Perkins was taken off the line and would be sent back to Australia. He'd come back depending on whether on not the Marines still wanted him on the front lines or not. I ended up seeing the beginning of a goodbye between Perkins and Trager, and I quickly left them alone to their privacy. Trager looked very downcast once Perkins was gone though.
I finally got to meet the redheaded replacement formally. His name was Eugene Sledge, and apparently he had been in the same foxhole as Snafu last night. Sledge, although a lot more soft-spoken than Snafu or even Burgin, looked like he had been accepted into the group. I got to talk to him a bit before we headed out, and it turned out that Sledge was from Alabama, making him a Southerner like me.
"I've been up to Mobile only once in my life," I told him.
Sledge blinked. "Really? I've been down to Florida quite a few times. What town are you from again?"
"Tiny town called Cottondale." I said, not expecting him to know it, but to my surprise, Sledge's eyes widened slightly.
"I've driven through Cottondale!" Sledge said. "My family and I drive through it whenever we go to down to Tallahassee."
What a small world, I thought to myself, pleasantly surprised. Sledge, it seemed, also grew up on a farm, though his was much bigger and more of a plantation than a farm. But he had grown up surrounded by animals and wilderness, that made him alright in my book. Sledge was also polite, yet he had a smart sense of humor that granted him friendship with Snafu.
Sledge was starting to remind me of Norman.
Even though I had this new friendship with Sledge, it didn't help that the entire day we hid out in that building, I kept thinking about their faces. All of the Marines who had died either in front of me or underneath my hands. All of those who were going home today because of injuries. Their faces kept flashing around in my mind, making my hands shake.
"Swartz?"
I found myself flinching ever so slightly at the sound of Ack Ack's voice. I looked up to see my commanding officer standing above me and looking at me with concern in his face. "Your hands are shaking." He observed.
I looked down at my hands as he said this, as if double checking to see if Ack Ack was telling the truth. He squatted next to me and positioned himself so that we were sitting side by side.
"May I take a guess as to what you're thinking about?" Ack Ack asked. I hesitated before nodding, letting him go on. "You're thinking about your men today, the ones you couldn't save."
"You must be a mind reader, Ack Ack." I said, glancing down at my hands. I had clasped them together to keep the shaking from being visible. Ack Ack let out a small huff of laughter.
"Not a mind reader, Swartz. Just good at figuring out what my soldiers are thinking about." Ack Ack paused. "Everyone else is thinking about it too. Is there anything else bothering you?"
I hesitated for a long moment before telling him, "That letter I got on movie night, it was from my Mama. My Dad died."
Ack Ack was quiet for a long time. "I'm truly sorry to hear that, Swartz. Losing a father while you're here, that can't be easy. Do any of your men know?"
"Burgin, De L'Eau, and Snafu."
"That's good. Your friends can be a help during these times, Swartz. Do you know how your brother's doing over in Europe?"
"No, last letter I got from him was right before that massive jump." I paused. "He didn't know about my dad then."
Ack Ack turned and gave me a small smile. "I'm sure he's fine, Swartz. If he's anything like you, he'll be just fine." Ack Ack gave me a hearty pat on my shoulder. "I'm going to tell you something I've been telling a lot of the men today. And that is that you can't dwell on any of this. This war, this life right now, is not permanent. You don't dwell on any of it."
I blinked at this advice and looked at Ack Ack. "Thank you, sir." He smiled at me and gave me another pat of the shoulder before standing up to go check on more of the men. I watched him go, feeling a fresh wave of admiration for my commanding officer. I looked back down to my clasped hands and released my grip on them.
They weren't shaking anymore.