ABSTRACT
The concluding chapter attempts three tasks: First, it traces the legacy of the war in the lives of the individuals who represent each of the book’s themes—Myron Taylor, Solly Zuckerman, Aldo Quaranta, Vera Brittain, and John Huston. Second, it summarizes the Rashomon nature of the experience of bombing among friends. It does so through the juxtaposition of the perspectives of the air crews with those of the civilians below in two particular attacks: the infamous destruction of the Abbey of Monte Cassino and the nearby town of Cassino in February and March 1944 and the barely known air raids against the small Piedmontese city of Alba in July of the same year. Finally it offers some observations about the continuing influence of the Allied air attacks on contemporary Italy and its citizens’ views on issues of war and peace, as well as echoes of the Allies’ strategy in contemporary thinking about air power in the 21st century.
