Chapter 29

While Carter, Newkirk and Kinch exchanged looks, the door opened and LeBeau hurried inside, out-of-breath. Kinch looked at the little Frenchman. His color was coming back.

"How are Toller and Dray?" Kinch asked, worried.

The Frenchman shrugged. "Wilson and Anderson are still working on them. He thinks they should recover despite what the filthy Bosche did to them. He will have a better idea once he completes his examinations. What about Lieutenant Carpenter?"

"The Gestapo killed him, I'm afraid," Newkirk explained grimly. "Shot while escaping. Or so they say."

"Mon Dieu!" LeBeau cried, angrily. "How is the Colonel?"

"I think he's in shock," Carter explained. "I mean, he asked Major Hochstetter when was he gonna bring the Lieutenant back."

Newkirk rolled his eyes. "Andrew, don't you understand a thing? The Gov'nor is tryin' to recover his godson's body. Could you leave a loved one in the hands of the Gestapo? Even if they're dead?"

"Guess not," Carter replied with a bowed head and shrug of his shoulders.

"Everybody, be quiet," Kinch ordered.

The men continued to listen to the exchange in Klink's office.


"Did I understand you correctly, Hogan?" asked Hochstetter as he hooked his thumbs on his belt. The Major had a sickening look of delight on his face at Hogan's distress. But he suspected Hogan of a trick. "You are asking me to bring Lieutenant Carpenter back?"

"You heard me, Major. When are you going to bring him back?"

"Hogan, I don't know what kind of game you are playing, but he is not coming back."

"Not coming back? How do you expect me to return his dog tags if he doesn't come back?" He looked at Klink, pleading. "Kommandant, make him bring Lieutenant Carpenter back here."

Hochstetter turned and glared at Klink who chuckled nervously. Klink also wondered what his Senior POW officer was doing. He looked at Hogan with a frown.

"Hogaaaaannnn. I can't do that."

Hogan draped an arm around Hochstetter's shoulders. The Major stared at the hand gripping his outer shoulder, then looked in Hogan's face. He had just had his coat cleaned and now it would have to be cleaned again.

"I don't know why I'm wasting my time asking you anyway, Colonel. The Major's my friend. He'll bring Lieutenant Carpenter back. Won't you, Major?" Hogan smiled in the Major's face.

With a growl, Hochstetter glared at Hogan and removed the American's arm from around his shoulders. He turned back to the German officer. "Klink, I have an important appointment in town, and no time for anymore of Hogan's kinder spiel. Heil Hitler." Not waiting for a reply, Hochstetter turned, pausing long enough to glare at the American again. "Bah!" he shouted. After he yanked open the door, Hochstetter nearly ran into the large body of Sergeant Schultz who was coming in at the same time. The Major gave one last look at the Kommandant. "Klink, I will send you the cleaning bill for my coat." He slammed the door behind him. After he left, Hogan turned to the Kommandant.

"Kommandant, you let Hochstetter walk out of here before he agreed to bring Lieutenant Carpenter back."

Klink threw up his arms in confusion. He realized Hogan was obviously in shock over the death of one of his men. The American could not recover the Lieutenant's body. Sadly, Klink understood the body was by now, buried in a mass grave somewhere. It sickened him that Hochstetter had enjoyed Hogan's distress. "Hogan, Lieutenant Carpenter is dead. The Gestapo will not be sending his body back."

Hogan looked at the two small pieces of metal on a chain in his hand again. He looked at Klink. "He is not dead! You refuse to have the Major bring him back! How could you do that?"

"Hogan…" Klink warned, not in the mood for any of Hogan's games. Instead, he looked at Schultz who had been standing quietly nearby the entire time. "What do you want Schultz?" he asked, exasperated.

"Herr Kommandant, that nice Lieutenant Carpenter is dead?" Schultz asked quietly looking at Klink.

"Yes, Schultz. Now what are you doing here?" From Klink's tone, the guard understood the Kommandant had no patience or tolerance right now.

"Herr Kommandant, the two prisoners are in the infirmary. Sergeant Wilson asked me to tell you he will update you on their conditions once he completes his examinations."

"Excellent, Schultz. Dissss-missssed."

"Jawohl." Schultz saluted and started to turn away when his eyes landed on the still dazed Hogan. With eyes narrowed, the guard looked at the American with a sad expression. "Colonel Hogan, I'm sorry for your loss." The American always took the loss of one of his men hard. But this felt different. The look on Hogan's face confirmed what Schultz suspected; the Lieutenant was related to Hogan. He didn't care what the relationship was. But to see Colonel Hogan, a man he greatly respected, in great obvious pain, tore at him.

