I do not own Band of Brothers. This story is based on the characters in the Mini-Series, not the real men of Easy Company.
June 8th, 1944- Normandy, France
"C'mon sleeping beauties, nap times over" someone laughed, kicking our boots.
I opened one eye, seeing Perconte standing over us brushing his teeth.
"Fuck off Perco" George grumbled from beside me, stretching his arms out in front of him and yawning.
"Fucking off George" Perconte laughed. "Just thought I'd let you guys know that we're all sitting over there waiting for orders if you'd like to join us sometime… today" he added, laughing as he walked away.
Joe was still asleep on my shoulder and I nudged him awake gently, trying not to startle him again.
"5 more minutes mom" he grumbled, opening one eye and grinning at me.
"I'm going to brush my teeth" I laughed, nudging him as I got up.
After I finished brushing my teeth and felt awake I walked over to join the men who were all showing off their "prizes" that they had acquired the previous day.
Joe was holding up a medium sized Nazi flag to my brother and telling him about gunning down the group of soldiers a few nights ago.
"You better hold onto that Joe" I laughed. "Someone might want to steal it" I added, gesturing to Perconte who was going on about the 5 watches he had lined up on his arm.
"Good point" Joe laughed, starting to fold the flag back up.
"HEY FELLAS" A voice called out from behind us.
I turned around, looking around Joe to see Talbert, Shifty, Blithe and a couple of other Easy company men alive and walking towards us.
"Well look who decided to show up Floyd" my brother called out, walking over to Talbert to shake his hand.
"We thought we'd never find you guys" Tab smiled, shaking my brother's hand before turning to give me a hug. "Heeey Liz" he said.
"Hey tab get a load of this" Joe said, unfolding his flag again and holding it up for Talbert. "You like that?"
"Yeah that's the real stuff huh?" Talbert replied, pulling his own findings out of his bag.
"OOOOO camo" Joe laughed, admiring Tab's find.
"You guys are like children" I laughed, watching them fight over touching Talbert's camo.
"You guys are laaahkkk cheeeeldreeen" George imitated my voice, laughing.
"Once again I don't sound like that you freak" I laughed, rolling my eyes at him.
"Do to" George laughed.
"Do not!" I replied, rolling my eyes again and sitting down on the edge of the fountain. Jesus he was annoying sometimes.
"Oh my god talk about acting like children for fuck sakes" Joe laughed.
"LETS GO, FIRST PLATOON! EASY'S MOVING OUT! ON YOUR FEET" Welsh called out from across the square.
"Can we not and say we did?" I joked, shielding my eyes from the sun.
"Up-see-daisy Liz" Joe laughed, swinging his gun onto his shoulder as I followed him over to where Welsh was standing.
"Listen up! It'll be dark soon! I want light and noise discipline from here on" Welsh ordered as all of us started to gather around him.
"No talking, no smoking and no playing grab fanny with the man in front of you Luz" he added, slightly smirking at my brother who grabbed Eugene's butt in response.
Gene turned around, a look of horror appearing on his face. He obviously didn't know that "grab-fanny" was my brother's favourite game. I shrugged at him, acting like I didn't know why George had randomly grabbed his butt.
"Where we heading to Lieutenant?" one of the men asked.
"We're taking Carentan" Welsh replied.
"That sounds like fun" Perconte joked as everyone started to mumble around us.
"General Taylor's sending the whole division" Welsh replied.
"Pfft… remember boys, give me three days and three nights of hard fightin and you will be relieved" my brother said, imitating General Taylor.
"George… that's the General" I laughed. "Show some respect" I added jokingly.
"First platoon falling behind fox company, you people from second and third platoon… follow us" Welsh ordered, starting off towards the front of the crowd.
"You know the thing to remember boys…" George imitated General Taylor again. "Flies spread disease… so keep yours closed."
"Pfft… Oh George" I laughed, falling into step between my brother and Joe as we headed towards the unknown.
