Music Bravely Ringing

This is the story of a small town, Midwestern, provincial young man who, over sixty years ago, was plucked out of his quiet, workaday life by the explosion of World War II. He found himself fastened to the conveyor belt that was transforming civilian men into pilots of heavy bombers. Initially terrified, he gradually adjusted to the process, and found to his surprise that he was enjoying it. It changed from an ordeal into a privilege. In spite of himself, he found a whole new world of exciting experiences far beyond his wildest dreams. A few brushes with violent death in the high altitudes were the spice that sweetened survival and enriched each day's happenings. Sherman was mostly right about war being hell, but for a few lucky ones, it was almost fun.

As a young man, Martin A. Rush went into World War II as a pilot of a B-24 Liberator heavy bomber. After the war, Rush attended college on the GI bill, getting his MD. There were a couple of extra years at Oxford University on a Rhodes’ scholarship. Later, after five years of family general practice, he dropped out and went back to school to qualify as a psychiatrist, and has been practicing psychiatry for more than forty years. He still sees a small number of patients several afternoons a week, and writes on various subjects. His book, Decoding The Secret Language of Your Body (Simon & Schuster, 1994, 200 pages) has also been published in Spanish and Taiwanese.