I would like to thank two groups of people
1) The members of the armed services you serve with honor and integrity Thank you for your service as well as the civil servants who go into the dark country's and provide the light of democracy to be seen. thank you
2)The second group i want to thank is everyone in the chuck fan fiction realm i started my reading of fan fiction in may of 10 with the piece by PJ Murphy section43 site 3174. Thank you All
I haven't seen a post from him in a while but thank you for starting my enjoyment with the Fiction of Chuck.
Pj Murphy has made it a tradition/ habit to post a story for memorial day well i decided to take up the idea i wrote this after reading about LT "Buck" Compton death this last year and i felt the need to place it into the chuck verse i wrote it and thought nothing of it until today.
That Brings Me to the next
3)To ESARDI i asked him to glance at it and without complaint he added and tweaked it and made it sing
Thank you
Morgans words for "Buck" Compton
John Casey strode out of the apartment with a ramrod back and his steps measured and precise. He was in his uniform. He accidently dropped the newspaper he was reading just moments before.
Across the way Chuck and Sarah where visiting Morgan and Alex. The four looked on in silence. Morgan took notice of the newspaper that had fallen and saw that it was turned to the obituary page. It was laying face up, Morgan picked it up and read it out loud, "Lynn "Buck "Compton passed away yesterday after suffering a heart attack."
He felt several sets of eyes boring into him. Only to look up to see his friends looking back at him. "Umm... I guess I'm going to go change and follow the Colonel."
He looked at his wife of six months and then to Chuck for help. Chuck replied "What do you want me to do about it, I'm going to." Chuck let out a nervous smile to his wife, who thought it best to be there for her partner.
As Chuck and Morgan waited for their better halves to come out of the apartment Morgan said, "Thanks for the back up there Chuck, thought you where the Master of your domain the king of the roost and all that." He chuckled
Chuck replied, "Do you remember how Ellie got when she was pissed at you? Remember hell hath no fury like a woman scorned; this is the same way with Alex. When she's unhappy you're unhappy, after a while you're going to be SOL with about everything you do. Therefore, make sure she stays happy it makes us happy. You more than anyone should know the ardent patriot was a part of the genetic make up when you married Casey's daughter. You of all people should expect when you see the Colonel walk out in his Dress Blues to have a suit on standby because Alex is going to probably want to be with him. Remember he has a place in Arlington already that Alex visited."
Morgan nods his head and remembers what happened after Lester Patel tried to "express" his opinion of how America is not that great and the military is… He remembers Alex coming unglued and physically beating Lester to a pulp for bad mouthing America. Lester made the ultimate mistake when he stated, "your wife should be in the kitchen Morgan." Morgan who had been holding Alex back loosens his grip as he watched with amusement as Alex drop kicked Lester into next week. Morgan shook his head as he pulled himself from his refection.
The Girls approached the car and he got out and opened the door for them. Sarah says "Why does that name ring a bell,"
Alex replies, "Lieutenant 'Buck' Compton of Easy Company of the 101st Airborne." Morgan's eyes widen in acknowledgement of course 'Band of brothers!'
Flash Back
January 2nd, 1945
The day started like all the days in the frozen Ardennes since they had been under siege. The Battle of the Bulge as it would be known through history had been going on for what it seemed like years.
"Where is Lieutenant Dike?" Said Lieutenant Compton,
"No one knows sir."
It was a common theme. Politics were at play even in the combat zone. Lieutenant Dike had been assigned to be platoon commander. It was not that he was a bad Officer; it was that he never made a decision. He would disappear for long periods of time and was always busy when the action began. He treated the assignment like an annoyance, something that he had to endure before moving up the ranks.
The tough decisions where left to Lieutenants like Compton who actually care about his men and was always in the front lines.
"Alright, we will worry about the Lieutenant another. Gentlemen we are heading east to the out skirts of Foy."
As the patrol swept east they met little to no resistance. The major event that occurred was when several soldier encountered a German Officer on a horse.
"Halt!" Said Hoover. However, instead the Officer bolted, Hoover being a good shot aimed and shot the Officer in the head.
When he got near the Officer he noticed he had a Luger. He always wanted to have a souvenir like this and now he had it.
When they got back, all Hoover could talk about was how he shot that Officer and took his Luger. He was a like a kid with a brand new toy. 'And you should have seen how I shot him in the head as he was trying to escape!" Said Hoover excitedly.
"You are a good shot Hoover, I am glad you are on our side." Said Lieutenant Compton.
After Hoover left, Joe shook his head, "Look at him, he has been to every foxhole retelling that story." They all got a good laugh out of that.
Later on Lieutenant Compton and the rest of the group heard a shot. They all hit the deck. "Counter attack?" One of the Sergeants wondered.
"No we would have heard more shooting." Replied Guarnere.
"Someone's been shot!" Yelled Cobb
Lieutenant Compton was moving quickly to the down soldier, it was Hoover. They were asking him what happened while the Lieutenant yelled, "Medic!"
He tried to calm down Hoover, "Hang in there the medic is coming."
