It was noisy inside the plane.
Dallin couldn't hear anything except the engines rattling. But she could see that some of her friends fell asleep. She was concerned and confused. Dallin didn't think it was a good idea to fall asleep just hours away from the jump and she might have guessed they were all very tired. But soon, Lowrey, on the verge of passing out, slurred into her ear loudly;
"I thought you took the pill!"
Pulling a face, she looked down at her hand.
And sure enough, the pill was still there.
Looking back at Lowrey, the young man snorted.
He looked drunk. Dallin reached up and gave his arm a pat;
"sweet dreams, Dewitt!"
One of the crew chiefs came back down the plane, walking in and out of the men's legs while he headed for the opening. He pulled it open and a breath of fresh air entered the plane. Dallin took in a deep breath, allowing the cool air to fill her lungs and brighten up her face. It was a relief, as the plane was beginning to feel stuffy and cramped. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Buck take off his leg bag and stand up. He was shuffling his way over to Dallin. And once in front of her, he crouched down and said into her ear;
"you didn't take the pill!"
Dallin shook her head.
Pulling back from her ear, Buck grinned;
"I could chew you out for that!"
Licking her bottom lip, she asked;
"on a plane?!"
And he laughed;
"yup!"
Her lips twitched a little.
When the laughter stopped, Buck clapped her shoulder and asked;
"doing good, Dill?!"
She nodded again;
"you, sir?!"
"Feeling fine, Dill!" He replied, "we're crossing the Channel now! Should be there soon!"
Buck made it feel like another training jump. It put Dallin at ease.
Giving her shoulder a squeeze, Buck was back on his feet, where he then shuffled towards the opening to look outside. And Dallin remained at ease for a few blissful moments, wherein her mind, she thought it was another night training jump. But Buck soon ruined that moment for her when he gestured for Dallin to join him.
Getting up, she shuffled towards the opening and sat down on her knees. Buck pointed down, so, Dallin looked down. And that's where she saw thousands of ships storming across the sea. It hit her then, just how huge and important this operation was. What Dallin was apart of, was massive and would surely go down in history. It was hard to believe that Dallin, a girl from a small village in Poland, was apart of something so much bigger than anything she had ever known.
Dallin felt a little woozy and if it wasn't for Buck catching her, she might have jumped too soon. Giving her Lieutenant a tight smile, she got up and shuffled back to her seat. Adrenaline pumped through her veins which made her stomach turn with a sickly feeling. Dallin did feel seconds away from vomiting up her supper but soon, she heard Buck yell to Malarkey;
"we're really going to throw a fucking bitch into these Krauts tonight!"
Dallin looked up at Malarkey, who grinned and nodded at Buck.
Leaning forward, she asked the Lieutenant;
"what do you see, Buck?!"
Looking back at her, he replied;
"tracers! Lots of 'um!"
"They were expecting us!" Dallin said.
"But they aren't expecting the best!" Buck corrected.
"Yes, lovely!" She said, "but will you please sit down before they trace you, sir!"
With a light grin, Buck nodded and shuffled back to his seat.
Malarkey looked down at her;
"they wouldn't have traced Buck!"
She raised her eyebrow at him;
"you don't know that!"
Lowrey slouched down and his head dropped on Dallin's shoulder.
Frowning, she pulled back a little to look at him.
And noticed drool hanging out from his mouth.
Grimacing, Dallin kindly allowed Lowrey to sleep and drool on her shoulder as if he was an infant. He looked peaceful; Dallin didn't want to ruin that for him.
Even when the plane dipped a little, Lowrey remained sleeping.
Looking across from her, she noticed that Toye was fast asleep too.
She looked up and to her right when Malarkey tucked a cigarette inside her pocket. Dallin sent him a small but grateful smile. The sentiment was there, knowing it could potentially be her last ever smoke. And she was glad it came from Malarkey. The first guy in Easy to introduce himself. Giving his arm a pat, Dallin leaned back against the side of the plane and waited.
Soon, Malarkey leaned down towards her ear and told her;
"sure am glad you shook my hand, Dill!"
Lips twitching, she nodded;
"me too, Don!"
