Quote 40
The effect of his injury on the masters seemed deeper than after other disasters I remembered there. It was as though they felt it was especially unfair that it should strike one of the sixteen-year-old, one of the few young men who could be free and happy in the summer of 1942 (5.2).
Look at how Gene's memory affects the "facts" of the story. He attributes to the masters his own feelings, that he was fortunate that summer to be free and happy.
Quote 41
It wasn't the cider which made me surpass myself, it was this liberation we had torn from the gray encroachments of 1943, the escape we had concocted, this afternoon of momentary, illusory, and separate peace (9.64).
The "peace" that Gene repeatedly identifies at Devon is only obtained by escaping from the current times – by escaping from war.
Quote 42
There is no stage you comprehend better than the one you have just left (13.3).
How well does Gene comprehend, now, his own time at Devon? Do his narrative and reflections prove or disprove this statement?