Just a quick note to thank Luckynumber28 and war sage for their lovely comments they are greatly appreciated :-)

I will be going back and editing the chapters when I have more time, maybe next week I'm not sure when yet, so until then I am sorry for any mistakes, I hate reading stories with errors! Anyway...

Thank you for reading hope you enjoy this extra-long chapter and I hope it doesn't bore you too much! :-)

Chapter Four: Jumping For Joy

Wednesday December 9th 1942 Fort Benning Georgia

"Ok everyone stop what you are doing, if you haven't finished packing your chute then tough shit you should have finished by now! I will be coming round and checking each man's pack, you know the drill stand in front of your chute and wait for my inspection." The instructor commands as we stand in front of our parachute backpacks. He was right we did know the drill by now, we have been practicing meticulously packing and unpacking our parachutes for the past five days. Parachute packing was a major part of the program here a Fort Benning, we were supposed to be completing the first stage of the four step program however due to our superior fitness, thanks to Sobel's shit, we had managed to skip A stage and went straight to B stage. Speaking of Sobel, we finally had some respite of him and all the commissioned officers for a short while. They will be qualifying before us so we are training under experienced NCOs. We have had the same routine each day since we started parachute packing. In the morning we would head to the packing shed, a much larger bare wooden hut compared to the small basic huts that littered the base. Benning was miserable both in look and in terms of the training. With dry sandy soil, sparse vegetation and ugly shacks, not that Toccoa was idyllic; the repetitive difficult training was draining. The packing shed had to be huge though otherwise all of our parachutes wouldn't fit in. According to the experts the chutes had to be 28 feet long and 28 feet in diameter with 28 suspension lines. Don't ask me why 28 was the chosen number apparently it was the perfect quantity, as long as I was safe I didn't care what size it was. Once the morning training was completed we would head to the Frying Pan for lunch then jump training. The Frying Pan was a sawdust area with a set up very much like that of Toccoa, the small mock airplane door to practice landings and the taller tower and pulley system to practice the fall.

"Private Larsen" The trainer's gruff voice greets me as he begins to check my pack. He stares closely at the thin twine that binds the two parts of the parachute backpack cover, a look of approval clear on his face. He then proceeds to rip it open revealing the neatly folded white silk bundle and suspension lines. "Good, unfold and repack it again Larsen" he moves onto the next table to look at Bulls pack. We had all mastered the art of packing by now; the first few attempts were disastrous for many. Getting lines tangled and folding the silk the wrong way were common problems, however having worked in a tailor for a few years I had some experience with this. We were now ready and eager for C stage and ultimately D stage, once D stage was completed we could finally call ourselves paratroopers.

Progression to C stage happened a few days later, during our second week at the camp. Stage C was interesting; it was another type of mock jumping. There were two different types of jumps during this training stage. One of which was around 250 feet tall with seats, shock absorbers and parachute guide wires. This was to simulate falling. The second type involved a suspended arm and parachutes; a wind machine was used to simulate landing conditions. We each had completed both exercises several times during the day and at least once at night. When we had finally completed this it was time for one of the most important parts of our training yet, D stage, gaining our wings. In order to finish D stage we were required to complete a total of 5 jumps from an aircraft, just the thought of it worried me and excited me simultaneously. Danny thought that I would love it and that I should relax and enjoy the scenery. His advice was greatly appreciated but he wasn't the one throwing himself out of a metal bird from thousands of feet high, relying on a silk bed-sheet to save him. To say I was nervous about the jumps would be an understatement.

0530 Tuesday December 22nd 1942 Fort Benning Georgia

I was exhausted, having spent countless hours last night packing, unpacking and repacking my parachute I had a restless sleep. I was dreading this jump as were the rest of the men, none of us would say that out loud though. We marched this morning towards the airstrip where we would board our plane. We were led to the hanger in our full gear and sat down on the wooden benches. The fellas laughing and joking out of pure nervousness and fear, I was too nervous to even speak. This was the first time I had ever been on an airplane; I think most of the men had never flown either. The urge to urinate for what felt like the thousandth time today made me wriggle uncomfortably. Standing up and starting the small trek towards the latrine when Tippers questioning voice stops me.

"Where you headin' Jimmie?"

"Latrine, I need another piss" I reply slightly irritated at the fact that I had to piss again, damn my small bladder.

"Jesus that's the fourth time this morning, be quick I think we will be getting ready soon" He says as I nod my head, I could hear Luz in the distance joking about me pissing myself during the jump. I wouldn't put that past my bladder.

Once I had relieved myself I returned to the group. Tip was indeed correct, we were collected by a jump-master and we were taken to the runway where we were instructed to sit down in front of the rather large and looming airplane. The instructor was talking and joking about the jump procedure, pointing at a diagram on a board that had been placed in the grass. This was all a blur though; I couldn't't focus on anything he was saying as my mind was a swirling mess. I could only hope that I subconsciously remembered my extensive training when I did jump.

