SOLVED. Scene in which a navy private is playing in a band when his ship gets hit with a kamikaze or a bomb. [s]

[Zoe]

A book with a scene in which a navy private is playing in a band when his ship gets hit with a kamikaze or a bomb. He is still holding the triangle (or the glockenspiel or perhaps another instrument as he watches ships sink and his comrades dying. It may have taken place at Pearl Harbor.

[Sue]

There's a scene like this in Neal Stephenson's Cryptonomicon where Lawrence Waterhouse is playing his glockenspiel on the deck of a ship when the Japanese attack Pearl Harbour. I suspect however there may be other books with similar scenes, so without further details it's impossible to say if this is your book.

[Kris]

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson - Sue's suggestion

[Zoe]

This is it, thank you. Funny thing is, I've never read that book. I think maybe it was someone sharing the chapter as an example of what it's like to be in combat.