We ducked down in the ditches on the outskirts of Carentan. It was quiet. Way too quiet. My heart started to pound faster. This was not going to be good.
"So we just wait here?" I whispered to Gene who was crouched down beside me.
"Yeah… till we hear the call for a Medic." He replied. "You ready for this Liz?" he asked as he looked down at my shaking hands
"Yeah… Yeah, I'm good" I replied, trying to convince myself more than I was trying to convince Gene.
"Good, cuz I'm gonna need you" he whispered, looking up out of the ditch that we were in. "Can't do this alone."
I peaked out too, seeing Welsh motion for my brother and the others from first platoon to follow him. This was it, the men were starting to move into the town.
"Shit" I swore, ducking down as the bullets began to fly. I had lost sight of George in the frenzy of bodies jumping back into the ditches as we fell under heavy fire.
"Gene we have to… they need us" I stuttered, yelling over the gun shots so that he could hear me.
"We have to wait Liz…" Gene replied, pulling me deeper into the ditch with him. "They don't need us yet..."
"MEDIC! MEDIC!" someone called out nearby.
Gene nodded at me, pulling me up by the sleeve. "Let's go!" he yelled, pulling me along with him around the back of the town and through the backyard of one of the houses.
We broke out in a run towards where we had heard the call from, our boots pounding against the debris that was littering the roads. Some bullets just about hit my feet as I ran up ahead of Gene, on a mission to get to the dying soldier who I could hear crying out in pain.
"MEDIC!" we heard the call again, seeing that it was Bill who was calling out to us. He was holding onto another Toccoa man who had blood seeping through his jacket.
I was in full nurse mode now as I ran over towards the wounded soldier, checking him over to see where he was hit.
It was a pretty bad chest wound and I ripped his jacket open as Eugene slid onto his knees on the other side of him.
"Sulfa Gene get me Sulfa!" I yelled as some bullets whizzed past us again.
Gene handed me the Sulfa, taking some bandages out of his satchel to patch the wound up with.
I ripped open the Sulfa, spreading over the wound as the soldier cried out in pain.
"I don't wanna die nurse, I don't wanna die here!" he cried, gripping my jacket for dead life, his eyes wide with fear.
Oh my god, he was begging me to save his life. He was counting on me.
"You're not going to die private" I said. "You're going to be just fine, the bullet didn't hit any arteries." I assured him.
"MEDIC!" I heard someone else call from behind a nearby building. Both Gene and my head snapped up, searching for the person who had made the call.
"I'll go!" I yelled to Eugene as he started to get up. "Take care of him!" I added as Gene continued to bandage the soldiers wounds before I ran off towards where I had heard the call for a medic.
I could hear my heart beating in my ears as I ran towards the building, dodging some more bullets on my way over. This is freaking insane.
I ran past George who was with Hoobler, throwing grenades into buildings to clear them. I smiled to myself as I ran. George was alive. For now at least. Oh my god where is Joe? Was he alive? Jesus Liz focus.
Some more bullets nearly hit me as I ducked behind the building where I had heard the call coming from.
"Shit" I muttered, leaning down beside Bull who had been the one calling for a medic. The soldier propped up against the wall beside him was missing half of his leg and blood was spurting everywhere.
"Hang on soldier" I said, digging around in my satchel for some thick bandages. "Everything is going to be okay." I added, pouring some sulfa on his leg and applying pressure to try and stop the bleeding.
A grenade went off not too far from where we were crouched down and I cringed as Bull swung around the building, firing some shots at a nearby building where I could hear a sniper rifle firing shots from.
"GET THE HELL OUT OF THE STREET! THEY'VE GOT US ZEROED!" Lipton yelled, running by us. "GET THE HELL OUT OF THERE!"
I ducked as a huge explosion shook the ground under us, sending debris flying everywhere.
"Shit its Lipton! He's hit!" Bull yelled down to me, pointing over to where I could see Lipton had been thrown against a wall.