We made our way towards the C-47 aircraft my eyes lingering on the two large propellers. It boggled my mind that such a heavy object could fly in the air like a bird, solely relying on the engines and propellers. We filed our way onto the plane. Sitting down on the wooden benches, there were around 24 of us in total. I glance around the nervous faces of my friends. Luz was joking around with Skip, Penkala, Lieb, Tip and Malark, though they were laughing you could tell inside he was shitting it. Even two of the toughest guys I know where looking slightly nervous, Wild Bill and Toye were talking in low voices to each other, their faces set in small frowns and Martin who was sat next to Joe was staring at the open door. Web, Perco, Shifty, Bull and Tab were discussing how to land safely. The plane suddenly bursts to life making me jump in my seat slightly. Internally scolding myself for showing such a sign of weakness, I shouldn't be so scared about this. Luckily everyone else was so engrossed in their conversations that no one noticed my movement, or so I thought.

"Your first time flying Jimmie?" Lip asks from his place directly opposite me.

"Yeah how'd you guess" I sarcastically comment a small smile gracing my lips "is it yours?" I ask, though I could probably guess that it was Lipton's first flight too.

"Yeah it is" he says as he nods his head slightly. The plane had picked up speed at an alarming rate; we were hurtling towards the end of the runway. "Everything will be fine Larsen, just follow your training and everything will be ok" Lip says reassuringly as the planes angle pitches and the wheels leave the solid ground. That's one thing I like about the sergeant he cared for us. My mouth had become so dry with nerves by this point that I could no longer rely on my voice to reply so I nod and smile in appreciation of his encouragement.

"We've reached 1,500 feet we will loop round once" I hear the pilot say to the jump-master. The jump-master said something back but I didn't hear what he had said, this whole experience had overwhelmed me. We had been training for months for this day. The day we could finally jump out of a real aircraft, with real parachutes, the day we fully experienced our job for the first time and here I was a ball of nerves. The plane tilted the right hand side, the side I was sat on; this lasted for a few moments before we straightened out once more. My eyes going towards the light above the door in anticipation, somewhere within my brain a switch was clicked and my training had overtaken my fear.

The light illuminated red, the jump-master stood up and shouted over the loud racket that the propellers caused.

"Stand up and hook-up" we did as we were told. Grasping the line was stuck to my backpack cover I carefully attach the metal clasp to the anchor wire running along the top of the plane.

"Sound off for equipment check!" Oh shit I am actually doing this.

"Number 24 ok" Its ok Jimmie you can do this.

"Number 23 ok" Just remember that the chute will open up automatically and you should only pull the reserve chute if it doesn't open up immediately. Also remember when it's time to land don't let your chute get out of control and pull you back into the air.

"Number 7 ok" Lieb shouts directly behind me as his hand slaps my shoulder signaling that it was my time to check the man in front of me, examining Lip I manage to yell loud enough.

"Number 6 ok" We were told not to look down and not to put our hands inside the door. I have a feeling that I would probably end up looking straight down, I would have to make sure I didn't, I really wanted to pass this and didn't want to fail because I was too chicken shit to actually do it. I would never live that down.

"Number 1 ok"

"Close up and stand in the door" It was time. I watch as the six men in front of me each approach the door and jump out, there parachutes deploying. It was now my turn. Resisting the urge to look down my gaze stayed fixed towards the blue horizon, my hands clasped the cold metal exterior of the huge plane. A light shove from the jumpmaster caused me to let go and jump. The blast of cold air was exhilarating and the feeling of falling at great speeds was terrifyingly good. My body jars when the cover snaps of the guide line. The white sheet billowing out above me, the chute had deployed correctly thank god. Relieved and surprisingly happy I let out a long sigh as I take in the breath-taking view. Everything below looked tiny, all the buildings and people were like little black dots. The sky was filled with my fellow paratroopers, the white chutes shining in the meagre winter sunlight.

"How amazing is this?" Webster shouts from below me. We were all slowing down our descent now approaching the ground at slower speeds, laughing and joking in our exhilarated state.

"It's breath-taking" I shout back

"Do you need a piss now Jimmie" Lieb shouts whilst grinning from his position above me.