Her stomach churned with adrenaline and nerves as they neared the end of their journey across the English Channel. The Germans were waiting for them. And Dallin almost wanted to close her eyes and hold her breath, hoping whatever was going to hit them, wouldn't hurt too much. But she didn't, she kept her eyes open. And decided to look death in the face.
As the planes flew into France, the Germans opened fire. And all hell broke loose. Bullets from antiaircraft fire steamed inside many planes, caging the soldiers in. Some of the pilots ended up panicking and dropped the men into the sea. They'd later learn that a lot of planes were hit and engulfed in flames, taking the lives of many, many men.
Inside their plane, it was very noisy from the bullets missing their plane but hitting the next. And on top of that, the weather drew overcast and the pilots were having a hard time locating their drop zone. But they did dry their best, all the while dodging bullets. It was almost like being on an intense ride at the fair. The plane dipped up and down and moved sharply from side to side. When they started receiving flak, the men who were asleep, were now wide awake.
Dallin felt bad for Lowrey. Who looked very startled.
"HOLY FUCK!" He yelled.
The bullets from outside lit up inside the plane. Dallin couldn't see an awful lot of fear in their eyes, they just looked anxious to get out. And before too long, men were yelling to jump. But the red light wasn't on, it wasn't safe to jump. Either that or they hadn't reached their drop zone.
When the plane dipped again, it went at a frightening speed. For a moment, Dallin feared their plane had been hit and they were torpedoing to the ground. The impact from the drop tossed her off the bench and into the middle of the plane. She landed right by Toye's boots, who soon reached down to pick her up again. Without a hint of fear, Toye got up from the bench and set Dallin back down. He even gave her shoulder a clap;
"you're alright, kid!" He assured her, "you're just fucking clumsy, is all!"
Lowrey placed his arm in front of Dallin's waist, preventing her from toppling over again. But Dallin wasn't sure that would stop her from falling a second time. In fact, she was sure if Lowrey tried to stop her from falling, he'd go down with her. But it didn't matter to him, he'd still try his best.
For a moment, she thought about Shifty and her other friends. She hoped they weren't aboard one of the planes that got shot down. Thinking about the others didn't do her any good. Dallin's breathing was out of control and she had to try her best to calm down. Rubbing her lips together, she closed her eyes and tried to quieten down the noise around her. As if turning the volume down on the radio, Dallin made it out so she could only hear her beating heart. It was almost like being back inside that darkroom again. Where everything was silent. She may have lessened the noise, but Dallin wasn't completely calm.
Buck saw that the red light was on, meaning they had three minutes before they jumped. But he saw that his guys were edgy and wanted to give them a few seconds before he stood up. Buck didn't even get a chance to blink before the light turned green – way ahead of schedule. Something must have happened, and the crew wanted the men out of the plane right away.
Beck got up;
"let's go!" He yelled, "let's go!"
There was no time for equipment check. They hooked themselves onto the static line and raced down the body of the plane before jumping into danger. Parachutes unfurled and clapped open. Bullets steamed up all around the falling troopers. The pilots were supposed to slow nearly to a stall so they could all jump out, but their pilot hadn't slowed down at all. He must have been in a great hurry to get out of Normandy.
The shock of the prop blast struck Dallin like a hurricane. Her arms and legs felt like they had been hit, over and over again. She was lucky the blast didn't take her limbs off, or her gear. Now that she was out of the plane, Dallin was worried bullets would shoot right into her chute. It was all up to luck by that point, she decided to grab hold of the risers and look for a place to land. If a bullet was going to hit her, then a bullet was going to hit her. Dallin figured the best thing to do was to avoid falling into water, buildings or trees.
She didn't have long to plan her landing. They must have dropped from five hundred feet, or lower because Dallin's boots were now brushing against the tops of trees. Grimacing, she steered herself away from the forest and saw a clearing. It looked like a field and it looked like the perfect place to land. In a matter of seconds, Dallin came crashing down into the ground. It felt like she had broken every bone in her body. But lying there for a few moments, she let out a shaky sigh.
She made it.
Sitting up, Dallin collapsed her canopy and freed herself from the harness. She hadn't broken anything, and she still had her gear. Dallin was okay to keep going. Getting rid of her Mae West vest, she put her helmet back on and took hold of her rifle. For a few seconds, she sat on her knees, allowing the mud to soak her trousers.
"This is it…". She thought.
