June 4, 1944 - Upottery, England
This evening they showed us a movie. What else are you supposed to do to pass the time? Since I already know this movie, I eventually got bored and went out. As I walk around the tent, I suddenly spot Bill sitting on a box, a smoke between his lips, staring straight ahead. "Bill?" I ask cautiously, but he doesn't look up. So I walk up to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Bill?" I ask again, and now he looks up, startled.
"I'm sorry, Liv... I..." he says but can't find the words. Frowning, I sit down next to him. "What's wrong?" I ask, and he looks at me. His eyes are glassy, and it seems like he's been crying. Bill says nothing and holds out a letter to me. Carefully I take it and read the lines. Of course, I quickly realize that this letter was not addressed to him but to Johnny. As I skim the lines, I get a queasy feeling.
Then I put an arm around Bill. "I'm so sorry, Bill," I whisper, trying to comfort him. "It's just... He was..." the usually tough Bill stammers, but I understand him. I don't know how I would react if I received the news from one of my siblings. "It's okay. You don't have to say anything." For a while, we sit silently, and I comfort Bill. I catch him quickly in between, wiping his face with his sleeve. Then he lights another smoke. "I'm just sorry for my ma... Henry was her golden boy... And I can't be there for her," he says, and I look at him. "I'm sure it's hard for her, that's how it is, but we'll see that her second golden boy comes home again, yes?" I say, and he forces himself to smile. "Thank you, Liv. For everything here." "Don't worry, Bill, we'll keep this between us," I smile and wink at him.
June 5, 1944 - Upottery, England
The next day is the day. The whole day the preparations run, and we recheck our complete equipment. Suddenly a grinning Don comes up to me. "What?" I ask on guard, and he holds up a small can of grease. I know exactly what he's up to. "Oh no! No, no, no! I'm not letting you get on my face. I'll do it myself," I say defensively and take a few steps backward with my hands up. "I knew you were going to say that," Don continues to grin.
Then I'm grabbed by the arms from both sides. "Hey, what...?" I shout, quickly realizing that it's Skip and Penk holding me down. "That's not fair!" I shout as Don comes at me. I try to fight back, but they are holding me tightly enough. "Come on, Liv, let us have a little fun too," Skip grins. "I'm pretty capable of doing that myself," I grumble. "We know you are, sweetheart, but it's a lot more fun this way," Penk laughs, and I give him a dirty look. "How I'll enjoy messing up that pretty face," Don laughs, and I press my lips together. "You guys really suck."
After they finish torturing me, and I'm sure not a spot on my face is white anymore, they finally let go of me. I push Skip off me, who laughs out loud. "Unbelievable, really!" I grumble. "Come on, Liv, you still look beautiful," Skip grins. "Yeah, right." I roll my eyes. "Hey Stark, Malarkey! Let's go," Buck then calls after us, and we say goodbye to Skip and Penk. "What happened to your face?" Buck asks as we walk up to him. "This one happened," I reply and point to Don. Buck chuckles and walks up to Roush.
We sit in front of the plane, and Buck stands in front of us along with Roush. "The medics are handing these out for air sickness. Orders are every man takes one now, another thirty minutes in the air," Roush says, then hands off to Buck before walking over to his plane. "Okay, listen up. May God be with you," he pauses briefly and looks at each of us in turn. "I'll see you at the assembly area." Then, one by one, he pulls us to our feet. He smiles encouragingly at me as he pulls me up, and I give a quick nod. Then comes the following problem. Getting on the plane. Entering the small entrance with everything we have to lug around is difficult. Don is behind me and tries to push me in. "Even though I really enjoy grabbing your ass, Sweetheart, it's really not that easy here," Don gasps from under me. "I'm already trying everything I can, Don. All this shit is heavier than me." Suddenly, someone grabs my arm and pulls me onto the plane. To my surprise, it's Liebgott. He says nothing and then sits down while I sit across from him. Don drops down next to me. When everyone is finally on board, the plane takes off.
June 6, 1944 - Somewhere in Normandy, France
With my eyes closed, I lean my head back. "You okay?" whispers Don, sitting next to me, and I look at him. "Have to be," I say, and he grins. You have to hand it to him; nothing can rattle him. "It's going to be okay, Liv, trust me." Across from me sits Liebgott, who looks a bit worn out. It's probably because of the pills they gave us.
I close my eyes again and try to doze a little when I suddenly hear a kind of thunder. I tear my eyes open and look at the door. "What the hell...?" asks Don, then looks at me. The rumble gets louder and more steady, and then I quickly realize that this is not thunder but explosions. They are shooting at us. "Well, great," I mutter. "Okay, get ready!" Buck then calls out in front as the red light turns on and gestures for us to stand up. The plane shakes dangerously, and a slight nervousness spreads through me. "Hook up!" shouts Buck, and I hook up. Only now do I notice that I'm standing directly behind Liebgott. "Okay: Equipment check!" calls Buck, and I check my equipment, and then Liebgott's in front of me while I feel Don checking my equipment. "Sound off for equipment check!" Shouts start from behind me that the equipment is ready to go as I hear Don behind me. "Five, okay!" I tap Liebgott on the shoulder. "Four, okay!"
