Brothers of the 101st: Through the Gates of Hell

                Part 1: D-Day, the first of many…

I Can't even begin the think of where I am going right now. It's around eleven p.m. and I am riding in Dan's old truck to the airport to get on a plane to who knows where. This night has been terrible. From Dan's mother crying to his father telling him how proud of him he was. When I told my old man all I got in return was an uncaring look and a nod of his head. But I don't care anymore. It stopped hurting a long time ago. Dan's dad's going on about his old days in the army.

But it's not the same.

He served after the First World War and never saw combat. He was stationed somewhere in Texas for his entire enlistment. We are going to serve during a time of complete chaos. The second "Great" war. We know for sure that we are going to the frontlines. The 101st airborne is always the first one there and the last one to leave. Why the hell did I ever agree to do such a stupid thing? I am no killer. Hell I can hardly stand hurting someone in a fight. How am I expected to kill someone? I wish my mother was still alive. Maybe she would have talked some sense into me instead I have a worthless drunk of a father that most likely won't remember I left until he is sober for the half an hour in the morning after waking up from last night's drunken coma. Maybe if she was still here I wouldn't be in this damned truck going to this damn war that I have no idea what's over. I mean I know that it's because we have to stop Hitler and because the Jap's attacked us last December, but I have no clue why we are fighting a war a thousand miles away in some unknown land when the Allies have it under control. At least that's what the papers say. "You're truly an idiot." Says my mind a thousand times as we drive for the hour it takes to get to the airport.

"James, were here." Dan is looking at me. He is truly excited for this. He's about the only reason I'm even here. If not for him talking me into it when that army recruiter was at the school, I wouldn't have even looked at the guy. Suddenly my mind travels again to the day we enlisted in the army.

"Come on James. What are we just going to sit back and let everyone else do the fighting? It's our country too." Me and Dan sitting at our usual small four person round lunch table.

"I am not cut out for the Army. Besides you have met my father, do you want me to end up like him?" I respond.

"You are not your father. Besides you'll have me right beside you the whole time. We probably won't even be in the fighting. They say that the Brit's have Hitler on the run and well let's face it the Jap's are nothing' and they'll be gone in a few months." Dan always had a way of convincing people to do what he thought they should do.

"I can't believe I am about to say this." I say with a growl.

"Let's go, the recruiter is in the hallway up front."

"Let me finish my damn lunch first will you." I am snapped back to reality by the roaring of the engines of a plane taking off. I start walking for the doors. Dan's still talking with his father. They hug and both shed a few tears before Dan runs to catch up with me. We walk through the airport without saying a word. After what seemed to be an eternity we board the plane and take our seats. Right beside one another, as we always are. Dan's been my best friend since fourth grade. He was the only one of my so called friends who came to my mother's funeral when we were in the seventh grade. Since then he has always been by my side. Maybe because of pity for my dead mother or deadbeat father. When my mother died I stayed over at Dan's nearly every night. I basically lived there. If I was sick at school or something I would call Dan's mom Carol and she would come and get me. She was one of the nicest people I have ever known. She was always happy and trying to find the good things in the worst possible situations. The pane starts to take off. I hate this part, when the plane starts to aim towards the sky. After what I think is about an hour of the plane ride I drift asleep. The nightmares bring me back to life as we are landing. Ever since I enlisted in the army, I see myself almost unrecognizable. Drenched in blood, yelling to men around me. Barking orders on top of a small trench firing into the deep fog only to be met my shouts of fire and thunder. Artillery rounds rain on us from the skies. Men around me yelling for god to save them but god isn't here. He's never here when he's needed. Only there in times of good to wreak the reward of praise and gone again before the end of days. Deep into this demonic dream I see myself hit by one of these demon fire shouts and fall to the ground. It always ends there. I never get to see what happens after that but it's just too realistic to be a dream. It feels all too real.

