CATEGORY: ALMOST DIED
WHERE: Ukraine, USSR
WHEN: Daytime, Summer, 1963
AGE: 10 years old

I was in summer camp. One day we went to a local military base and they allowed older boys to shoot some rifles. I and some other boys were too young and had to satisfy ourselves with another kind of game. We competed for the newly ejected shell casings. The brass was flying all over the place, and in my zeal to pick-up one more, I jumped in front of a muzzle. The boy on the other end of that rifle pulled the trigger just as my head passed by. The bullet exploded out of the barrel inches above my hair.

PS: I was too preoccupied with my game to be afraid. The adults around me were terrified. I don’t remember what kind of punishment I received.