Hearing something snap behind her, Dallin sharply turned around and held her breath.
"Flash". The voice whispered.
With a sigh of relief, she lowered her weapon;
"thunder". Came her response.
It was Winters. He was crouched down and making his way over to her. Dallin felt relieved to see him. At least she had a good officer to follow. When he got in front of her, Winters was patting her down, making sure she had all of her gear. And she confirmed this, by whispering;
"I lost nothing".
He nodded;
"good". He whispered back, "I only have my jump knife. Hand me one of your grenades".
Quickly, Dallin reached for her suspender and handed him a grenade;
"prop blast, sir?"
"Yup. Lost everything but my knife". Winters said, "we're 'gonna have to start moving. Are you hurt?"
"No, sir".
Winters gave her shoulder a clap;
"good. Follow me. I think I know where my leg bag ended up".
Nodding, Dallin got up and followed Winters. But soon, she heard the sound of a German machine-gun open fire. And she was very aware, they were heading in that direction. She wasn't sure what Winters had planned but she readied herself to fire. Licking her bottom lip, Dallin carefully stepped over the fallen branches, while the pair of them walked into a small cluster of trees. When Winters signalled to get down, Dallin followed the order.
For a few seconds, they watched the Germans.
And that's when Dallin heard the German accent. For the first time since she escaped capture. Something burned her insides, while a spark of fury was ignited. Her finger lightly pressed against the trigger and Dallin clenched her jaw, trying her best to put that fire inside of her out.
Winters wanted to cross a road, where he was sure his gear was at. And Dallin would quite happily take those Germans down in order for them to cross the road. But when the MG opened fire, directly down that road, Winters changed his mind;
"to hell with it. Let's get out of here".
Not wanting to disobey a direct order, Dallin followed Winters away from the road and the Germans manning their machine-gun. They ended up back inside the filed they landed in and they decided to search for any roads or signs, to give them any knowledge on their whereabouts.
With Winters taking the lead, they walked across the field and ended up on a grassy country path. The Germans were very focused on the men in the air, rather than the lost troopers on the ground. The rumble of flak batteries sounded all around them, while a new wave of C-47 planes carrying the 82nd flew into battle.
Winters sighed and said to Dallin;
"at least they aren't focusing on us right now".
"We must be few miles outside of drop zone". Dallin said.
"Yeah, I think we are, trooper". He said, "we've got a long walk ahead of us".
With a shake of her head, she mumbled;
"I am…relieved to be out of plane".
"We got lucky there".
"Yes…we did". She agreed quietly, "now, we are somewhere in Normandy".
"I'm glad you landed by me, trooper".
Dallin wasn't sure if Winters said that to give her a boost in confidence.
"I am glad to land near you, sir". She told him.
Winters looked down at her, checking her current facial expression. He was relieved to see that she didn't appear scared or distressed. Dallin even sounded calm. Training must have kicked in for her. Winters was sure training kicked in for the rest of the men too. Briefly looking up at the Lieutenant, she soon reached for her canteen;
"have drink, sir".
A small smile met his lips;
"thanks, Dill".
He gratefully took the canteen and had a few sips of water.
Dallin decided to take a drink as well before she attached her canteen back onto her ammunition belt.
"I hope the 82nd jump well". She said quietly, "but…maybe not".
"I think we're all 'gonna be a little lost for a while, Dill".
Licking her bottom lip, she looked up and asked him;
"is Carl and Skip okay?"
Nodding, he assured her;
"they jumped right after me, trooper".
Looking slightly relieved, Dallin faced the front again;
"that is…good, sir".
While they walked by a small gathering of trees and bushes, something caught the corner of her eye. One of the branches moved, Dallin was sure of it. Hand going on Winters's arm, the pair of them stopped. Winters followed her gaze, but the movement had stopped. Just as he was about to give the order to keep going, they soon both heard a rustling noise. Instead of firing and blowing their cover, Winters and Dallin crouched down, where he brought out a small toy cricket.
He clicked it once.
And they received two clicks back.
Relief washed over them and the man behind the bush revealed himself. It was Sergeant Lipton, who had a small following of men from the 82nd. Winters and Dallin both got up to greet their fellow comrade by shaking hand. It was nice to see Lipton. And he was very glad to have bumped into Winters and Dallin.
