Gunslinger
Darkness Surrounding
Present Day
Emily was sitting beside Dana’s hospital bed reading aloud to her best friend from Dana’s dog-eared copy of Dances with Wolves. Dana had always joked that one of the best things about that movie had been Kevin Costner’s bare ass. She was interrupted when Zacky poked his head into the room.
“Ems, there’s two old guys here asking about Dana and Brian”, he said with a confused look on his face.
“What, who?”, Emily asked, marking her place in the book with her finger.
“I don’t know, maybe they’ve got the wrong room or something”, Zacky shrugged.
“Maybe ask them if they’re sure, and ask who they are?”, she suggested.
“Yeah guess so”, Zacky said before he turned back and walked back into the waiting room. The two elderly men, who were easily in their 80’s both wore matching white jackets with an American flag patch on the right shoulder, a side-on white eagle’s head on the left shoulder, and a pair of dice on the front right.
“Um, are you relatives of Dana or Brian”, Zacky asked them.
“No, we’re not”, the taller of the two gray haired gentlemen responded. “We’re very old friends.”
“Um, they’re both still unconscious. Um, how do you know them?”, Zacky asked. He had never heard either Dana or Brian saying that they knew these guys, and Zacky had never seen them around before.
“We go back a long way”, the shorter of the men said with a smile. “A real long way.”
“Look, I don’t know you and you could be part of the freaky cause that got two of my best friends laid up in a hospital bed…”, Zacky sighed.
The taller of the two men handed a large bouquet of yellow roses to Zacky.
“When Dana wakes up, give these to her and tell that they’re from Walter Somerville and William O’Shea.”
July 10, 1944
On July 10th 1944, the company moved down to Utah Beach, preparing to return to England via cargo ship. There was an armada of ships as far as the eye could see in every direction. Private Jackson had pulled off one more scrounge on the large supply compound and had stolen a motorcycle and sidecar, which he had hidden behind a sand dune. He approached Somerville who was standing with Dana looking at the ships.
“Do you think we can put this on the ship?’, he asked Somerville who smirked in response.
“Up to you, Jackson”, Somerville responded.
The next day, as the company marched up the ramp of the troop ship, Jackson moved the motorcycle up to the inland side of the sand dune, and at O’Shea’s signal that the coast was clear he roared over the sand dune and rode the motorcycle up the ramp. Sailing in convoy, the ship got back to Southampton on the night of July 12. The next day, a train took the men (except for Jackson and O’Shea who took the motorcycle), to Aldbourne. Dana found out from Brouchard that the sleepy village was the base of English operations and the company had undergone training there before leaving for Upottery Airfield just before the planes took off for D-Day.
After the company had disembarked at Aldbourne, they were presented with two sets of complete new uniforms, their back pay, and a seven-day pass. About 80% of the men couldn’t remember their week in London, but one newspaper had reported that it was one of the wildest weeks in London’s history and compared it to the Blitz.
The company had been given excellent billets in Aldbourne. The officers were in a lovely brick house near the village green, which had stables in the back that the men cleared out and used. The stables consisted of four box stalls in each of which four men lived in comfort. There they could hide, which many of them did when night training exercises resumed. Somerville was forced to make a habit of checking the individual stalls to be certain no one was hiding behind the bunks or standing in the clothes hanging from the hooks. For entertainment the men listened to Armed Forces Network Radio.
During the down-time, Dana and the rest of the non-commissioned officers underwent further training. The limited down time that she had she found herself spending with Pagliaro and O’Shea, who became close friends. Being billeted away from the men, with a middle aged couple in their quaint country house, she didn’t see a lot of the other men, including Brian. For this she was quietly thankful, as she was still embarrassed that Brian had seen her totally naked.
Over the next month, there were two aborted day-time jumps, one into Chartres in France, and one into Tournai in Belgium. The jumps were cancelled at the last minute, whilst the company had actually been assembled at Membury Airdrome. Whilst the company was relieved at not having to go back into battle they were also getting rather annoyed with getting everything ready and being packed on buses to the Airdrome only to have to be shipped back to Aldbourne.
Dana couldn’t remember her first jump, which was probably just as well as she was terrified of heights and was freaking out about having to jump from a plane carrying a rifle. She was also worried that her fear of heights would get the best of her and she would puke on one of the men and never be able to live it down.
The Airborne High Command was determined to get the paratroopers back into action, and General Oliver proposed to utilize the Airborne Army in a complex, daring and dangerous operation to get across the Rhine River into Germany. President Eisenhower quickly agreed, to the immense delight of the Airborne Army Command. The code name for the operation was Market Garden.
When Dana heard the name of the operation, she blanched.
“What’s wrong?”, O’Shea asked her. She shook her head, not knowing how to respond. The operation, they were advised, was vital to get the British Second Army through Holland to capture and hold many bridges between their drop zone and Arnhem. How could Dana tell them that from what she remembered from her history classes at school, the operation failed and extended the war into 1945. Could she really tell them that, or did her and Brian going back in the past mean that history could change?