Finally after weeks of waiting we are heading out to undergo an invasion of Normandy. At last we will be out of this base and in the real fight. I know at first I was scared and I am still very much so but at this point I have been waiting for so long in training that I think anything would be better. The giant bomber sized plane roars as it takes off with a course set for the gates of hell itself. At least my brothers are close to me. There are only a few that I have come close too. Mainly because they were good men and Dan really liked them. He was always the social one. I was just the outcast that no one liked. Only put up with because you like his friend so well and we were a package deal. One of the main guys we hung out with was Tom Green aka Bull because he had a major temper problem. Never with me or Dan or his little brother but with everyone else, he could be set off by the smallest little thing.

"Brace for landing!" Yelled the pilot to the other crew then they relayed it back to us. Bull was a large guy, big and muscular. He was about six foot three maybe. His brother was the complete opposite though, Corry Green. He was only about six foot and pretty small. He didn't even look of age to join but he was maybe the most intelligent person on the squad in terms of schooling. He was a straight A student with scholarships from major colleges. This never made any sense to me. I joined because I really didn't have any other place to go but he joined just to join. He had a ton of options for his life but yet he decided to join the army where his life could be over in a matter of seconds on the battlefield. We are starting to file off the plane now. I was assigned a tent with Dan, Corry and some other guy from our squad that I wasn't very familiar with.

"Hey brother, what's your name?" asked Dan.

"Henry Nite." He responded quietly.

"Alright Henry, guess you're our new roommate huh? So what made you join up anyway?"

"Why are you so interested me?"

"Well because we are going to be sharing a tent until we move out again and your one of the thirteen guys in my squad. This means you're a brother. So I figured that if you're going to be one of my brothers I had better at least know your name. Is that ok with you?" Dan was a little pissed off at this point. I could see that easily from years of talking to a person you can tell when they are pissed or happy. If Dan was mad then he just became a smart ass and made jokes about you instead of fighting physically. Dan was never much of a fighter.

"You are not going to leave me alone until I answer every question you have are you?" responded Henry.

"Nope."

"Fine, here have a smoke." Dan wasn't a smoker so he refused with just a wave of his hand.

"I joined up because my family needs the money mostly. Hell I need the money. You see my father is sick and isn't able to work. The government shows us no compassion and refuses to help. So I took up a job. Unfortunately it was enough. So I joined here. The money is good enough to support my family back home. But I am starting to wonder if it was worth the cost."

"See now that wasn't that hard now was it." Dan said with a chuckle. I noticed Henry had a faint little laugh but a laugh none the less. They continued to talk and I continued to sit and think after I was completely done packing that is. They talked about women, cars, guns, and love. It was like Dan knew him his entire life. I think he was enjoying meeting all the new people.

"Hey James, do you remember that one girl from our 10th grade year? The one we fought over because I "stole her." Dan was smiling at me as if it was a happy and humorous event.

"I'm just glad that you were able to get over it brother."

"Oh come on you can't still act like that even really matters, especially now of all times. We are in a new country going to fight Adolph Hitler. Not going to the God damn prom." I knew he was right. I knew it was pointless to be mad over a woman that I could possibly never see again. Now that I think about it, it's kind of funny. There is a giant war going on just a few countries over and I am thinking of something that happened nearly three years ago in school. Besides I had feelings for another girl back home. Victoria. I was with her nearly the entire week before I left. I don't think she has any feelings for me other than a good friend and I know she knows nothing of what I feel for her. I thought over but I couldn't find the words. My heart told me to tell her but my mind refused to give me the words, and my mouth refused to speak them. We hugged before I left for Dan's that last night. God I wish it had never ended. I wish I could have kept her in my arms forever. The only two people that know the way I feel is Dan and his mother. I told Dan's mom everything and always asked her for advice. It seemed like she was always there for me when I needed.

"Tell her. I mean what do you have to lose?" She said.

"If she rejects me…I don't know what I'd do."

