Short Story
The Last Full Measure
- by George Alec Effinger
- in Asimov’s Science Fiction, May/June 1978
Corporal Bo Staefler lands and dies on Normandy Beach on D-Day, after which an alien brings him back to life and asks him to do it all again (and again), making sure to pay attention to all the details.
He went through every moment, every step, every ragged breath, every slow, wading, stumbling yard through the cold water to the beach. And it all felt the same, as though he were just a spectator. The shell exploded. Staefler died a second time.
