Slaughterhouse Five Section 2 (Part III)

As I have read Slaughterhouse Five, one of the most nagging questions I have had is whether Billy is the speaker or not. I had assumed this was going to be the author's story of how war ruined him, but this is not the case. I was a little shocked to read, "That was I. That was me. That was the author of this book (p.125)." Until this point, I thought that the story of Billy was the story of the author. I think Vonnegut made up the person of Billy Pilgrim to create the story the way he wants to tell it. Billy just becomes the innocent bystander of situations that could represent some of the author's real experiences or some fictionalized stories. I also assumed that the Dresden firebombing was fiction as well until I looked it up. It made sense to me that this significant event would be fiction because this is coming from a guy that writes about meeting aliens. Apparently, the Dresden firebombing did occur, and it is as brutal as the author describes it. Vonnegut  calls it "the greatest massacre in human history." I think this is interesting because following this statement, Billy is back talking with the Tralfamadorians, who are indifferent to the emotional aspect of this bombing.