"Sometimes that's a risk you have to take." I should have listened to her. I shouldn't have left with just a goodbye. Even if she rejected me at least I could say I tried. Anything would have been better than dreaming and thinking about her constantly, never getting to see her. Never getting to really talk to her.

Later that day we had a platoon meeting. We met all the other men and the leading Captain. I couldn't remember his name but he was a short guy. Medium build and he looked a bit older than the rest of us. Maybe mid-thirty's. He didn't seem to mean or anything which is one thing I am happy about. I had always heard the rumors and stories of men being beat the shit out of by their commanding officers because they looked at them wrong. Luckily for me that is mostly wrong. The drill sergeants at basic training are the ones that you really don't want to piss off. Those are the mean guys that will smash your face into the floor and laugh, and there's not a damn thing you can do about it either. There was one of the guy's in the meeting that I didn't even think would make it through basic. Allan Carp. He is a short and muscular guy but he didn't seem to be in any shape at all. Especially to fight in a war. But I guess they let him go through. I personally think they will just take anyone as long as you can walk and aim a rifle you in. Mostly during the meeting the guys just sat around and drank coffee while getting to know one another. Then the Captain told us who he was and gave a small speech. I didn't care much for it and nearly fell asleep twice. Thanks to Dan didn't get caught. When I would start to dose off he would kick my foot or just nudge me back awake. Thank god, I don't know what would have happened to me if I had gotten caught sleeping during our commanding officers speech. After that he told us that in two day's we were moving out for the first American invasion of Europe. Only two days left without killing. Without death and destruction. Only two more days that I can say I am safe. Two more days until I go to war…

It's almost been a week. Mail from home has come around. It's funny how men who have just left are the ones who miss it the most. Dan didn't seem to mind much. He got a letter from both his parents and his girl. He has been dating this girl named Mae for about a year now. The way the act towards each other I am sure they will get married. They never seem to fight. They always seem to just be in love. Only happiness never pain or sorrow. I haven't known this feeling much in my life. I'd like to think I could have it with Victoria but I doubt I ever will. By the time I go home, if I ever do, she will be married or with someone new and I'll just be another distant memory and wishing things were how they use to be.

"What's wrong with you man? You've been acting weird." Dan asks as he sits on his top bunk right across from me. I thought it to be funny that he could say I was acting weird when we are where we are and going to do what we are going to do soon.

"I'm can't stop thinking of her." I reply almost effortlessly.

"Oh here we go again…If you want her then write her a letter. Tell her how you feel. At least you won't be stuck wondering what if." Dan is now standing up over my lower bunk holding out a piece of paper and a pen and I have no idea where he got them. It's hard to find stuff like that here and I don't think he brought anything of the type along.

"Alright, alright. I'll do it in a bit."

"You'll do it now." I take the paper and pen and try to think of what it is exactly what I want to say. It just ends up stating how I truly feel about her. I know it will take a while for me to get a response back from her but I feel better just knowing that she will know the truth.

Tomorrow we leave. For tomorrow we take to the sea. Tomorrow we will start heading out to kick off the first invasion of Europe. My battalion has a special assignment; we had to go to a meeting on it all this morning. A high ranking officer told us that we would be one of the last to leave the attacking ship. We were to go by boat to the beach next to the main assault beach and cut up through the mountain, get behind the krauts, and then we squeeze the Germans out of their bunkers. It seemed like a good idea on paper. But then again most things do. The rest of the day we all just sat in some other platoon guy's tent listening to his radio. Listening to the president and what he has to say about this whole mess. Listening to talk shows seeing what they think. The time flew by and before we knew it, it was dark. Dan, Henry and I walked back to our tent to get some rest. I know I won't though. I never do anymore. Damned nightmares keep me up the whole night usually. This time none of us get any sleep.

"What do you think it's going to be like guys?" Dan asks.

"Hell." I reply. The next morning comes around after what seemed like an eternity. We board the plane geared up and ready to go.

