Gunslinger

Early the next morning, more stragglers had arrived including Lieutenant Johnson, who had gotten lost and ended up fighting with some stragglers from the 82nd Division. When he put down his bulging backpack, Dana had looked at him with a smirk.
“What the hell have you got in there, besides the kitchen sink?”. Johnson returned her smirk before a soft smile lit his features.
“I’ve got my reserve chute”, he responded. “I want to send it back to my girl Lorraine. It’s pure silk so she can use it for her wedding dress when I get home from the war.”
“That is so sweet”, Dana said with a smile. Johnson blushed but smiled back at her.
“That’s sickening”, O’Shea smirked. “You gonna carry that thing with you everywhere?”
“Yes”, Johnson responded. “With the rationing silk will be hard to find.”
“Don’t listen to these bozos”, Dana giggled. “Lorraine’s got herself a good man.”

Lieutenant Somerville called the group together to advise that German machine gun fire from the hedge row across the road from Brecourt Manor was building up, and he assigned his machine gunners to answer with some firing of their own. The mortar squad, which included Pagliaro and O’Shea moved off to help them.

Just after noon, infantry from the 4th Division that had landed at Utah began to pass through. By this stage, the Company had managed to amass 50 soldiers.
“No one knows what’s happened to Lieutenant Dean”, Pagliaro advised as they watched Lieutenant Somerville and Lieutenant Hanson speaking with Major Cumberland.
“Yeah, nobody’s seen him at all so for the meantime Somerville’s in charge.” Dana glanced at Pagliaro and they both recalled the crashed plane that they had seen on their first night.
“Damn, I hope what we’re thinking ain’t right”, Pagliaro sighed. “If it is that’s the entire HQ.”
“Hey look, there’s Lieutenant McKenzie”, O’Shea called.
“Who’s he?”, Dana whispered in an aside to Brouchard who was walking past the group toward the medical tent.
“Intelligence officer”, Brouchard responded before continuing on his way.

Lieutenant McKenzie was followed by four Sherman tanks. He advised Somerville to point out the location of the enemy position to the tank drivers, then use the company to provide infantry support for an attack. Somerville climbed onto the back of the closest tank.
“I want fire along those hedgerows over there, there and there, and against the Manor. Clean out anything that’s left.”

The tanks roared ahead. This was their first time in combat and the crews were itching to fire their weapons at the enemy. The tanks proceeded to cut the hedgerows to pieces, and by mid-afternoon the Manor was secure.

By late afternoon, the Germans had pulled out of Ste. Marie-du_mont, as the company and the rest of the 2nd Battalion moved in, then marched south-southwest for a couple of kilometres to the six-house village of Culoville, where Major Brookes had 2nd Battalion’s headquarters. Somerville got the company settled down for the night, with outposts in place. They proceeded to eat their K rations for dinner, which consisted of small packets of biscuits, crackers, tinned ham and chocolate. The ration packs also included cigarettes, for which Dana was grateful. She was beginning to get nicotine withdrawal and as she slowly dragged back on her cigarette she wondered what the next day held in store.

Present Day

At precisely the same time that Dana was smoking her cigarette in a house in Culoville, France, Emily was sitting beside her hospital bed holding her lifeless hand. There were tubes and wires running off Dana’s body everywhere, and Emily was trying to hold back tears.
“I wish I knew what happened”, Emily murmured to her dear friend. There had been no change in either Dana or Brian’s condition, although the Doctor’s could find no reason for them to be in comas.

Matt had gone to get Emily a cup of coffee and something to eat, and Emily was so thankful for the support that he was showing her. He had barely left her side for the entire time that she had been sitting with Dana, and she knew that the others were doing the same for Brian.
“You have to wake up, little sis”, Emily sobbed, looking down at Dana’s serene face. “I can’t go through this life without you.”

June 10th, 1944

The 29th Division, coming up from Omaha Beach, linked up with the 101st Division northeast of Carentan. This made the beach-head secure, but it couldn’t be developed until the Americans drove the Germans out of Carentan. Progress was extremely slow, due to lack of sufficient armor or artillery, the skill and determination of the German defenders and the huge hedgerows. The hedgerows were often 6 feet high or more, and were so solid they could stop a tank. Additionally, each hedgerow was a major enemy position. Dana, Brian and the rest of the company found that no sooner had they taken a hedgerow, after an all-out effort, that there would be another one 50 meters or less away. It was excruciating and exhausting but it had to be done.

