Ever Taken Someone Else's Place For Better/Worse

I was telling Doug (A1) a story about a man who used to work
for my father - when he (the man) was a navigator on a B17 -
8th Air Force, W.W.II.

Anyway, airman Roeten was taking the place - for the fourth time
of another - a 'stand in' - for some reason or another, and that time
HIS B17 didn't come back - John did - the B17 didn't.

Anyone out there ever switch places with someone else and for better
OR worse, it was memorable?

Going to lunch this afternoon with a guy who I had hired when we were
in school together - flipped a coin for a new gal in town (her aunt was
setting up a date with the winner (no kidding) - he 'won' the flip, got
the girl, married the girl, five kids and she was a raging alcoholic - bad
divorce ... he never really recovered from it. Life's been a train wreck
ever since about 1965.

... I always feel a little connected to that/him.