"Time to see what you're made of kid." yelled the captain trying to talk to me over the roar of the giant plane. I wonder why he said this only to me. Maybe he senses how terrified I am. Maybe he knows something I don't. After everyone has go on the plane with what feels like a good forty pounds of gear on our packs plus the large amount of ammo everyone has taken on our vests, they bring on the armor. A Sherman tank. "We are going to drop a fucking tank into the middle of a warzone?" I thought to myself. After everyone was settled in the plane started to roar and fly into the sky. Heading towards the battlefield where inevitably men would die.

You could tell that the Germans knew we were coming. Flak rounds exploded all around us shaking the plane.

"Be prepared for emergency jump! Those flak rounds are getting pretty fucking close!" yelled the pilot back to the rest of us. Not more than a twenty seconds later a hole was ripped from the side of the plane. Men who were standing up and not buckled in were sucked out by the air.

"Cap we need to jump now damn it!" yelled one of the men.

"We wait as long as we can. We need to get closer to our objective." He responded in a harsh tone which most commanding officers had who had been withered by years of experience in the field. Another hole ripped out from the plane. Shaking now and obviously out of control the plane starts to descend. The entire back tail of the plane has been taken out. One of the armor men crew run over to the tank and cut the lines. The Sherman tank rolls out of the back only to open its chute and falling slowly to the ground.

"Everyone jump now. I can only hold her steady for a little longer!" the pilot yelled to everyone including his crew.

"Sir you need to go to. You can't keep this fucking bird in the air. Let's go!" yelled the co-pilot.

"I gave you an order soldier. Go now!" At this point men were jumping out of both the door and the giant hole in the back and side of the plane. I stood their towards the back of the line getting worried that I won't make it out in time. I turn to the side opposite of the hole and see one of our guys struggling to get his belts off. I walk over beside him and draw my knife.

"Hold on I got you." The plane is hit again and shakes madly. Almost at a near nose dive now I struggle trying to cut the ropes. I hadn't realized how close the blast was. The man's leg was hit with a piece of flak. It wasn't a lethal wound but I knew he wouldn't be able to walk.

"Just go! Leave me!" he yells. I free him from his chains and throw his weight over my back. I help him limp to the door and we jump together.

The night sky is lit up with explosions of flak and machine gun bursts.

"Where the hell's the pilot?" says the man I saved.

'Ahh shit!" I yell seeing the plane at a nose dive and leaving out sight. Before we hit the ground we hear the explosion and see the night lit up brighter than the usual flak and machine guns did. We hit the ground and it's rough. I could hear the man yell again from hitting his injured leg so hard. I cut the ropes of the parachute and assemble my M1 carbine rifle. Then I run over to him and ask

"Hey, you ok?"

"Aside from my leg, yea I think I'm good. I lost my gear during the jump though."

"Here." I say taking our my M1911 .45 semi-automatic pistol. "But make sure I get this back."

"Yea alright. I think I can walk again but where the hell are we? Where the hell is the rest of the squad?"

"Damned if I know. I'm sure they can't be too far behind us though. Let's just push up through the farms over there and hope for the best." We moved over fences and through fields for at least a good twenty minutes before the man asked to stop to rest his injured leg.

"Alright, I see a house up ahead. We can stop there." I said. We moved slowly up to the house. Looking through the window I didn't see anyone but I was still cautious. These lights are still lit. We move through the door with it creaking ever so slightly sounding like nails on a chalkboard. As we move through the doorway with weapons held at the ready for whatever awaits us. I look over the small house and see a table with three plates of food that had just been put out. I nudge the man and point with my head to the plates and glasses. He nodes back silently saying he understands. As he did a loud thud noise came from the a room in the back. We place ourselves on either side of the door and counting down with my fingers held up I signal when to charge in. he kicks in the door and to our surprise it is a small family. Unarmed they sit in the middle of the room holding each other. I lower my weapon but don't let down my guard. There is a woman, man and what I assume is their daughter. The new man stands up and clasps his hands together as if the beg for their lives.