"I'll check him next!" I yelled in response, seeing Talbert run over and start bandaging him up.
"Looks like Tab's got it covered!" Bull replied, firing some more shots around the side of the building.
I finally managed to control the bleeding and I wrapped the soldier's leg, taping it up tightly so that the bandage would hold.
"We have to get him out of here Bull!" I yelled. "Get him to the aid station!" I added. "He's lost a lot of blood!"
Bull nodded, picking the soldier up and slinging him over his shoulders fireman style before running off. "Be safe Liz!" he called over his shoulder.
I looked over to where Lipton had been hit a few minutes earlier and saw that he was gone. Talbert must have gotten him out of there. I pressed myself up against the building, covering my head with my arms as the building across from me was hit with a mortar shell.
"LIZ!" Eugene screamed from a building behind me."We gotta get out of the open! Nobody needs us right now!" I ran over towards him, hands still over my head as more shells hit the buildings around us.
We ducked into a building that had been cleared, putting our backs up against the wall and waiting to hear another call for a medic. I hated waiting like this. I should be out there helping the men, not hiding.
The town smelled like death. Blood, burning debris and pure death. I coughed on some of the smoke and held my chest, blinking to try to see through it. My ears were ringing from all of the gunshots around me and I could barely see Eugene standing right beside me through the smoke.
"LIZ!" Eugene yelled, shaking my shoulders. He could see that I was starting to zone out and I shook my head, trying to stop the ringing in my ears.
"Medic… Medic... Medic…" a faint voice called from just around the corner of the building.
"MEEDDDDIIIICCC" Another call came from the opposite direction. Gene nodded at me, heading off in the opposite direction as I pulled myself together and whipped around the building and came face to face with Blithe who was looking around frantically.
"Blithe! What's wrong? What's wrong with you?!" I yelled over the gun fire, not seeing any wounds on him.
"Liz? I can't see… I can't see a thing" he said, staring right past me.
"Is there something in your eye Blithe?" I asked, helping him sit down against the wall and putting my fingers under his eyes to pull them open wider. "Did you get hit?"
"No, It just all went black… I can't see" he replied, his eyes darting back and forth.
"Okay it's okay" I said. "Let's get you back to the aid station" I added, putting my arm under him and helping him to his feet. We started off towards Bill and Perconte who were crouched down behind some pillars under an archway in the middle of the town.
"MEDIC!" I heard the call once again. Oh god no… that was Joe's voice.
"Can you guys stay close to Blithe for me?" I asked Bill, starting to panic as I heard Joe calling for a Medic again. "He can't see a damn thing!"
"Whatever you say Liz" Bill yelled back. "Go! I'll give you some covering fire if you need it" he added, pointing his gun around the pillar. "GO GO GO!"
"Blithe Stay here with Bill!" I yelled, setting him down behind a building next to Bill and Perconte and running off towards where I had heard Joe call for a medic. Fortunately all of the buildings that I had to pass by had already been cleared out and nobody was firing at me this time.
"MEDIC" I heard Joe call again, this time louder. "GOD DAMMIT WE NEED A MEDIC!"
"JOE?" I called out. "WHERE ARE YOU?"
"Over here Liz!" he called out as I whipped around another building, relief washing over me as I realized that it wasn't him who was hurt. The relief quickly disappeared when I saw the state the soldier hanging off of Joe like a ragdoll. Tipper...
I ran up to them, checking Tipper over as Joe sat him down behind a building. He had several potentially fatal wounds.
"We have to get him to the aid station and fast…" I said, helping Joe lift him up. Tipper looked like he was on the verge of passing out.
"Tip I need you to stay awake" I said, grabbing his face in my hands. "Look at me Tipper! Please…" I whispered, a tear rolling down my face. What in God's name am I doing here? I had managed to save two men that day already which was great, but what if I couldn't save Tipper? It would be all my fault if he died. I was panicking, panicking was not good in a dire moment like this. I needed to get myself together.
