Chapter by Sam

American LCVP "Higgins" Boat

February 19, 1945

Corporal Casandra "Candy" Malone was finding it very hard to hold down her breakfast as the small amphibious craft bounced in the choppy water. And even though she was thankful that the weather was far better than when Angel Squadron, along with Rogue and Devil, flew several bombings runs against the Japanese Home Islands a month before, she would rather be in her cockpit than trying not to barf all over her boots.

The truth was, the 3rd, 4th, and 5th Marine Divisions were preparing to storm the beaches of one of the volcanic home islands of Japan...

Iwo Jima.

The problem was, despite the the three air squadron's assistance in bombing the home islands of Japan, they did not put in more effort for Iwo Jima, as Vice Admiral Marc "Pete" Mitscher of Task Force 58 had noticed. In fact, the Japanese resistance was expected to be so heavy, that the Marine's needed all the help they could get.

So, Angel, Devil, and Rogue Squadrons were reassigned to ground combat, each colonel taking charge of a Higgins Boat full of Marines, swapping their aviator caps for helmets, and parachutes for kit-packs.

And Candy really wished they hadn't, more so know as she nearly the raging battle in her stomach, but managed to swallow the bile that had started to come up her throat. But, her attention was soon turned a hand being placed on her shoulder, causing her to turn and meet the gaze of one of her commanding officers,

Major Crystal "Claws" Santiago.

"How ya Hanging in there Candy?" the fiery-furred Nebraskan asked with a smile, her yellow eyes meeting blue in a caring gaze.

Once again swallowing the bile, as well as the nervousness in her throat, Candy answered hesitantly.

"W-well, Major," she began, bowing her head like a pup who had just got caught with their hand in the cookie jar, her eyes landing on the loaded M1 in her hands, which now felt heavier in her grasp.

"I'm actually pretty scared."

Upon seeing the worrying in her subordinates eyes as she looked back up at her, Claws sent a warm, reassuring smile to the young female, pulling her into a sideways hug as she began to speak.

"Hey," she said with a laugh, "this is no different than shooting down Zeros...we just gotta keep our heads down.

"CLEAR THE RAMP!" the duo suddenly heard Eve yell from by the Pilot's station, moving her way to the front of the boat and past the hodgepodge of male and female marines, accompanied by her girls, each armed with M1s, Springfields, Tommys, and BARs.

"3O SECONDS!"

And the moment she heard those words, Candy tensed as she could now hear the distant sound of artillery grow louder by the second. Noticing the tenseness her squad-mate, Claws gave one more squeeze and smile, as well as a few more words of encouragement.

"Just stick close to me, Hon...you'll be okay."

And just as those words left Claws' mouth, a whistle sounded...

And the ramp was lowered.

Luckily, the only amount of Japanese resistance at the moment was artillery fire.

The real trick was the fifteen-foot mounds of soft volcanic ash.

Now these ground forces had been trained to run on the bunch...

Here, they could only plod.

And to top it all off, the heavy equipment they carried was forming a great hindrance to their speed. So much so, that it became apparent that they needed to lighten their loads.

First to go was the gas mask.

Now as they advanced, the landing troops realized that the resistance from the Japanese was pretty much non-existent, which led the American forces, especially the on-loan pilots, to suspect that the latter groups' bombardments had successfully suppressed the Japanese land forces.

But, as these forces would soon find out, General Tadamichi Kuribayashi was not done.

For the next hour, American forces began to land on the secured beach, with Angel, Devil and Rogue Squadrons overseeing some of the operations.

But, at 10:00 A.M., all hell broke loose.

In a stunning move, General Kuribayashi's forces rained fire down on the crowded beach. What started as machine-gun rounds soon turned into artillery and mortars rounds. The volcanic ash even exploded as marines were tron apart but land mines, turning the beach into a bloodbath. The attack came so quickly that Corporal Samson "Strong Man" Johnson had barely enough time to pull his squad-mate, and girlfriend, Second Lieutenant Delilah "Skunk" Cutter behind a jeep for cover.

But just before the Delilah had time to thank her handsome, brown-furred savior, a huge explosion from a mortar round shook the earth they stood on.

Then came a desperate cry from Elise.

"DADDY! SOMEONE HELP!"

Looking around from their cover, the two lovers could see that the previous explosion had caused a jeep to fly into the air, landing right on top of their squadron's position. And while Cain had managed to get Elise out of the way, the two of them finding some safety under the cover of Rogue Squadron's position, Cody was not so fortunate, his entire body pinned under the overturned vehicle...

which was slowly leaking gas.

Seeing his closest comrade in danger, Rex made a move to get to Cody.

"I'LL GET 'EM!" he yelled, only to be yanked back by Cain just in time as a Japanese bullet missed Rex's head by inches.

"EASY REX!"

Looking across the gap to Samson, Cain gave a knowing nod, a nod returned by his subordinate.

"SAMSON!" He shouted, "GET HIM OUTTA THERE!"

"RIGHT BOSS!" Samson called in a booming bass voice.

"DELILAH, GIVE ME SOME COVER FIRE!"

"YOU GOT IT HOT STUFF!" Delilah shouted with a smirk, quickly running after Samson as she pulled the trigger fiercely on her M1 as she and her boyfriend made their way to Cody.

"THIS IS CRAZY!" Dax shouted over the chaos, "HE'S GONNA NEED HELP TO GET CODY OUTTA THERE!"