Hogan looked into Schultz's eyes and the compassion in them. With a final look at the tags, Hogan grabbed one of the guards large hands, and dropped the tags in the open palm. He closed the fingers over them. "Schultz, I trust you. Take care of these dog tags for me until Lieutenant Carpenter comes back. They might get lost again if I keep them in the barracks. Can you do that for me?"

With the expression on Hogan's face, Schultz didn't have the heart to refuse the American. "Ja, Colonel Hogan. I will guard them with my life."

Hogan smiled. "Thank you, Schultz." He let out a deep breath. A great weight had been lifted. "Now if you excuse me, I have to figure out how to get Lieutenant Carpenter back here as our Kommandant refuses to lift a finger to help."

Klink's body shook with annoyance. "Hogaaaaannnn! I have no idea what game you are playing but it stops here and now! Do I make myself clear?"

"Very," Hogan replied staring at Klink, annoyed. "But I expected nothing less from a man who won't help me convince Major Hochstetter to bring back Lieutenant Carpenter. Thanks for nothing." Not bothering to salute, Hogan briskly turned and walked out of the office leaving Klink staring after him, open-mouthed. Once the door closed, Klink looked at his Sergeant-of-the-Guard, puzzled.

"The insolence of the man! Schultz, I suspect Hogan is up to something."

"Herr Kommandant, he is grieving for one of his men."

Klink nodded in agreement. "Hmmmmm. You probably right. Dissss-missssed."

"Jawohl, Herr Kommandant." Schultz saluted and started to leave. He paused. "Herr Kommandant, what about these?" He opened his right hand to show the dog tags.

"Leave them on my desk. I'll put them in my desk drawer and give them to Hogan later."


Newkirk pulled the plug from the coffee pot and leaned against the desk, arms stiff and hands flat. "Well mates?" he asked looking at the others. The others exchanged concerned looks.

"We must help the Colonel," LeBeau explained. "We have to be there for him, even if he pushes us away."

"And we will," Kinch agreed. "For now, we give him space. And don't crowd him. His denying Terry is dead is a sure sign it hasn't fully hit him yet. But it will in a few hours. When it does, he'll need our support. If there's a problem, tell me." The radioman's eyes darted from man-to-man. Nobody said a thing. Suddenly Kinch's eyes fell on Carter.

"Carter? What's on your mind?" Kinch asked.

Carter licked his dry lips. "I was wondering why the Colonel kept asking for Terry to be brought back. It sounded as if he considered him still alive. I mean, he didn't even take the dog tags."

Newkirk rolled his eyes and shook his head. "Andrew, we went over this already. The Gov'nor wants to recover the Lieutenant's body. He was family to the Colonel. And General Carpenter's only child. He wants the body back for both of them. Besides, he probably wants to send the tags with Terry's body if he can."

"Oui. Pierre is right, Andre. The Colonel knows in his heart that his godson is dead. His head hasn't caught up with his heart yet. But it will. It will just take time."

"I agree with Newkirk and LeBeau," Kinch added. "And Carter, don't you bring that up to the Colonel, understand? We don't want you to upset him more than he is. You get what I'm saying?"

"You can trust me," Carter assured him. "I don't want to add to Colonel Hogan's pain."

Their conversation was interrupted when the door opened, and in walked Colonel Hogan, closing the door behind him. His men gathered around him, each looking at him with compassion.

"I assume you guys overheard?" Hogan asked.

Kinch looked uncomfortable. "Yeah, we did. Colonel, we can't tell you how sorry we are. We know how important Terry was to you."

"What do you mean by was, Kinch?" Hogan's eyebrows knitted together. "He still is because he's still alive. Besides, Major Hochstetter will bring him back."

Kinch bit his lower lip as he and the others exchanged looks. They knew they had to be careful. "Uh Colonel, it might take time to bring Lieutenant Carpenter back. You know how these things are."

Newkirk cocked his head. "Gov'nor, tell us what we can do to make what happened easier for you?"

"What are you saying, Newkirk?" Hogan asked suspiciously. He looked at his men. "In fact, why are each of you looking so sad? Don't tell me you believe that rubbish Klink was saying? Terry isn't dead. He's not. Major Hochstetter will bring him back."

"Mon Colonel, what if he doesn't? The Lieutenant will be…"

"He's not dead!" Hogan shouted. "He isn't! You're lying! He'll be back. Now get out!"

"But Colonel, you need to lay down for awhile and rest," Kinch began.

"I don't need to rest! I need to get Terry back. Klink won't help. I'd like to think you guys are behind me in this."

"Gov'nor…"

"If you can't help me then get out."

"Colonel…"

"Get out!" Hogan shouted. Nobody moved. "I said get out!"

With a nod, the men walked past their commanding officer and left the small room. Newkirk closed the door quietly behind him. The men looked at each other.

"How's Colonel Hogan?" asked Olsen as he and a small group of prisoners approached the men.

"The Colonel was yelling," Addison added.