Over and over, it shakes the plane. I reach back with my hand and squeeze Don's. "Don't worry, Sweetheart. I'll see you down there," he assures me, and I give his hand another quick squeeze as the light next to the door turns green. "Okay, go, go, go!" shouts Buck, and then we jump.
Bullets fly all around me. "Fuck!" I curse and look up to somehow see Don, but I can't spot him anywhere. We've jumped at a speed that spreads everyone out somewhere; it looks like. "Shit, shit, shit!" I grumble as I look down and head straight for a river. Since I'm down too fast, I can't steer and promptly land in the river. My parachute gets caught and pulls me along because of the current. My Mae West is helping a little, but the parachute is stronger. "Fuck!" I curse again silently. Again and again, I am pulled underwater by my parachute. The strap on my parachute mount is stuck, and I can't get it open, so I try to get to my bayonet as best I can to cut the strings. When I finally get a hold of it, I cut the parachute loose and can finally stand up straight. Fortunately, the river is not too deep. "Fuck," I curse again and see the parachute being pulled along by the current. Then I realize pretty quickly that I don't have my rifle anymore. "Fuck," I say again and start looking for it in the river. I dive under and grab anything I can find with my hands. After about five minutes, I finally do and find my rifle.
Dripping with water, I get out of the river as quietly as possible. Next to the river are some trees that are good for cover. I take off my Mae West and quickly put my helmet back on. "Fuck, where did I end up here?" I whisper to myself and carefully take a few steps. Suddenly I hear a crack and press my back against a tree. My heart begins to beat, and I hold my rifle tightly. I listen for a moment, but I hear nothing more.
And then the familiar chirping of our crickets sounds. Relieved, I exhale and take out mine to let them chirp. "Flash," I then hear someone whisper. "Thunder!" I reply, coming out from behind the tree. "Stark? That you?" I hear the soldier and take another step out. "Yes. Liebgott?" I then ask, and he nods. Well, that figures. Of all the damn soldiers, I had to meet him head-on.
I take another step toward him, and we kneel. "Do you have any fucking idea where we are?" he asks me, and I shake my head. "I don't know. Not where we're supposed to be." "Ah yes, Sergeant Obvious?" "Are you really going to start again?" I ask, annoyed, looking at him angrily. "Do you have a map?" I ask him then, and he nods before rummaging in his backpack. "Why are you so wet anyway?" he asks as he hands me the map. "Ended up in the river. Almost drowned," I say curtly, taking out my raincoat and ducking under it. I look for the river and then look up again. "Okay, I have no fucking idea where we are. The best thing to do is just walk in one direction until we find something... or someone." "Okay, let's go then," Liebgott says and starts walking.
For some time, we walk silently side by side. Both are on high alert. Suddenly I hear something and push Liebgott against a tree. At that moment, I don't realize how close I actually am to him or that he's looking at me in surprise that I'm so close. I hold my breath as I hear the German voices. I startle, pressing myself and Liebgott even closer to the tree. According to the voices, there should be about four or five soldiers—too many for us alone, which is why we keep as quiet as possible.
As the German voices slowly disappear in the distance, I exhale, and it looks like I've been holding my breath all this time. Then I look up at Liebgott, and we look into each other's eyes for a moment. I only now noticed how close we are and hastily step back. "What?" I then ask as he's still staring at me. "Nothing," he whispers.
That was weird. That look Liebgott gave me. Like he was looking at me for the first time. I shake my head and motion for him to move on. Behind a big bush, we retake cover. I hear footsteps and take out my cricket to let it chirp. "Flash!" I then hear someone whisper. "Thunder!" I return, and Liebgott and I stand up. "Liv, is that you?" I hear a familiar voice, and a feeling of happiness spreads through me. "Buck!" I say quickly. "Is it just you two, Sarge?" I nod. "Yeah, we have no fucking idea where we are. Do you know more?" "We saw a sign earlier: Sainte-Mère-Église," Buck says, and I spot some unfamiliar soldiers behind him. "These guys are from Baker Company." "Fuck," I curse. "We're completely wrong." "You can say that, right." "Well then... Happy Waddling," I say, and we walk on together. At least we're headed in the right direction; it looks like. "Why are you so wet?" Buck then asks me. "Ended up in the river, almost drowned," I repeat the words I also said to Liebgott.
About two hours later, I walk ahead. We're walking along an old railroad track, but a little farther on, it has a crossing. Slowly tired from the long day, I rub my eyes briefly as I am pulled back by the arm. Liebgott presses me to his chest and puts his hand on my mouth. Startled, I put my hand on his wrist, but then I hear German voices again. And they are very close. Slowly, Liebgott takes his hand from my mouth and walks past me to get a better look. He ducks and then turns back to us. He holds up four fingers to signal that there are four soldiers. "Okay, come on," Buck hisses at me, and we close in on Liebgott. Now I can see the Germans ahead of us. They are sitting comfortably together, laughing about something. Buck nods at us. Then he raises his hand and gives us the command to shoot. The Germans are quickly dead. But having the feeling inside of having killed a human being is strange.