"Shh, it's ok we aren't here to hurt you." I assure him. "Hey go on watch will ya." I tell my fellow soldier.

"Alright." He replies. He still has yet to put his gun away, obviously no comfortable in this environment.

After several attempts the new man and his family finally stop begging and understand that we aren't here to kill them. He offers us food which we are eager to accept. Both of us soldiers sit there watching out the windows. Staring into the darkness trying to see if anything moves in even the slightest way.

"So what the hell is your name anyway?" I ask my new friend.

"Allan. Allan Torc."

"Allan huh? I'm James but you can call me J for short if you want. So what do you think of our tour so far?" I say with a smile. He chuckles a bit at the comment and then answers.

"It fucking sucks...It sucks." As soon as he said it he stood up and pointed his gun towards the night. Silently I move to him and look in the direction. I see shadows of men moving out behind the gate. They move slowly, silently, blindly through the night searching for us. Searching for soldiers like us to kill. They open the gate and start to funnel through.

"Four." I say to Allan. I counted as they came through the gate. I raised my gun ready to fire. I waited for them to get closer and closer. The crept in the darkness, evading all light hoping to get in undetected. Allan fired off a few rounds and I could tell he missed his target because he cursed his aim and shifted his gun to another window beside him. I heard voices. I heard voices speaking English. “Is this a trick of my own mind? Do the Germans know English?” I thought quietly to myself. But then I heard the voice that assured me of who they were.

“Dan! Is that you Dan?” I yelled out to him.

“James? Holy shit man, we were gonna kill you.” He replied. I walked over to the door of the house, opened it and greeted them happily inside. The group of four turned out to be Dan, Bull, Joe and Henry.

“So what the hell are we going to do now?” asked Henry as he lit a smoke. I looked around and no one had any clues, no one even attempted to speak up.

“Well I guess we should wait here until we can get some radio contact with the rest of the guys.” Images of the drop raced through my mind. I remembered watching as men got shot up from machine gun fire and how men were blown to pieces by a burst of flak rounds from the Kraut’s anti-aircraft guns. “I don’t know how many people made it out of that jump alive.” I see more of the jump. I see when we landed. Men being shot down by more German gunfire. I remember me and some random kid running behind a stone wall. He looked so scared. I could tell he wasn’t built for this but I didn’t want him dying on me so I grabbed his shoulder and turned him towards me.

“Keep calm man, just stay focused and you’ll be all right.” As soon as I had finished saying those words he shook his head and darted past me trying to move along the wall and attempted to get away from the bullets. He didn’t get more than a few feet before he got blown to pieces by a Panzer tank that was sitting in the brush. It was dark and I could hardly see it. The only reason I knew it was a Panzer we because I could see the basic outline of the tank when it shot off the round that blew the kid up. The Panzer was much bigger and had a lot heavier of armor than it’s light weight brother the Tiger. It was said that one Panzer tank could take on six of our small, lightweight and small gunned Sherman tanks.

“You sure James?” Dan said looking in my direction, pulling me out of my day dreaming state.

“Yeah, I don’t think we have much of a choice. I’m pretty sure we didn’t hit the right drop zone and I have no damn idea where we are. I don’t think any of us do at this point. It’s better if we just set up camp here for a bit.” Everyone nodded in agreement.

“So is that the best fucking idea we got?” asked Henry as another cloud of smoke escapes his lips.

“Why do you always gotta’ be an ass, boy?” Bull snarled at Henry.

“Maybe because I have to deal with your hillbilly retardation all damn day Green.” Henry slyly replied with a smile and took another drag of his smoke. They seemed to enjoy fighting with each other. As if the entire god damned war wasn’t enough fighting for them. They seemed to bicker back and forth like a married couple.

“Do either of you two ever shut the fuck up?” Dan asked moving his gaze amongst  them.

“Maybe if this son of a bitch wasn’t so god damn cocky, I wouldn’t have to put him back in place.” Bull said standing up from his chair.