On September 14th, some 2 months after returning to England the company were once again packed onto buses and shipped to Membury Airdrome marshalling area. The next day, the company was briefed, and advised that this was the largest airborne landing in history, with three complete divisions. It would be a daylight jump, and unlike Normandy it would come as a surprise to the Germans. Initial intelligence advised that the Germans left behind to defend Holland were older soldiers and new recruits.
As Dana sat nervously waiting to board the plane, she shared a cigarette with Private Hobbs. After being shot in the backside at Brecourt Manor and operated on he had spent time convalescing at a hospital in Wales. When he was told that he would be assigned to a different unit if he was absent for more than 90 days, he persuaded a sergeant who was in charge of releasing patients to send him back Aldbourne with light-duty papers. Once he arrived, he threw away the papers and rejoined 3rd platoon. He was not fully recovered and still couldn’t sit down without pain, but he was where he wanted to be, going into combat with his buddies in E Company.
On September 17th, the company was packed into the planes that would take them to Holland. Dana remembered stories that her grandfather and father had told her about occupied Holland, and she wondered briefly what her father was doing and if he was aware that she was missing. When she felt the plane start taxiing on the runway, she felt herself start to shake and tried desperately not to look out the window.
As the plane began to fly over Holland there was some anti-aircraft fire, which intensified as they came within 5 minutes of the drop zone, but the planes did not break from formation or take evasive action. As they came toward the drop zone, Somerville stood up and turned to face them.
“Stand up!”, he ordered. As one, the platoon rose to their feet. “Hook up!” The men and Dana hooked the metal clips attached to their parachutes to the pole that ran the length of the plane roof. “Sound off!” The men began checking the equipment of the person in front of them, and when she felt a tap on her shoulder and O’Shea’s voice calling “Four OK”, she quickly checked Pagliaro’s gear before calling in a trembling voice “Three OK”. Once the sound off was complete, the door to the plane was opened and Dana shut her eyes briefly. The light next to the opened door changed from red to green, and before she knew it she was in the doorway. The wind caught her and she was whisked out of the plane. She was sure that she screamed all the way down, however when her parachute had opened she drifted down toward Earth and landed with a soft “oof” on her ass in a pasture filled with cows.
The entire company had all landed exactly on the drop zone. She hurriedly packed her parachute and, dodging the falling equipment and other parachutists, she quickly hurried to the assembly area.
**************************************
A big thank you to nolifelowlife & amandap for the comments!
Meh this chapter is a bit boring but sets up the action in the next chapter.
Comments & subscriptions make me smile :-)
Emily was sitting beside Dana’s hospital bed reading aloud to her best friend from Dana’s dog-eared copy of Dances with Wolves. Dana had always joked that one of the best things about that movie had been Kevin Costner’s bare ass. She was interrupted when Zacky poked his head into the room.
“Ems, there’s two old guys here asking about Dana and Brian”, he said with a confused look on his face.
“What, who?”, Emily asked, marking her place in the book with her finger.
“I don’t know, maybe they’ve got the wrong room or something”, Zacky shrugged.
“Maybe ask them if they’re sure, and ask who they are?”, she suggested.
“Yeah guess so”, Zacky said before he turned back and walked back into the waiting room. The two elderly men, who were easily in their 80’s both wore matching white jackets with an American flag patch on the right shoulder, a side-on white eagle’s head on the left shoulder, and a pair of dice on the front right.
“Um, are you relatives of Dana or Brian”, Zacky asked them.
“No, we’re not”, the taller of the two gray haired gentlemen responded. “We’re very old friends.”
“Um, they’re both still unconscious. Um, how do you know them?”, Zacky asked. He had never heard either Dana or Brian saying that they knew these guys, and Zacky had never seen them around before.
“We go back a long way”, the shorter of the men said with a smile. “A real long way.”
“Look, I don’t know you and you could be part of the freaky cause that got two of my best friends laid up in a hospital bed…”, Zacky sighed.
The taller of the two men handed a large bouquet of yellow roses to Zacky.
“When Dana wakes up, give these to her and tell that they’re from Walter Somerville and William O’Shea.”
July 10, 1944
On July 10th 1944, the company moved down to Utah Beach, preparing to return to England via cargo ship. There was an armada of ships as far as the eye could see in every direction. Private Jackson had pulled off one more scrounge on the large supply compound and had stolen a motorcycle and sidecar, which he had hidden behind a sand dune. He approached Somerville who was standing with Dana looking at the ships.
“Do you think we can put this on the ship?’, he asked Somerville who smirked in response.
“Up to you, Jackson”, Somerville responded.
The next day, as the company marched up the ramp of the troop ship, Jackson moved the motorcycle up to the inland side of the sand dune, and at O’Shea’s signal that the coast was clear he roared over the sand dune and rode the motorcycle up the ramp. Sailing in convoy, the ship got back to Southampton on the night of July 12. The next day, a train took the men (except for Jackson and O’Shea who took the motorcycle), to Aldbourne. Dana found out from Brouchard that the sleepy village was the base of English operations and the company had undergone training there before leaving for Upottery Airfield just before the planes took off for D-Day.