Fortunately, the following hours pass without further incidents, and the sun rises. When we finally arrive at the assembly point, I am relieved. But I falter when I see how many Easy Company men are still missing. "Hey, Petty," I greet him, and he puts a hand on my shoulder with relief. "Where are the others?" I ask, and he shrugs. "Don?" I ask him, and he shakes his head. "We haven't heard from him yet, but new faces keep popping up." He says. He tells us what he went through, and so do we, and after a few minutes, he holds up his head. "Look," he says, pointing to Lip, who is just walking toward us with Bill, Popeye, Toye, and Winters. "Be right back," I say to Petty, and he nods.
"Hey, Lip," I call out to him, and he looks up before smiling at me. Bill puts his hand on my shoulder briefly as we pass and smiles at me, which I return. I give Lip a quick hug and am glad he's okay. "I'm glad you're okay," he says as if he's read my mind. "What happened?" "Landed in a river. I lost almost everything that you can lose. It's a miracle I found my rifle again. Then I ran into Liebgott." "Great... And that worked?" asks Lip sarcastically. "Surprisingly, yes... We wandered around for a couple of hours until we ran into Buck and two dudes from Baker." Lip smirks. "Ah well, Malarkey's back there, by the way," he says, and I tear up. "And you're just telling me this now?" I say indignantly, punching Lip in the chest and then running off in the direction he pointed.
"Well, look who finally decided to show up," I call from afar, grinning at my best Friend. "I was beginning to think I'd have to send out a search party." Don sits on the floor next to a POW. When he sees me, he starts to grin, stands up, and takes me in his arms. "Thank goodness you're okay, Sweetheart. How long have you been here?" "Five minutes," I grin, and Don laughs. "What was that about the search party?" "Yeah yeah, it's all right. What are you doing here?" I ask, pointing at the German soldier. "Oh... This guy here in the Kraut uniform is from Eugene," Don says, and I look at him, confused. "Okay?" I say, stretching. "He's from Oregon. Like me, in case you forgot." "How could I forget." I clasp my hand to my forehead playfully. "I think we should get back. If Winters is here now, I'm sure there will be new orders soon." "What about Meehan?" "Don't know. Haven't seen him."
Don turns back to the German. "Well then...we have to go. Maybe I'll see you around," Don says, waving him off. "Yeah, maybe," the latter replies. "Come on now, Donny," I laugh and grab him by the arm. "Don't call me that. You know I hate that. Sir," he then says to Speirs, who is just coming towards us. I nod to him as well, and when we are almost at the others, we hear gunshots from behind us. Don and I turn around in shock. "You don't think...?" I ask, perplexed, but Don says nothing more and walks a few steps in the direction of the POWs. "Come on, Don," I say and tug on his sleeve again.
"Tell me, what happened with you guys?" I ask, and we sit down before smoking a cigarette. Don tells me how he met the others and that they ran into a large group of Germans before marching here. He looks at me, and I tell my story. Then I continue and say that I met Liebgott. "No!" says Don. "Really, you could run into anyone, and you run into him of all people?" he asks, laughing. "Yep. As fate would have it, I guess. But he saved me. I almost ran into a group of Germans." "It's a wonder he didn't let you do it." "Yeah, I don't know..." "Hey Malarkey, Stark! Briefing in five," Buck calls out to us, and we nod.
Don and I join the others who are already waiting for Winters to brief us. My gaze flits briefly to Liebgott, who also looks at me, but then averts his eyes. Winters looks around briefly to get an idea of how many men we have available. "The 88s we heard were spotted in a field down the road and farther away. Major Strayer wants us to take them out. There are two guns we know are firing on Utah Beach, and we're planning a third and a fourth here and here," he explains, recording it for us. "The Germans are in the trenches with access to the entire battery and machine gun cover in the rear. We'll set up a base of fire and move quickly under it with two groups of three." I look briefly at Don, who smiles confidently at me. "How many Krauts do they think we're facing?" Bill asks. "No idea." "No idea?" "We're going to take some TNT to spike the weapons. Lipton, you're responsibility." "Yes, sir," Lip says. "Liebgott, you take the first machine gun with Petty, Gunner A. Plesha, Hendrix, you take the other. Who's left then?" We hold up our hands. "Compton, Malarkey, Toye, Guarnere, and Stark," says Winters. "Okay." "We're going to make the main attack. Got it?" "Yes, sir." "All right, let's pack it up, guys."
We spread out, and I see Bill walk over to a soldier I don't know, who had been standing behind us the whole time. "Shouldn't you be out there with the rest of the Able Company guys?" asks Toye in a less-than-friendly manner, and I raise an eyebrow. "See you around, Hall," Bill says goodbye to him. Hall looks at me for a moment and seems surprised. "What?" I ask, and he quickly averts his eyes. "Nothing, ma'am."
"Lipton, when you see that we've captured the first weapon, I want you and your TNT as soon as possible," Winters then says, and Lip nods. "Yes, sir." "Okay, just weapons and ammo; leave everything else. If you have spare ammo in a backpack or musette bag, bring it."