautics. d’oeuvres, is helping me distribute our assets where they will do the most good. Unless you have objections to the assignment, BUPERS2 says I can have you. Interested?”