Eyeing him up and down, she asked the Sergeant;
"no weapon?"
Sighing, Lipton shook his head;
"lost everything to the prop blast".
"Do you have any good news, Lip?" Winters asked, with some humour.
And Lipton smiled small, before answering;
"I saw an old Roman sign. The town on fire is Sainte-Maire-Eglise".
"That is good news". Winters murmured, "does anyone have a poncho?"
Reaching into her musette bag, Dallin brought hers out and handed it to him.
"Thank you, Dill". He responded.
Back on the ground, Winters stuck his knife in the earth and covered the poncho over him, so he could turn on his flashlight and read the map. Dallin snorted softly because it might have taken her a few minutes to think of doing that. She was very thankful they had a quick thinker like Winters leading them.
While Winters checked out his map, Lipton stood next to Dallin and asked her quietly;
"everyone get out in your plane?"
"Yes…I think so". She replied, "but…pilot did not give us time to check our equipment before he turned on green light".
Lipton frowned a little;
"yikes…let's hope everyone's chutes deployed, huh?"
Dallin sighed;
"I hope, Lip".
Crawling out from under the poncho, Winters knew exactly where they were. Slowly rising up from the ground, he wordlessly handed Dallin her poncho back. Confused by the lack of words, Dallin looked up, only to notice a hard glare set on Winters's face, aimed towards the men from the 82nd.
Tersely, Winters said;
"I know where we are. This way".
…
Pulling up her trousers, Dallin stepped out from behind a bush. One of the guys from the 82nd decided to empty his bladder right out in the open. Used to seeing such sights, it didn't bother her but what did bother her, was the jump knife right next to his boot. She had her suspicions that the knife didn't belong to him and that he might have stolen it from Winters. Which would explain the Lieutenant's bad mood and his lack of a weapon.
With his pants still down, Dallin reached for the ground and picked up the knife.
"Hey!" The guy exclaimed.
She raised her eyebrow and muttered quietly;
"you want Germans to find you, yes?"
He sent her a glare;
"that's my fucking knife".
"No". She said, "this belongs to my Lieutenant".
With her back turned, the man pulled up his trousers and ended up tackling Dallin to the ground. She landed on her stomach, almost knocking the wind out of her. Huffing into the grass, she hissed;
"you are insane".
He gripped hold of her wrist tightly, almost forcing her hand to open;
"give me my fucking knife!"
"Or what? You have no weapon to hurt me". She muttered.
"Exactly". He spat, "I have no fucking weapon…I'll die out here".
Dallin shook her head;
"you will not…I have weapon, yes? I will shoot".
"You're a fucking girl!" He stressed, "you can't do nothing with that rifle".
"If I was so stupid with rifle, then why am I here?" She questioned.
He didn't respond to that, and instead, demanded;
"give me the fucking knife!"
Hearing the commotion, Winters quickly made his way towards the fighting troopers and was very surprised to see Dallin was a part of it. Pissed off, he hissed;
"what the hell is going on? Stop fighting. We have to keep moving!"
Raising her head, Dallin looked at him and said;
"he has your-"
"she's got my damn knife!" The man accused.
Dallin frowned;
"he lies!"
Knowing full well the guy was lying, Winters didn't have time to sort the mess out. So, he ordered the fighting to stop;
"give him his knife back, Dill".
She continued to frown;
"it is-"
"now!" He said, almost snapping.
Her frown deepened and she let go of the knife. The guy from the 82nd released his hold on Dallin, grabbed the knife and got up. For a few seconds, she stayed on the ground, not knowing what to think. But eventually, she got up and wiped the mud off her trousers.
Dallin looked up at Winters and whispered;
"sorry…sir".
He nodded towards Lipton, who was near the front;
"go join Lipton. Take the lead".
"Yes, sir".
While Dallin walked away, Winters sent the man who had tackled Dallin to the ground a very hard glare;
"if you ever attack one of my troopers again, I'll stick my knife where the sun don't shine. Are we clear?"
When she heard him say that Dallin looked behind her.
A small smile lifted the corners of her mouth.
"Let's move out!" Winters ordered.
Reaching Lipton, the Sergeant clapped her shoulder;
"you good, buddy?"
Nodding, Dallin mumbled;
"he did not hurt me".