“Oh really? So when are you going to put me back in my place hillbilly?” Henry said walking from his slouched position against the wall to standing in Bull’s face. As he finished speaking he blew smoke at him. Bull gave a quick chuckle.

“How about you both shut up before I kill both of you yeah?” Allan said giving a quick glance over his shoulder then returning to staring out the window. He was waiting for something, maybe someone. Or maybe he was just waiting to wait, waiting because there was nothing better to do.   Allan’s words eased the moments tension quite a bit. Both Henry and Bull gave a quick laugh at the fact that some small kid had basically told them both to go to hell. “You’ve got some balls kid.” I thought to myself. I wondered if Allan remembers just how big Bull was. He might not be the smartest guy but he was a farmer’s son and because he endured long days of farm work he had put on some muscle. He mad most of us look small. I thought that maybe Allan didn’t care. Maybe he didn’t care what he said or did because he knew in his mind that he was going home soon, no stopping it, not even if he tried. With an injury like that to your leg which would make it nearly impossible to walk or run would take you out of the war easily. He knew as soon as we could find medics and the rest of our guys he would be patched up and sent home on a big boat that we came in on. “Lucky bastard,” I thought to myself. “He gets to go home and he want’s to bitch about it? What an ass.” My thoughts were interrupted by some small crunching noise that came from outside the house.

“Anyone else hear that?” I asked without looking around me. I just stared into the darkness as if my eyes would help me hear the noise.

“Hear what?” Bull asked.

“Shhh. There’s something out there.” Everyone had started staring out the closest window trying to see what it was I could hear. The darkness just absorbed all light and I couldn’t see more than a few feet from the window but I knew if there was someone or something out there that because of the light it could see me. It could see all of us and knew exactly where we were. My thoughts were rudely interrupted by something crashing through the window.

“Shit! Grenade!” Yelled out Bull as he threw it back from where it came. The explosion went off and shook the building. The lights fading in and out. It seemed as if the entire world had just shifted. “All that from suck a small explosive.” I thought. Gunfire started to erupt from both the outside and inside of the house. Every time someone would see a flash they would shoot at the flash.

“Hit the lights!” I yelled out to the guys. One by one the lights started going off until we were swallowed by the darkness once again. I raised my gun so it was just sticking out the window by enough to fire at the flashes of light. I waited for the Kraut’s to take a shot at us and the poured a burst of rounds into that direction. I must have gone through at least three or four magazines before the firing finally died out. I hadn’t seen any light flashes for a bit now but I still would fire off a few rounds just to make sure they were gone.

“Clear?” someone quietly asked. The voice came from my right. I know that Allan was there before the firing started and I would imagine he was still in the same spot due to his injured leg but it didn’t sound like Allan. It sounded of more an older, adult voice. Wise in years of experience. “That can’t be Allan…Can it?” I thought. Had his voice changed so drastically in the total amount of an hour? All of a sudden I hear a loud bang and a pain hits my left shoulder. I give out a grunt and hit the floor. Someone runs over to my window in front of me and unloads rounds through the window. Dan drops down beside me and searches by body for a wound. My mind swims in thoughts. “Was I just shot? Am I going to die?” Then my mind forcibly turned towards thoughts of Victoria. God damn I missed her. I missed her more than I thought I would. It seems like she is all I think about. If only I told her what I thought…How I felt.

“I don’t see it.” He pulls my M1911 out from its holster which is right on my shoulder. There is a small dent in the barrel. “Thank god for good thick metal huh?” Dan smiles at me. He pulls me up to my feet.

