Eagle Station [antikvár]

Prologue 0745 HOURS LOCAL, SUNDAY 20 JULY 1958 UNITED STATES AIR FORCE ACADEMY (PROVISIONAL) LOWRY AIR FORCE BASE, DENVER, COLORADO The young men stood at positions of exaggerated attention on the grass field in front of the cadet barracks at Lowry Air Force Base. The morning breeze ruffled their new khaki uniforms, all stiff and creased. It was the cadets' first Sunday at the Academy, and as the officers called out religions one by one, they broke ranks to go where they were told: Lutherans here, Protestants over there. Catholics, Jews, Baptists, LDS. Re-form in columns of twos. Cover down. Prepare for mandatory chapel. The mint-fresh Air Force cadets hustled to line up correctly and not incur the wrath of their upperclassmen. There were 465 new cadets, and 461 of them fell into one of the religious formations. When asked why they had not, three of the four remaining said they were agnostics. Agnostics? They were told they were Other and to snap to and form up off to one side. The fourth man, eighteen-year-old cadet Fourth Class Kenichi Tanaka, didn't move. He stood five foot seven, weighed a stocky 150 pounds, and displayed a square jaw. His billed cadet hat pulled low over his dark Asian eyes concealed his black crew-cut hair. His skin was a consistent brown, as if he had a well-established summer tan. Cadet Second Class Jerome Powers detached himself from the group of upperclassmen, walked over and stared disdainfully from his six-foot height down into the face of the lone