"He has probably pissed his pants already" I could vaguely hear Luz shout a few feet away from me. I let out a laugh as the ground approaches me quickly. Having watched Web, Perco, Shifty, Bull, Tab and Lip land safely I managed to successfully land without killing or even injuring myself. After a brief battle with my parachute against the wind, I slump down on the ground a safe distance from the other landing paratroopers, thoroughly exhausted due to the lack of sleep and the excitement. I don't know why I was nervous to begin with, it was a wonderful thing. I was looking forward to the second jump we'd be completing in the afternoon. The other fellas that had landed sat next to me, some with grins clearly having enjoyed the jump, others slightly bewildered, and we watched the rest of the Toccoa men complete their jump. The odd persons jump going wrong, Bill was one of them. He started to run in mid-air which was not advisable. We were yelling at him to stop but he panicked, he ended up landing in a heap on the ground. He was lucky he didn't break anything.

That afternoon we completed the second jump successfully also. Bill managed to mess up again this time he opened his reserve chute and his main chute, the reserve chute opening between his legs causing him to be pulled in different directions, other than that it went well. I was eager for the third and fourth jump. It felt like an alcoholic but with parachuting, I craved the thrill of dropping out of the sky. I spoke to some of the others about it, but none of them truly felt the way I did, the only other man who enjoyed it as much as I was Web. The third jump two days later was slightly different from the previous two. This time we were in groups of 12, this is the standard way of jumping, instead of going one at a time we all went straight after each other, the jump-master yelling go after each man, it was intense.

The fourth jump was on Christmas Eve and went smoothly, we had Christmas Day free and then we would finish off jump training on the 26th. Homesickness was plaguing Easy then. Much like flying, it was the first time for many being away from home at Christmas. No family dinner and present giving, some of the guys complained about the lack of snow. I was missing my siblings and Esther to no end. Est was spending Christmas at her parents' house this year, she had also kindly invited my siblings along, she told me in her last letter, she felt that being near my relatives made her feel closer to me somehow, it made her feel like there was some normality in the world.

Esther's family lived in Fort Worth; they had generously offered to pay for my siblings to travel and stay at their home. Veronica and Peter were staying at Peters parents in San Francisco like they did last year and Danny had been invited to spend Christmas with Polly's family, which pleased me as much as it pleased him. That left Betty, Mary, Ray and Tom at home, they accepted Esther's thoughtful offer with my blessing. I promised to pay back her parents for the cost, but they insisted that as their future son in law, my family was their family too. As for Easy's Christmas plans we were having a full Christmas dinner, Turkey with all the trimmings. It was delicious compared to the normal shit food. We enjoyed ourselves as much as we could given our situation. We were anticipating eagerly the next day, the pinnacle jump of our lives so far.

2100 Saturday December 26th 1942 Fort Benning Georgia

We had finally completed our last jump. Earlier today Sink pinned a set of jump wings onto each man's chest. I was brimming with pride. I couldn't stop myself from staring at the marvellous silver badge. This was the culmination of months of training, we were now officially paratroopers, and I was now officially a corporal. I've never seen so many proud faces in that room when we had our presentation ceremony that afternoon. We eagerly shoved our trousers into our boots; we'd waited so long to blouse them like the real deal. A party had begun in the bar shortly after Sink left. Luz was situated behind the bar distributing bottles and pints of beer. With each hour that passed he and the rest of us became more and more inebriated. I was standing next to Lieb, Popeye, Tip and Tab, slightly drunk.

"Can you fucking believe it? We are now certified paratroopers" I yell in ecstasy.

"Yeah bud you better believe it" Lieb shouts equally elated.

"I can't believe I'm a sergeant" Tab slurs in his intoxicated state, he and Martin had both been promoted to sergeant at the same time I and a few others were promoted to corporal.

"Congrats again buddy, you deserve another drink" Popeye says has he slaps Floyd rather harshly but still friendly on his back.

"I'll get him another anyone else need one" the others shake their head to say no. Nodding as I turn and start the short walk towards the alcohol. I stumble slightly on my way towards the bar. I overhear Perco and Martin talking about class and style or some bullshit. When I arrive to my destination Toye is clinking his glass against Luz's in a toast of "three miles up three miles down" I was about to yell at him to give me some beers when a shout tousled me into position of attention.

"Ten hut"

Col Sink stalks in with his two aids; he stands in front of the group a small smile on his face.

"Well at ease paratroopers good evening easy company" he starts his speech as we reply back with a collective shout of "good evening sir". He tells us how proud he is of us men making history with the new concept of paratroopers and that we deserved the party and the 10 day furlough we were getting, I was planning on surprising my siblings and fiancé who were staying at Esther's parents for a few more weeks. Grant handed Sink a beer at some point and he finishes his speech off with our motto of Currahee, to which we all gleefully toasted and yelled back. When Sink left I turned my attention back to the bar leaning against the wooden structure trying to prevent me from toppling over, Luz stares at me.

"Are you leaning corporal, as I was telling corporal Toye there will be no leaning in my company" he was impersonating again.

"Shut up Luz just give me two beers will ya" I slur hastily. He smiles his usual grin then reaches down to God knows where and produces two full glasses of beer.