After the company had disembarked at Aldbourne, they were presented with two sets of complete new uniforms, their back pay, and a seven-day pass. About 80% of the men couldn’t remember their week in London, but one newspaper had reported that it was one of the wildest weeks in London’s history and compared it to the Blitz.
The company had been given excellent billets in Aldbourne. The officers were in a lovely brick house near the village green, which had stables in the back that the men cleared out and used. The stables consisted of four box stalls in each of which four men lived in comfort. There they could hide, which many of them did when night training exercises resumed. Somerville was forced to make a habit of checking the individual stalls to be certain no one was hiding behind the bunks or standing in the clothes hanging from the hooks. For entertainment the men listened to Armed Forces Network Radio.
During the down-time, Dana and the rest of the non-commissioned officers underwent further training. The limited down time that she had she found herself spending with Pagliaro and O’Shea, who became close friends. Being billeted away from the men, with a middle aged couple in their quaint country house, she didn’t see a lot of the other men, including Brian. For this she was quietly thankful, as she was still embarrassed that Brian had seen her totally naked.
Over the next month, there were two aborted day-time jumps, one into Chartres in France, and one into Tournai in Belgium. The jumps were cancelled at the last minute, whilst the company had actually been assembled at Membury Airdrome. Whilst the company was relieved at not having to go back into battle they were also getting rather annoyed with getting everything ready and being packed on buses to the Airdrome only to have to be shipped back to Aldbourne.
Dana couldn’t remember her first jump, which was probably just as well as she was terrified of heights and was freaking out about having to jump from a plane carrying a rifle. She was also worried that her fear of heights would get the best of her and she would puke on one of the men and never be able to live it down.
The Airborne High Command was determined to get the paratroopers back into action, and General Oliver proposed to utilize the Airborne Army in a complex, daring and dangerous operation to get across the Rhine River into Germany. President Eisenhower quickly agreed, to the immense delight of the Airborne Army Command. The code name for the operation was Market Garden.
When Dana heard the name of the operation, she blanched.
“What’s wrong?”, O’Shea asked her. She shook her head, not knowing how to respond. The operation, they were advised, was vital to get the British Second Army through Holland to capture and hold many bridges between their drop zone and Arnhem. How could Dana tell them that from what she remembered from her history classes at school, the operation failed and extended the war into 1945. Could she really tell them that, or did her and Brian going back in the past mean that history could change?
On September 14th, some 2 months after returning to England the company were once again packed onto buses and shipped to Membury Airdrome marshalling area. The next day, the company was briefed, and advised that this was the largest airborne landing in history, with three complete divisions. It would be a daylight jump, and unlike Normandy it would come as a surprise to the Germans. Initial intelligence advised that the Germans left behind to defend Holland were older soldiers and new recruits.
As Dana sat nervously waiting to board the plane, she shared a cigarette with Private Hobbs. After being shot in the backside at Brecourt Manor and operated on he had spent time convalescing at a hospital in Wales. When he was told that he would be assigned to a different unit if he was absent for more than 90 days, he persuaded a sergeant who was in charge of releasing patients to send him back Aldbourne with light-duty papers. Once he arrived, he threw away the papers and rejoined 3rd platoon. He was not fully recovered and still couldn’t sit down without pain, but he was where he wanted to be, going into combat with his buddies in E Company.
On September 17th, the company was packed into the planes that would take them to Holland. Dana remembered stories that her grandfather and father had told her about occupied Holland, and she wondered briefly what her father was doing and if he was aware that she was missing. When she felt the plane start taxiing on the runway, she felt herself start to shake and tried desperately not to look out the window.
As the plane began to fly over Holland there was some anti-aircraft fire, which intensified as they came within 5 minutes of the drop zone, but the planes did not break from formation or take evasive action. As they came toward the drop zone, Somerville stood up and turned to face them.
“Stand up!”, he ordered. As one, the platoon rose to their feet. “Hook up!” The men and Dana hooked the metal clips attached to their parachutes to the pole that ran the length of the plane roof. “Sound off!” The men began checking the equipment of the person in front of them, and when she felt a tap on her shoulder and O’Shea’s voice calling “Four OK”, she quickly checked Pagliaro’s gear before calling in a trembling voice “Three OK”. Once the sound off was complete, the door to the plane was opened and Dana shut her eyes briefly. The light next to the opened door changed from red to green, and before she knew it she was in the doorway. The wind caught her and she was whisked out of the plane. She was sure that she screamed all the way down, however when her parachute had opened she drifted down toward Earth and landed with a soft “oof” on her ass in a pasture filled with cows.
The entire company had all landed exactly on the drop zone. She hurriedly packed her parachute and, dodging the falling equipment and other parachutists, she quickly hurried to the assembly area.
**************************************
A big thank you to nolifelowlife & amandap for the comments!
Meh this chapter is a bit boring but sets up the action in the next chapter.
Comments & subscriptions make me smile :-)