A/N: I wrote this for a school assignment, minus the whole Greg and Sara thing...Not much romance, but oh well.
Disclaimer: coughIdon'townCSIdon'tsuemecough
June 8, 1944
Dear Sara,
I miss you more than you could ever know, especially now, because two days ago was by far the worst day of my life. I was woken up at 2 a.m., and was rushed through breakfast, briefing, and getting my equipment ready. All us paratroopers were so loaded down with everything, from shovels to Bibles, from toothbrushes to landmines, we couldn't sit down. We rubbed burnt cork on our faces, to blacken them. And then we were off.
My men and I boarded a small transport plane for our flight to France. The only sound was the wind whistling on the wings, until the Germans spotted us, and started firing anti-aircraft guns on us. Thank God we had a good pilot, one of my buddies, and she maneuvered us out of there pretty fast. I gave the signal to jump. Unfortunately, we were off-target, and landed deep inside enemy lines. We all got separated. I got tangled in my harness and was thrashing around, until I heard heavy footsteps. I instantly lay still, but I was sure he could hear me because my heart was beating so fast and loud. Thank the Lord it was only Private Stokes, one of the men in my regiment. He got me free, and I instructed him to lay landmines while I hurriedly set up roadblocks. Some German troops were marching towards Normandy, and we got caught in the open. They started firing immediately, and these were no rookies like the ones that had been firing on our plane. The terror was threatening to overwhelm me as I lay there behind the roadblock, with bullets whizzing just past my head. I think the only thing that kept me from running was Stokes, looking scared out of his mind, and turning to his superior (me) for instructions. I pulled out my rifle and returned fire. It was just constant shooting and reloading, for a while. Stokes got a bit trigger-happy and was running low on ammunition when I got hit. Luckily, it was just a graze across my face that clipped my ear. I didn't even register the pain, till later.
It wasn't too long after that, though it seemed like forever with me bleeding everywhere, before some Allied forces arrived. They were British troops who had just won Juno Beach, and they definitely saved our lives. The Germans must've gotten a radio transmission or something, because they made a pretty hasty retreat. We went along with the Brits to a school they were using as a HQ. There, a medic bandaged my face up and gave me a shot of morphine. I passed out, and woke up today, to learn that D-Day was a success! I lost a lot of my good friends, so it was also a huge sacrifice. Oh, and it turns out Stokes and I were responsible for nine German dead and five wounded. Put us all in your prayers, Sara, because the war ain't over yet.
Love,
2nd Lieutenant Sanders,
With the 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment (Greg)