"Here ya go Jimmie" he says his voice back to normal now as he handed the glasses to me. "Currahee" he grins as he pulls his glass towards mine, a smile erupting on to my face as our glasses clink together noisily "to Currahee".

The rest of the night was a blur of boisterous behaviour and a vast amount of drinking.

The next day Sink gathered us up and told us to return back by 1030 in ten days' time and told us not to get arrested. We were then sent on our way to do whatever we wanted for the first time in a long while. A number of the men were going home, others were going to stay in Georgia or go on a holiday of sorts. I was thoroughly excited to be travelling to Texas in order to surprise some of my family. After packing a bag and saying goodbye to some of the fellas I boarded the bus and started the 12 hour journey towards the lone star state.

Thursday December 31st 1942 Fort Worth Texas

I had surprised Esther and my siblings a couple of days ago. They were thrilled to see me, even Esther's parents, I've been sleeping on the sofa seeing as all available beds were taken, and that they were devout Catholics prohibiting me from sleeping with their daughter, I respected their views whilst in their home but it was killing me. We had just finished eating a lovely meal made by Betty and Mary, a thank you gift to Esther's parents. John had been acting strange all day; all my siblings were acting strange but John more so than the others. He excused himself and headed towards the front porch, I swiftly excused myself, determined to find answers. We sat on the brick steps in silence until I spoke up and asked him what was wrong.

"What's on your mind Johnny?" I turn my head towards his position, attempting to lock eyes with his, but his gaze never met mine. He continued to stare off towards the star filled sky. He lets out a long sigh, his face contemplative.

"Nothing James" he unconvincingly lies.

"You've never been good a lying John, I'll never forget the time you smashed Mrs. Bragg's door with a baseball. Now tell me what's wrong or I'll go and ask the others, I'm sure by the way they're acting they know what's going on." He turns to look at me straight sheepishly.

"Well y'know how Dan is gonna join the Army, I already have."

"Oh when? And how come ya never told me?" I ask, not in the least bit annoyed by this revelation.

"Last month, I am off to training in a few weeks. I was gonna tell you sooner, I swear, it's just I didn't know how you'd take it. If me, Dan, Ray and Tom all join up then Veronica, Betty and Mary would be left to look after themselves. I know you worry about them, well all of us. I didn't want to stress you out during jump training…" Johnny was rambling nervously; I cut him off before he worked himself up further.

"Hey, hey, its ok Johnny, I'm not mad. I know this was a big decision for ya, I will support you no matter what, I hope you remember that. I am proud at the way all of you have coped and I know that the girls will survive without us. Sometimes I think we underestimate them, they are Larsen's after all" I say with a toothy grin chuckling slightly, causing Johnny to smile for the first time today.

"I'm nervous, but excited; I don't know what to expect really I'm so confused. I've been chosen to be a medic. They think it suits me best. I beg to differ but they insisted that it was the perfect role for me. Yeah I want to help people but putting a life in my hands is extreme, I would be dealing with life and death each day, I don't know if I can cope." He was going to be a medic like Doc Roe, I could see why he was chosen for this role, his personality, his intelligence he was the perfect candidate.

"Well I would be worried if you weren't nervous. Fear is as important as bravery; you just have to control it. I'll tell you something but ya have to promise not to tell the other fellas, they would never let me live this down" He nods slightly looking quizzically at me. "When we did the first proper jump at Benning I was shit scared. I was convinced that I was going to fuck up and potentially cause an accident. I was constantly going the bathroom and all the men found it a hoot. I thought I would freeze and never get my wings, but I pushed through that fear and completed the jump and enjoyed it. Now I can proudly say that I am a paratrooper. I know that you can manage your fear and become a highly skilled medic, you can do anything if you put your mind, heart and soul into it." I finish my lecture with a slap on Johnny back, hoping that my words had helped him somewhat.

"The great James William Larsen scared, I'd never thought I'd see the day" He says barking a laugh out, it relieved me to see him almost back to his old self. None of us will truly be as carefree as we were before this shitty war and our parents' deaths but we were generally happy.

"Fuck off; if you jumped out of that contraption with a bit of silk stuck to you you'd be pissing yourself too"

"Yeah, yeah, keep telling yourself that Jimmie"

"Your worse than Luz" the only sound audible in the quite twilight was our rambunctious laughs. When we finally stopped and regained our breath we sat in silent. Each lost in our own thoughts staring off into to the night. The silence wasn't awkward, it was comforting, and having a slight part of normalcy in my now chaotic life was a small miracle. I was thankful for my loving family and my amazing friends and colleagues of Easy. The silence was broken once more by Johnny, his voice far quitter than before, it was barely a whisper, almost lost among the sound of the increasing wind.

"Thank you James, for everything"