Philip is an American volunteering in the British army, stationed in Tunisia during World War II. He is on ambulance duty one day, which normally required him helping the injured, but he is called now to transport the dead. Al and Lofty, two fellow soldiers, need his help and the ambulance to take two dead soldiers to be buried, along with a priest to do a short ceremony for them. While watching the soldiers get buried, Philip is thinking about death, and how insignificant it seems to be buried in some forgein land, never to be seen by your family again. He thinks of all the other deaths he's encountered in the war, from stumbling upon bodies blown to bits from plane bombs. Philip thinks about his first encounter with death, when his grandfather died. Now, several deaths later, Philip has become desensitized to it. Suddenly, a plane is heard above, and the group drops to the ground. Philip is certain that he will die, preparing himself for it, though the plane passes and no bomb drops. Philip considers his literal proximity to death, being only a few feet away from open graves, and having thought that they would need to dig another for him.