Books are living things and their task lies in their vows of silence. You touch them as they quiver with a divine pleasure. You read them and they fa… - Pat Conroy

Among the worst things about growing old is the loss of those irreplaceable friends who added richness and depth to your life.

Carolina beach music," Dupree said, coming up on the porch. "The holiest sound on earth.

When he flew back toward the carrier that day, he received a call from an Army Colonel on the ground who had witnessed the rout of the North Koreans across the river. "Could you go pass over the troops fifty miles south of here? They've been catching hell for a week or more. It'd do them good to know you flyboys are around." He flew those fifty miles and came over a mountain and saw a thousand troops lumbered down in foxholes. He and Bill Lundin went in low so these troops could read the insignias and know the American aviators had entered the fray. My father said, "Thousands of guys came screaming out of their foxholes, son. It sounded like a world series game. I got goose pimples in the cockpit. Get goose pimples telling it forty-eight years later. I dipped my wings, waved to the guys. The roar they let out. I hear it now. I hear it now."