By the next night, the company was marching under cover of darkness for Carentan. Somerville ordered Private Pitts to set up his bazooka on a bank near to the railroad line.
“Pitts, we’re depending on you”, Sergeant Richland whispered. “Don’t miss.”
“I won’t”, Pitts responded. Dana looked over at the ammunition carrier and noticed that he looked extremely nervous.
“What’s up with him?”, Dana whispered to Pitts. Pitts glanced toward Private Felton.
“We’ll be OK Joe”, Pitts whispered to him. “Just be sure you have two bazooka rounds ready to go, with absolutely no time lost, not a fraction of a second.” Felton went back and returned with two bazooka rounds, stumbling and crashing around. To Pitts and Dana’s horror, he said that he had removed the safety pins, which meant that an armed bazooka rocket would explode if he dropped them from two or three feet.
“Stick those pins back in”, Pitts whispered. “I’ll tell you when I want them out.”
“I don’t know where they are“, Felton responded, holding the rounds out stiffly. “I tossed them away.”
“Good god almighty! Find them!”. Felton looked down but couldn’t find them. Dana got down on her hands and knees to help look and they eventually found the pins.

No attack happened at that moment, and the company fell asleep on the bank of the railroad, however orders soon came through to attack at 6am next morning the order came down from HQ to attack.

Somerville set up his old platoon, the 1st, under Lieutenant Johnson, on the left side of the road, just past where the road to Carentan curved and then straightened out, with 2nd platoon on the right and 3rd platoon in reserve. The company lay down in the ditches by the side of the road, awaiting orders. The German defenders hadn’t revealed their machine gun position or fired any mortars. Everything was quiet while the group waited.

At 6.00am Somerville ordered the company to move out. Johnson started the advance, running down the road toward the T-junction some 50 meters away, with his platoon following. The German machine gunners opened fire, straight down the road. The fire split the platoon. Both sides lay face down in the ditches on both sides of the road, trying to get down as low as they could. Somerville jumped into the middle of the road.
“Get moving”, he yelled. He ran down the road, miraculously dodging machine gun fire as he tried to get the company moving. Somerville then screamed at the men to move.
“Come on! Move out! Now!”

As one, the group jumped up and ran as fast as they could toward the town. Dana thought she could almost hear every heartbeat in her ears as she ran. The company split as they got into the town, taking cover wherever they could.

Brian and Private Holmes were clearing out houses; Brian throwing grenades through windows, while Private Holmes waited outside for the explosion, before kicking in the door to look for and shoot any survivors.

Dana and Private Pitts cleared out a house. As Pitts was passing out the front door, a huge explosion from a mortar blew him off his feet and back into the house. Dana grabbed him and helped him into a sitting position.
“Medic!”, she screamed. She held Pitts as he trembled, trying to wipe the blood from his eyes. Johnson came over with a surette of morphine.
“I can walk”, Pitts insisted.
“Donald, both your legs are broken and you have a head injury”, Dana responded, trying to calm the agitated man. She and Johnson half dragged him into the street. Explosions were rocking the street and shrapnel was hitting the wall above their heads. They managed to get Pitts back to the aid station that was being set up in a barn about 20 meters to the rear.

Mortars and sniper fire were still pinning most of the company down. Richland and Brian peeled off to the right from the main intersection. They huddled against a wall and yelled for the other men to follow them. A mortar shell landed about 2 metres in front of Richland, putting shell fragments in his cheek, wrist and right leg at the crotch. Blood was pumping out of the arm wound and he looked fearfully down at his lap. Brian put a bandage on his arm and slit Richland’s pant leg.
“Everything’s where it’s supposed to be buddy”, he told Richland who smiled thinly in response.

Brian threw Richland over his shoulder and carried him to the aid station. When they got there, he saw Dana and Private Pitts. She was holding him and softly talking to him to get him to calm down. His head injury was very severe, and Brian overhead a medic saying that he might not make it. He watched Dana quietly as she spoke to Pitts, seeing a side to her that he had never seen before. Whilst he knew that Dana wasn’t calm, as nobody could be in the midst of a battle, she spoke with calmness and gentleness in her voice to a terrified man who was afraid that he was going to die. At that moment, he wondered just what it was about her that had made him hate her so much, and he felt some of that feeling lift away.

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