Holding up her rifle, Dallin waited until Winters reached her for further directions. Thanks to the very detailed sand tables, Winters knew where each enemy position was laid out. And he had memorized a route to take, that would take them far enough away from those positions, so they were still heading for the Sainte-Marie-du-Mont.
"We're turning into the field to your right, Dill". He told her calmly, "once we reach the entrance of the field, Lipton will bring the men up".
Dallin and Lipton both nodded;
"sir". They replied.
Winters crossed the narrow country road first and soon gestured for Dallin to cross. Once she was by his side, she got onto her belly and shimmied further into the field, scanning the area for any dark shadows. Winters wasn't too far behind her, he was waiting for Dallin to give him the all-clear, but she wanted to be absolutely sure, no one was in the field with them.
Not seeing anything, Dallin was about to give Winters the signal.
But then she remembered something important, that Shifty had once told her.
Licking her bottom lip, she closed her eyes and listened.
At first, all she could hear was the wind, pushing the branches from the trees. And then she heard Winters's boot, shifting against the grass. Dallin was convinced the field was clear. Opening her eyes again, she looked over at Winters and nodded. She still felt vulnerable, crossing the open field but they stuck close to the edge, where they had a ditch right next to them, in case they needed to duck for cover.
Dallin took the lead, only because Winters didn't have a weapon. But it was a straight walk up the field, impossible to set them off track. Dallin was used to being lead scout, Toye often put her upfront during those long training exercises. And she was very grateful, that Sobel had them doing patrols at night. While a lot of officers skipped night problems during training, Sobel made it, so his officers weren't allowed to miss out.
As they walked by a heard of trees, Dallin heard a twig snap.
Quickly, she signalled for everyone to get down.
Seconds after the signal was given, Winters moved up and crouched next to her.
Looking through her sight, she stared into the trees and waited.
Whoever was inside the small forest, wasn't doing a very good job at keeping quiet. And Dallin had a small feeling, she knew who was inside the trees. Licking her bottom lip, she whispered to Winters;
"I think it's us, sir".
Nodding, Winters reached for his cricket and clicked once.
Shortly after, he received two clicks back.
"Who's that?" A familiar voice called out.
Dallin's lips twitched;
"we're here…Popeye".
Lowering her rifle, Popeye soon emerged from the trees. He looked very relieved to see them. Jumping over the ditch, Popeye was soon crouching next to Dallin and Winters.
"You got a weapon, son?" Winters asked him.
"I sure do, sir". He replied, "still got my rifle and grenades".
"Good". He said, "you stay up front with Dill".
"Yes, sir".
Looking at him, Dallin gave his shoulder a gentle nudge and said;
"Shifty is right…you would be terrible at hunting".
Chuckling quietly, he said;
"don't tell Shift you found me on account of me making a terrible noise".
She was relieved to have Popeye in front with her.
Not only did she have another pair of eyes scouting the area, but those eyes also belonged to her friend. Popeye wasn't on the same plane as Shifty. So, they were both praying he made it out okay. Dallin tried not to think too deeply about Shifty and her friends. She could only remain positive, to keep herself focused. But she did wonder how she ended up so far away from the men inside her plane.
Along the way, Lipton managed to pick-up an M1 carbine. He got lucky. Winters still didn't possess a gun. He only had one grenade and that wasn't much use. And though not having a gun pissed him off, Winters knew he was in safe hands because three of his guys were armed and ready to fire.
"I saw a Kraut". Popeye whispered.
Dallin's eyebrows twitched;
"where? I can't see him".
"Nah…when I landed". Popeye told her, "he was going one way, I was going the other. Figured I'd better not shoot him cause he didn't know I was there".
Her shoulders relaxed a little;
"very nice of you, Popeye".
He sighed;
"don't tell the fellas, huh? They won't be thinking much of me knowing I didn't kill the Kraut".
"One day, Popeye…they will think highly of you, for sparing his life". Dallin whispered, "but yes, not tonight. The men will be very disappointed you didn't get your first kill".
Popeye snorted;
"Jesus…that sounds all kinds of wrong".
"It does but…everything about war is wrong". She mumbled, "still, we have job to do, Popeye. We must stop the Nazi's".
He looked confident when he told her;
"oh, we're 'gonna do just that, Dill. Don't you worry 'bout a thing".