“That fucking hurt…” I chuckle along with the rest of them. Even though it hit my pistol the force of the bullet smacking it put me on my ass and hurt my shoulder pretty badly. After a while of staring out the windows into nothing we decided the battle was over for tonight. We decided Bull and Henry would guard. I finally was able to get some sleep. If you count closing your eyes for about five seconds before you hear a faint noise and you instantly are wide awake again and gripping your gun with your finger on the trigger as sleep then I had quite a bit of it. When morning finally came we ate some food, talked some, played some cards, did anything to try and keep ourselves entertained. Allan never moved from the window the entire night. He sat there with a radio talking into it. I walked up beside him and gave him a smirk.

“So why do you seem more interested with getting back with our unit than the rest of us kid?” I asked him.

“Can’t you remember?” he pointed to his leg and the massive bullet hole in it right above his knee. It seeped blood and had now turned black and dark red. It had dark blue and black bruising all around the hole. It was then I had noticed that his face was drenched in sweat. He was breathing heavily and looked a bit worried.

“Do you think it’s really that serious?” I asked him even though I thought that he would be fine.

“No I think I’m good but I want it to be taken care of quick so I can get back out here with you guys.”

“Listen kid, I hate to break your heart but I’m pretty sure you’re heading home with a wound like that. Hell I wouldn’t mind being sent home with a minor wound.”

“Yeah well I would rather not.”

“How come?”

“What do you mean?”

“There has to be a reason. Everyone here had a reason to come to this damned place. So why did you come? Why do you want to stay?”

“Why not? I don’t have anything else at home. I guess I’m running away. Running away from everything I hate that I was able to leave by joining up. You?”

“Well, when I’m here I am someone who is doing something, something worthy of a life. When I was home I was no one doing nothing. A waste of life.” Thoughts of home swelled my head. But of course they were blocked out by thoughts of Victoria again. “Can’t I think of anything else?” I mumbled under my breath.

“Guys! Look!” Dan pointed out the window to the road nearby which had a large group of American soldiers marching through. Finally after so much time stuck in this damn shack we could finally walk outside. Most of the guys were surprised we actually still alive. They thought our unit was wiped out. They didn’t hear anything about any of our other guys making it.

“Damn it’s good to see some friendly daces.” Dan said happily with a smile on his face.

“Yeah it is.” Agreed Bull.

“I wonder what the hell they will have us doing next.” I pointed out. That made everyone think. They thought about some of the same things I was thinking I am sure. Thinking about how we could be sent somewhere much worse than this or maybe even send us somewhere better. Maybe send us behind lines to be reinforcements for a bit. That would be pretty damn nice. I chuckled at that thought, one day of war and I had already had enough of it. As we stood there talking to one another a sharp bang went off. We instantly hit the ground. All of us. I heard another burst of shots behind me.

“Kid, keep with me now. Come on, keep looking in my eyes.” I could hear a medic talking to whoever it was. They were close…Way too close to me… I looked back to see a medic kneeling over Allan trying to keep up awake and pouring powders in a new wound that went through his chest.

“You’ll be alright. Keep with me.” The medic would repeat and repeat. Allan was looking around the area his eyes frantic but yet peaceful at the same time. Soon his eyes stopped looking for whatever they were looking for. His body was completely at peace now. The medic kept pounding on his chest trying to bring him back but I knew it wasn’t worth the energy.

“Damn kid…So close to getting to go home too.” I mumbled softly.

“Yeah well he’s home now.” Henry responded to what I thought no one had heard. That was the first thing I had ever heard Henry say that wasn’t sarcastic. I walked around a bit to clear my head, since the entire group had stopped to search for that lone gunman that shot Allan, and I sat down on a fallen tree log. I thought some things over. Why was I here? Do I really think I’ll make it out? Will Dan? Will any of the squad make it? What the hell is next for us…What’s next?

In the first day of the Normandy Invasion (D-Day) for the Allies was over 10,000. In just American soldiers there were over 6,000 men killed that day compared to the German casualty amount is not known but is to estimated around 4000 to 9000 men. This is one of the largest scale assaults in the history of war and definitely one of the most well known historically.

Part (chapter) 2 will be along very soon. Thank you for reading. Please feel free to send in a review or your thoughts on the story.