Hoover was in a panic, "I...I don't know what happened in was in my pocket and it just went off! It hurts like hell."
The medic rushed over and tried to cut through the leg pants. "I need a light over here."
Someone flicked the lighter as the medic tried to dig around the bullet hole with some forceps.
Unfortunately, for Hoover the bullet had cut through the femoral artery not only was he withering in pain but was quickly loosing the battle to live as he was bleeding to death.
"Hold him down will you I can't see!" Complained the medic. However, Hoover suddenly stopped struggling. The medic felt for a pulse but they all knew it was too late.
Braking Point
January 3, 1945
They had been ordered back to the West Side of Foy. Unfortunately, that was right where the Germans used Easy Company as target practice with their Eighty Eights.
As they walked back to where they had come from, Lieutenant Compton could tell that the company they were replacing had gone through hell the previous night. The tree bursts were a dead give away. You have not gone through hell until you had been hit by a barrage of shells from German Eighty Eight Artillery.
Lieutenant Compton was slowly losing it. He had not been the same since getting shot in Operation Open Market.
He went from fox hole to fox hole, "Don't do anything stupid like that, he told Joseph Toye. He emphasized the same thing to William Guarnere. "I have invested a lot of time in you guys to make you half way decent soldiers." They both cracked up.
When he left Joe shook his head and said, "Crazy Joe Malarkey."
"What...what are you talking about Joe?"
"Listen Bill..."Joe did not want to say anything else.
"No go ahead, Malarkey was crazy, are you implying the Lieutenant is crazy?"
"No I...Listen Bill the Lieutenant has been wound up pretty tight. You know he has not been the same since he got shot."
"Yeah Joe but still..."
"He received a letter from his girl back home saying that it was over."
"How do you know that?"
"He told me when he was looking at her picture."
Just then the Eighty Eights opened up. "In coming!" Yelled the Lieutenant.
The trees and ground burst into a spectacular event of fire and death.
Joseph Toye was struggling mightily to get back to his fox hole. He had been caught in the open. "Run Joe!"
Just then Joseph Toye's world turned upside down as a shell hit real closed to him and he flipped in the air and when he landed he was completely knocked out.
After the barrage everyone was looking around to see who was still alive. When Joe woke up he was in a world of hurt. Most of him was still in tact however, the same could not be said for his right leg that had been severed just below his knee.
Joe was howling in pain when Guarnere reached him. "I will get you out of here Joe, hang on." Them he screamed, "Medic!"
Just then a second barrage started to hit the company. Joe and Bill were in clear view of Lieutenant Compton. He was yelling at Guarnere to hurry up. Realizing that they were not going to make it. He yelled, "I will be right there!"
He got up from his position and started running towards them when a series of explosions knocked him back into his fox hole and he temporarily lost consciousness. When he woke up again he immediately wanted started to look for Joe and Bill and what he found horrified him.
They were both in what looked like a pile of bloody limbs. At that moment Lieutenant 'Buck' Compton's world imploded. His hands started to shake violently, his Thomson machine gun slipped from his shoulders, he tried to remove his helmet but it just shook from his hand as he could not hold anything at that moment and it dropped to the ground.
As Lieutenant Compton sat in a corner cupping his hands around his face he was a broken man, one too many of his friends had died or been mangled. The man that had been shot at the Battle of Normandy and again at Operation Market Garden, Just simply withdrew within himself.
Though ostensibly evacuated for severe trench foot, his transfer was due in part to combat fatigue. However, the spirit of the man did not die there. Lieutenant 'Buck' Compton would fight back and rejoin his company in Austria.
The burial
They park next to Casey's Crown Victoria and watched from a respectful distance as the Lieutenant was laid to rest. Morgan was moved by the 21 gun salute and the tradition of the ceremony.
Casey walks up to the grave and salutes and says some words and turns at an about face and notes Morgan and crew.
Morgan steps past Casey and says "And when he gets to heaven, Saint Peter will say, One More Soldier Reporting Sir, I've Served My Time in Hell"
Morgan continued, "You lived a full life, a good life, you and your generation sacrificed your innocence, blood, sweat and tears for my generation and those of the rest of the world. We shouldn't forget Great men like yourself and your generation. You did a great deed and now it's a little late, but thank you Sir!"
Morgan snaps into a picture perfect salute that Casey had tried to train him to do when they were roommates. "We will forever be in your debt as you just did your duty not only to this city as a lawyer and judge, but to this country. You are probably with the rest of the company who have gone before you, and are waiting the final members of your squad. The public should never forget and yet we do, for that I'm sorry. We honor you in death as you lived in life, thank you Lieutenant 'Buck' Compton."
Casey is moved by the speech and Alex has unshed tears welling in her eyes. Chuck and Sarah hold each other in comfortable silence. Casey speaks up "Let's all go home and toast a fallen hero shall we?"
As they start walking out of the cemetery a lone figure with misty eyes stands leaning on his cane. As Morgan passes the man he asks, "Sir were you one of heroes from Easy Company?"
"No," replied William J. Guarnere, "But I served with a company of heroes."