Kinch let out a deep breath. "He'll be back to normal with time. He just hasn't come to terms with the Lieutenant's death yet." He motioned with his head for them to continue their conversation away from Hogan's door. Moving out of hearing range, the radioman looked at Addison with his hands in his pockets. "We're not keeping things from you Addison, or anybody else. The Colonel needs us to give him space and not smother him. And that's what we're gonna do. When he's ready to talk he will. And I don't think we should push him to talk until he's ready."

Baker looked at Kinch. "You can count on us to do whatever we can to help the Colonel to accept what's happened with Lieutenant Carpenter."

Olsen agreed. He had seen how his former commanding officer had reacted when he had lost men on a mission. He acted the same way. "What do you need us to do right now, Kinch?"

The radioman let out a deep breath he didn't realize he had been holding. He looked at Olsen. "Olsen, right now I need you to find Wilson. Tell him when he's finished taking care of Toller and Dray, we need him to come to barracks two and bring his bag."

"What do I tell him if he should ask the reason?" Olsen asked.

"Just tell him to come and see me and that I'll explain everything to him when he gets here."

"Right away." Olsen hurried from the barracks. After he left, Kinch gestured to Newkirk, Carter and LeBeau to join him in a corner of the room near the tunnel entrance.

"Why do you want Wilson to come see the Colonel?" asked Carter.

"It's simple," Kinch explained. "What the Colonel needs is sleep. In his state I doubt he will. But if Wilson sedates him, he'll hopefully sleep through the night. A little rest might be what he needs to come to terms with his loss."


Hogan sat on the lower bunk with his face buried in his hands. He was so tired right now.

"Hey Rob, something wrong?" a familiar voice asked.

Lifting his head, Hogan saw Terry straddling the chair at his desk, arms resting on its back. His eyes widened. "Terry. When did you get here?"

"A few minutes ago. I didn't want to interrupt your conversation with your men."

A slow smile appeared. "I knew they were lying to me. Claiming you were dead. I kept telling them you were alive."

Terry chuckled and shook his head. "Rob, do I look dead to you?"

Hogan shook his head. "Terry, it's so good to see you. I was so worried about you when they took you and the others from here."

"I'm just fine. How are Toller and Dray? They looked in pretty bad shape when I saw them."

Hogan sighed. "They were. But Wilson will do everything he can. I also want him to check you out once he's done. I'm sure Major Braun was brutal."

"He was. But I'm fine. Oh I have a few bruises, but nothing that requires a medic. I'd tell you if I did. Wilson's a good medic. If anybody can help them it's him."

It was then the door opened and a prisoner peeked into the room. Hogan looked around at the man who appeared nervous. "Colonel, you okay?"

"I'm fine," Hogan lied. "Why do you ask?"

The man, a Private, shrugged. "I…I thought you were talking to someone, sir. I wanted to check on you. I mean since finding out Lieutenant Carpenter's dead. Sorry if I disturbed you, sir."

Hogan feigned a smile. "You didn't disturb me, Private. I'm fine. I just want to be alone right now."

"Yes, sir." The Private quietly closed the door again leaving Hogan alone. A few seconds after the door closed, Hogan turned back to his godson who looked at him curiously.

"What's troubling you, Terry?"

"Why didn't you tell him I was here and alive?"

Hogan shrugged his shoulders. "Not yet. I want to surprise them. So for now, I want to keep you being alive a secret. I promise I will tell them soon." Terry smiled at this news. He didn't enjoy keeping secrets from the others, especially one of this size. But for now, he'd go along with Hogan's wishes.


The door to barracks two opened and in walked Sergeant Schultz, a sad look on his face. Kinch and the others were gathered beside the double bunk Carter and Newkirk used. The men looked at him.

"We have no time for a visit, Schultzie," Newkirk explained. "We have a problem."

"I know," Schultz replied. He looked around the room. Nobody was near enough to hear anything. "I'm not here to visit," he said keeping his voice low. "I'm here about Colonel Hogan."

The four men looked at each other, protective of the Colonel right now.

"What about Colonel Hogan?" asked LeBeau, his face impassive.

"I want to help if you'll let me."

"Help how?" asked Kinch. "There's nothing wrong with the Colonel."

Schultz looked around again and drew closer to the men. "I know Lieutenant Carpenter was somehow related to him. That's why he's taken his death harder than normal. I don't want to know how they're related."

Newkirk was still wary. "Then how can you help, mate?"

Kinch smiled sadly. "And why would you stick your neck out like that, Schultz? Afterall, Colonel Hogan is the enemy to you."

"Besides, aren't you the one who always knows nothing and sees nothing?" asked LeBeau.

"Ja. But Colonel Hogan is a nice man. He has always been kind to me. Chocolate or no chocolate. I want to help if I can."