"Get up boys we have been called upon, we are pushing the Germans back thru the Bulge" Dana walked from foxhole to foxhole to get her men out and moving.
Easy had been sent to clear the Bois Jacques, Dana had third platoon moving out, they met little resistance, at one point, Buck stopped and ordered Malarkey to squad down, and he placed a map over on his back.
Dana, Buck and Lipton were discussing where they were, and which way to proceed.
"That means, we must be right here" Buck said and tapped Malarkey on the back of the head.
Malarkey protested "Hey take it easy"
"Quit whining, or I will nail it to your head" Buck said
Guarnere snickered "You should, it's made of wood"
Dana and Lipton was walking next to each other "Man I glad to be out of my foxhole, at least I keep warm walking" Lipton said
Dana looked at him "I don't know Lip, I don't like it, it's only a thousand yard attack, and we already had casualties, I don't like it"
Easy reached the MLR and dug in, Dana send out a patrol, who encountered a German officer on horseback.
"Hey Captain, look what I got" Hoobler was smiling, and wavering his Luger around
"Hoob hand over the luger, it's for your own good, and you didn't even take the holster with you" Dana knew if Hoobler was allowed to keep the Luger, he would kill himself.
"Come on Captain, let me show it to the guys" Hoobler begged
"No, that's an order" Dana stood nose to nose with the pissed off Toccoa man
Hoobler reluctantly handed over the Luger, and turned to help his buddy dig a foxhole.
Dana walked thru the line and to the CP, she figured Dike would have updated Winters and Nixon, but when she arrived at CP, she had four pairs of eyes watching her intensely.
Winters, whose whole face was red, looked at Dana "So, what's the status?"
"We encountered little resistance, and only some light machine gun fire, but we had a few casualties, Browns and Stevens" Dana walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee, and looked at her fellow officers.
Charlie and Nixon returned to pouring over some maps, Emma sighed, and turned and stared into the white snow covered forest.
"Well, I am glad you are ok, just…hang tough" Dana turned and walked out of the CP
Dana walked back to her men. Hoobler was still bragging. Dana sighed, she shouldn't interfere with history, and she really should return the Luger to Hoobler, but she just couldn't do it.
Dana walked over and sat down on the edge of the foxhole she shared with Lipton, he was talking to Shifty, Dana put the Luger down beside her and turned to Buck who asked for Dike.
"Where is Dike" Buck asked
Dana shrugged "He is around"
"Can you be a little more specific there" Buck asked her
"Not really Buck" Dana told him
"God damn it, I didn't see him coming thru the woods, and I haven't seen him all day. Where the hell is Dike? Where the hell does he ever go?" Buck was pissed off, and damn near his breaking point, a missing CO was a big problem
Malarkey and Shifty was digging a foxhole next to Dana and Lipton's, the two of them retorted "I don't know, but I wish he stay the hell there, and it would be nice if he took lieutenant Shames with him"
Lipton knew talk like that could lower morale turned, and he told the two men to shut up.
A shot rang out and the group dug for cover, Dana fumbled after Hobbler's Luger, it wasn't where she left it, she closed her eyes "son of a bitch" she mumbled, the little shit must have taken it back, while she was talking to Buck
"Shit, shit, shit, the dumb fuck" Dana mumbled
"What was that" Buck asked
"That was Hoobler, he just shot himself" Dana got on her feet, and ran towards the foxhole the shot came from.
Hoobler was struggling, and Roe was frantically trying to find the severed artery. Dana just stood there and watched Hoobler die, she turned around and walked away, guess you can't change history even if you tried.
Dana walked to the CP to report Hobbler's death, Lipton had beat her too it.
Nixon, Charlotte, Emma and Winters was all at the CP listening intensely to Lipton telling them how Hoobler shot himself.
Emma motioned for Dana to join her outside of the CP "did you try to stop it" she asked Dana
Dana kicked the ground "yeah I did, I even took the damn gun away from him, but somehow he got a hold of it again" Dana sniffled
Emma hugged Dana, and the two of them walked back into the CP just in time to hear Nixon say "Oh hell Lip, you cut that main artery in the leg and that's… that's it"
Lip looked at Dana "I am going to head back, too make sure the boys are alright" Lip turned and disappeared out into the falling snow.
Winters looked at Dana "Where is Dike?"
Dana rolled her eyes, yeah where the hell was the company commander "Hell if I know, why you want to talk to him?"
"No, I just expected to hear this kind of news from him" Winters gave Dana a stern look
"Well, if I see him, I will send him your way" Dana said
Emma looked at Dana "Take care of Lip"
Dana nodded and walked out of the CP, she sighed and decided to take a little stroll into Dog Company's line to visit her husband.
Camilla was working at the aid station set up 20 miles from the MLR on the allied side, she still had no idea who she was, or how she ended up in Belgium during WW2. She just knew she didn't belong here.
She knew, she had to be some sort of doctor or nurse, because the doctors had been very impressed by her surgical techniques.