"HE'S GONNA GET THE JEEP OUT OF THERE, NOT CODY!" Cain called back with a smile, earning a round of confused looks from Dax and the rest of Rogue Squadron, only for their eyes to go wide as Samson, he a feet of what could only be described as superhuman strength, managed to lift and and roll the jeep off of Cody single-handedly, quickly grabbing the injured wolf and slinging him over his shoulder before he and Delilah ran to rejoin the others, and just in time as the leaking gas on the jeep ignited, sending up in flames.

Tapping Dax on the shoulder, Sam, his hazel eyes wide open, muttered loud enough for his friend to hear,

"Guess that's why they call him 'Strong Man.'"

Just a little further up the beach, the girls in Angel Squadron were trying all they could to make it up the beach with the marines by there side. But try as they might, it was becoming very difficult to take down the enemy bunkers. Any flamethrowers fired, or grenades thrown into bunkers had little effect as the cramped spaces were quickly refilled via the tunnel systems that the Japanese had dug out. And thanks to the black ash on the beaches, the treads of the American Amtraks could do nothing but slip.

Luckily, members of the Naval Construction Battalion, braving enemy fire, managed to dig away paths in the sand so that the vehicles could get through.

"THERE'S OUR OPENING BOYS AND GIRLS!" Eve shouted to her squad-mates and marines, "LET'S MOVE!"

And move they did.

Before long, the separate combat units began to make progress by moving off the beaches and further inland. Their objective, although being highly unrealistic prior to the landing, was the Japanese Airfield No. 1. But, over the next hour-and-a-half, the American forces managed to push their way toward the southern most point of the airfield.

But upon arriving at their destination, the American's were met with heavy resistance.

So heavy that they believed they may have bitten off more than they could chew. Candy's nerves were so shot that she was curled in on herself behind some cover, which made itself available in the form of a large boulder. And when Claws heard whimpering from beside her, she turned to see her squad-mate with tears in her eyes. After firing a another burst from her Tommy-gun, Claws took a fistful of Candy's uniform, pulling her so that the former had her face in the latter's.

"QUIT THAT NOISE!" She screamed in Candy's face.

"GET YOU ASS OF THE GROUND AND START SHOOTING!"

But, Claws instantly came to regret her action as soon as she heard Candy let out a strangled sob, her russet cheeks stained with tears. Softening her gaze some, Claws spoke in a more gentle tone, hoping to coax Candy out of her shell-shock.

"Listen Hon," she said softly, "I know you're scared...hell even I'm scared, but this is no time for crying. We need you, okay?"

With sniff, Candy responded with a hesitant nod, only for her attention to be pulled back to the battle by the call of Rogue Squadron's Captain.

"THEY'RE BREAKING!" Sam called, firing several shots form his M1911.

"PUSH FORWARD!"

Within seconds, the allied forces managed to push the Japanese back, taking a good chunk of the airfield as they did.

Unfortunately, the Japanese weren't going to quit so easily.

"BANZAI CHARGE!" Dax yelled as he raised his M1, emptying the clip in a matter of 5 seconds before the familiar PING filled his ears.

Moving for more cover, the allies gave their all as hoard of one-hundred or more Imperial soldiers launched a deadly suicide charge against them. And while most of the marines and pilots made it behind cover, a few weren't so lucky.

Especially a certain white-furred Angel.

"LILLY!" Kate screamed as she saw her sister take a bullet tot the calf, making the girl fall in a pained scream. But, just as Kate made a move for her sister, Dax was well ahead of her. Charging into the hell-fire raining down on him, Dax made quick work of getting one of his arm's under Lilly's shoulder.

"DON'T WORRY SNOWBALL, I GOTCHA!"

With a few rounds fired from his M1, Dax began to help Lilly hope back tot the others, who at this point had dealt a severe blow to the Japanese, actually succeeding in forcing them back, allowing the American's to take Airfield No. 1, re-designated...

Central Field.

"MEDIC!" Dax called as he helped Lilly back to her squadron, Eve and Kate instantly fussing over their youngest family member. Within minutes, two female medics, fur cream and brown, respectively, ran toward the group...and unarmed no-less.

But, that could be expected from two "Conscientious Objectors."

"Get her some morphine Reba," the cream-furred medic called.

"Already on it Janice."

With that, the two medics were able to detirmed that Lilly had only suffered a flesh-wound, meaning with some rest and time to recover, she would be back in the fight soon. And not just Lilly. Even Cody would be seeing action again as he only suffered a sprained ankle and bruised ribs.

In the end, by 11:30 that morning, the American forces had maintained, and overall secured, the airfield, which would now serve as the perfect staging ground for the Big E's pilots until the end of the war, who miraculously had only suffered injuries and not fatalities that day.

Over the next few days, the American forces had to work hard to maintain their foothold on the coast of Iwo Jima. Luckily, the highly anticipated Japanese Banzai charges were easily repelled. The Big E's squadrons were even returned to their carrier to provide low air cover during the campaign.

But the one thing that made every allied fighter swell with pride, was on February 23, 1945...

When the Stars and Stripes were raise don mount Suribachi.

"Isn't that a beautiful sight?" Claws asked Candy as she pulled the younger pilot close to her side.

"Stunning," Candy responded with a smile as the flag waved in the breeze.

The fighting would continue for another month, with Americans suffering the most casualties over the Japanese in the overall engagement.

Until on March 26, 1945...

The Japanese surrendered Iwo Jima.

The Sleeping Giant was son the verge of Victory.