Five Seconds

Above all other military duties private soldiers enjoy listening to lectures. Whether the subject is Elementary Gunnery or Advanced Hygiene does not matter. A soldier at a lecture is quietly sitting down. He is not drilling, digging or carrying anything. Last week soldiers of the First Jugoslavian Infantry stationed at Bosiljgrad sat down for an hour to hear all about hand grenades, while other less fortunate soldiers drilled, marched and sweated in the courtyard below. Young Lieutenant Jovice gave the lecture. Before him lay a loaded hand grenade, not the compact "pineapple" type of Mills bomb familiar to thousands of U. S. War veterans, but a long handled "potato masher" grenade, the type once used by Germany. Said Lieutenant Jovice: "Five seconds after the safety pin is pulled out this bomb will explode. Were I about to throw it I would hold the bomb by the handle, so, and would pull out this pin. I keep the arm stiff and throw over my head with this motion--" Something tinkled to the floor. By accident the safety pin, loosened unconsciously by young Lieutenant Jovice had fallen out. Brave Lieutenant Jovice knew what to do. "Drop to the floor!" he barked. "It will not explode for five seconds!" He stepped to the window. The courtyard below was filled with other soldiers drilling in the hot sun. To throw the grenade out would kill a dozen men. Gritting his teeth. Lieutenant Jovice held on with both hands, keeping the bomb between his body and the wall. The fifth second passed, then a white flash, a crashing explosion. Lieutenant Jovice slumped to the floor, his right arm torn off at the shoulder. No one else was injured.