Chapter 7 Summary

The chapter begins with a story about how Rat Kiley wrote a letter home the sister of his best friend who was killed during the war. He tells her stories about what a good guy her brother was, what a great soldier. Then he gets more serious, telling her how much he had loved him, his best friend, "like a twin or something." He never heard back from her. This is how you can tell it is a true story; there is no moral. A war story with a moral or happy ending is not to be trusted.

The man Rat is writing home about was named Curt Lemon. One day, Rat and Curt were playing catch with smoke grenades, the goal of which was not to be the one to chicken out and throw the grenade, which is essentially harmless. Suddenly, however...