I thought that D-day was bad. This on the other hand was hell…this was war.
"Set him down there!" I said to Joe as we entered the aid station, my hands shaking as I pulled some bandages out of my satchel, not even knowing where to start with trying to fix Tipper up.
"Lay him down on his back." I added. "We have to get something to elevate his leg with."
Okay Liz, you can do this. Just remember everything that you went over with Gene.
"What happened to him?" I asked Joe as I got out a morphine Syrette out of my satchel. I couldn't stand watching Tipper suffer anymore. He needed some relief...and fast.
"One of our grenades got him when he was clearing out a building. I was in there too about 20 seconds before… I thought he was right behind me…" he replied, trailing off. Oh god he feels like it's his fault.
"Jesus…" I murmured as I gave Tipper the morphine, seeing his face relax as it started to work.
"You're doing great so far Tipper" I said, smiling at him and getting to work on his leg wound first.
Eugene walked by us with Winters hopping alongside him, I glanced up noticing that he had been shot in the leg.
Eugene took one look at Tipper and his eyes went wide, his mouth in a hard straight line. His eyes searched mine as if they were asking me if I could handle it. I nodded at him and went back to work.
"What happened to him?" Winters asked, stopping by us and holding Gene's shoulder to steady himself.
"Grenade went off in the building he was clearing Sir" Joe replied, handing me another bandage.
"Tell George to radio for a jeep to bring him to the hospital as soon as possible" Winters ordered as Gene led him into the adjoining room.
Did Winters just say George? Thank God... My brother was alright.
"Yes Sir" Joe said. "I'm going to go find your brother but I'll be right back" he said to me, before disappearing out the door.
"Liz… I'll just be in here okay? Gene said, poking his head through the door. "Just… call me if you need anythin" he added, giving Tipper a sincere look before turning to tend to Winters.
I glanced up at Tipper who was just staring straight ahead, a look of dread on his face. Was he even breathing?
"Hey Tip… I need you to stay with me…" I said. "I have to pull this shrapnel out of your leg if we have any hopes of saving it" I added.
Tipper just nodded, looking down at me horrified as he watched the blood pour out of his leg. He was in shock, he was showing all of the signs.
"Okay good. One… Two… Three!" I said, pulling the shrapnel out and pouring some sulfa over it immediately.
Tipper winced and gasped at the pain and I quickly got to work trying to stop the bleeding. It was getting extremely difficult trying to keep pressure on the wound while digging for supplies. Every time I took my hand away to grab another bandage, the blood would start pouring out again. I contemplated calling Gene to help me but I knew that he was busy helping men in the other room and I shook the thought. You can do this Liz… C'mon.
I finally managed to get the bleeding under control about ten minutes later and I was starting to wrap Tipper's leg in clean bandages just as Joe returned.
"Joe how would you like to play nurse's assistant?" I asked, looking up at him hopefully. There was no way I could do this on my own.
"My dream job" Joe joked, lightening the mood a bit as Tipper let out a small laugh in response before coughing up some blood.
"They always say laughter is the best medicine Tip" I said, continuing to wrap his leg carefully. There was a good chance that the doctors would be able to save his leg as long as we could prevent infection.
Joe stayed with me while I continued working on Tipper which ended up taking about an hour. I fixed up all of his wounds the best that I could, removing any shrapnel and cleaning them before wrapping them up. Luckily no arteries had been hit and all of his limbs could more than likely be saved.
"Here let me see your face now" I said to Tipper who was now propped up against the wall in the makeshift aid station.
"Sorry Tip…" I said, as he cringed from me touching his face. "I have to clean these out" I added, cleaning some of the dirt off of his face. His eye was completely swollen shut and half of his face was crusted over with blood and dirt.
He let out a small whimper, a few tears rolling his face from his good eye as he looked down at his now bandaged wounds.
