Why may the author choose to begin "In Another Country" with: "The people hated us because we were officers, and from a wine-shop someone called out, "A basso gli ufficiali!" as we passed. Another boy who walked with us sometimes and made us five wore a black silk handkerchief across his face because he had no nose then and his face was to be rebuilt".

The narrator in the story is an American soldier who has been wounded in a war in Italy during the First World War. His leg is being treated with a new machine. The narrator appears to be on friendly terms with the major and the three boys. He finds himself even closer to a young boy who has lost his nose during the war. They lead a secluded life and go to the hospital every day. They are cut off from the world of war and soldiers and also from their families