"It's okay Tipper, Liz fixed ya up real good, you just have to spend a few days as the hospital before you're fit to send back home… You're going home buddy, its okay" Joe said softly, putting his arm around Tipper and giving him a small squeeze.
I loved when Joe acted this way. So sweet. He tried to hide it from the other men, but never hid it from me... I'd always wondered why.
Joe helped me bring Tipper to the jeep that was waiting outside to take him and another pretty badly wounded soldier to the hospital. George had luckily been able to get us a jeep pretty quickly given the circumstances.
"Make sure you write to us Tipper" I said, patting him on the back. "Tell us about back home."
"Thank you Liz, for everything, the guys are lucky to have you" he replied, coughing and cringing again from the pain.
"Thank you Tip, just lay back and relax, they're going to fix you all up at the hospital" I replied, trying my best to smile at him despite the bile rising in my throat. I hated seeing my friends like this.
"See you later buddy" Joe added, squeezing his hand right before the jeep drove off. We stood and watched as it sped off and I let out a sigh. I really hoped that they would send Tipper home as soon as possible.
"Jesus…" I whispered, unable to put what had just happened into words.
"You did well for your first battle Liz, don't doubt that" Joe replied. "You saved his life" he added, referring to Tipper.
I nodded, looking down at my hands which were still covered in Tipper's blood.
"Hey…" Joe said, taking my bloody hands in his. "You're one brave son of a bitch Liz. I saw the way that you were running through the streets while we were under fire. Hell I don't think I could be a medic. It takes a lot of heart to do what you did out there today."
"Thank you Joe" I said, squeezing his hands. "And it wasn't your fault by the way, what happened to Tipper... it was an accident. You thought he was behind you when you left. Nobody knew he was in there... it was just a stupid accident" I said.
"I should've been there..." he trailed off. "He didn't deserve that..." he added.
"Nobody deserves that...Not Tipper, not you... nobody" I replied, rubbing my hands which were now starting to crack from all of the blood. "Not your fault." I repeated.
Joe nodded in response, I could tell by the serious look on his face that he still wasn't completely convinced that what had happened was not his fault.
"Let's clean ya up" he said, taking a handkerchief out of his pocket, pouring some water from his canteen onto it and taking my hands into his to clean the blood off of them.
"God damn… you're a bloody mess Liz" Joe said, winking at me. "Pun intended… sorry that was wrong in so many ways" he laughed.
I giggled at his joke, knowing that this was not the time or place to be laughing but I couldn't help myself. That was such a lame joke.
"There's that beautiful smile" he said, grinning down at me.
"Do me a favour and don't ever stop smiling Liz" he added, wiping a streak of blood off my face with the handkerchief. "It's just too damn beautiful…" he added, rubbing my face with his knuckles.
I took in a shaky breath, looking up and meeting his eyes as he ran the back of his finger just under my bottom lip. I closed my eyes, taking in the feeling of his skin on mine, it sent shivers up my spine.
"Promise me okay?" He added, smiling and dropping his hand from my face as I opened my eyes.
"I promise" I whispered, still freaking out from the feeling of his hands on my face. I took in another shaky breath, watching as he went back to cleaning my hands.
I debated being very bold and making him promise me never to stop winking at me like he always did since it made me go crazy. I weighed the pros and cons as I continued to watch him clean my hands off.
"LIZ! I NEED YOUR HELP!" Eugene called out from the door of the aid station, startling me out of my thoughts. "We've got a nicked artery!" he added before rushing back inside, a look of panic on his face.
"I have to go" I said, squeezing Joes hand to thank him before starting over towards the aid station.
"Liz! Remember what I said... keep smiling... it's contagious" Joe called after me. I glanced back at him, smiling and blushing. My smile disappeared as I heard someone crying out in pain inside the building where Gene had called me from and I broke out into a run.
I was back in nurse mode now, my boots pounding the ground as I headed towards the unknown once again.