After the church was bombed Camilla had woken up confused, and a medic from the 326th had found her, Camilla had been hysteric.
The last thing she remembered, was getting on a plane with a group of soldiers dressed in dessert fatigues, she knew that was in 2000 something, and not 1944.
How did she end up in 1945? Was she alone? She did remember a sergeant, but she couldn't remember her own name or her rank, or what she did in the army. Her Jump jacket had a Red Cross armband.
So here she was, a field medic in 1944. She didn't know a soul there, the nurses was nice and she was starting to remember her last name it was something like Hamlyn or Hamlin.
She enjoyed the work at the aid station, but there was something missing or rather someone, but who?
"MEDIC" some yelled and Camilla ran out to the jeep, to help the driver with a wounded man, at one point someone would pass through and recognize her, or so she hoped.
Peacock, Shames, Buck, Lipton, Welsh and Dana was gathered around Dike, he was trying to hand out orders, but everything that came out of his mouth made absolutely no sense.
Buck asked him what formation to use while dug in, and he got some crazy answer about how Dike would clarify that with him at a later time.
Dana shook her head, Dike wasn't a bad leader because he made bad decisions. He was a bad leader, because he made no decisions at all.
Dana and Lipton took a walk, to make sure the men was secured for the night. They found Liebgott, Bill, Malarkey, Skip and Talbert in a foxhole.
Lipton walked up to them "Hey boys, what's you doing"
Skip looked at Lipton and Dana "Nothing, just sitting here singing Dike's praises"
Lipton and Dana sat down on the side of the foxhole, Lipton looked at the men "Yeah well, I would hate to be a replacement officer coming in here, getting thrown in with a group of guys, who have known each other for what two years? Who have been in combat together since Normandy, is he just supposed to show up and lead them? How does a guy do that, how could anyone really earn the respect of the toughest, most dedicated, professional sons of bitches in the ETO? So if you ask me a guy would have to march of to Berlin and come back with Hitler's mustache or something"
The men laughed a little, Bill looked at Dana "Well, the captain did it"
"Yeah well, I am special, besides you only listen to me because you are scared of Speirs" Dana looked around at the rough group of guys.
Lipton got serious again "Anyway, you all do your jobs and we will be fine" Lipton got up and so did Dana
Dana put her arm around Lipton's shoulder "How do you do it?" she asked him
"How do I do what" Lipton asked
"All ways know what to say" Dana answered him
"I don't know, I just say what I think they need to hear, I don't always believe it, but we need to protect the integrity of the company" Lipton stared into the horizon
"You miss her, don't you?" Dana said
"I do, very much" Lipton put his riffle on his shoulder and walked away.
…
Emma, Winters Charlotte and Nixon was gathered at the CP, they were also discussing Dike.
"You know what Dike's problem is don't you? He is just one of those arrogant rich jerks from Yale" Winters teased Nixon and Charlotte.
Charlotte looked at Winters "oh god, another one of those"
Charlotte was sitting on Nixon's lap, she was freezing, and she wasn't looking forward to walk the line in three hours.
Winters continued "Division isn't going to let me replace him, just because I got a bad feeling about him, even if they would, who would I put in his place? Shames, he have seen to many war movies, he thinks he has to yell all the time"
Winters looked around the CP, he knew he would get his answer in due time. His wife would tell him, even though he didn't agree with her on this.
Winters continued "Peacock? God bless him, no one tries harder, but he is not fit to take the men into combat, I sure as hell isn't going to make him company CO, when I don't want him as a platoon leader"
"How about Compton" Nixon asked him
"Buck is the only real choice, but I want Easy to have at least one experienced platoon leader, not that it matter anyway, because I can't get rid of Dike"
Nixon looked at Emma "well we all know who you like to have around Easy, problem it isn't your job anymore"
Emma exploded "Well, we all know who should lead Easy, Sink is ok with me being a battalion commander, but he won't make Grey a company commander, its bull, and you all know it, she would be perfect, and the men all love her"
Charlotte nodded in agreement, Nixon and Winters looked at each other, and they knew Emma was right, but Dike was a favor to someone at division and he was sent to Easy to get some combat experience under his belt before moving on.
The truth was, Buck had changed since he got back from the hospital, and he was more serious. Dana and Charlotte was walking the line, the men were reinforcing their foxholes and Buck was talking to his men, telling them not to do anything stupid.
Dana and Charlotte was sitting, talking to Luz and Skip, when Buck showed up, and gave them don't do anything stupid speech.
Skip looked at them after they left "Don't do anything stupid, who the hell is he talking to? A bunch of morons who volunteer to jump out of a perfectly good air plane, don't do anything stupid, can you get anymore stupid than that?"
Skip continued to tell a story about how he once swam across the Niagara river, and how Faye, his girl gave him hell, when he mentioned Faye, Luz, Dana and Charlotte sang out "The sweet Faye Tanner"
Dana and Charlotte got up and walked on, they found Lipton sitting in a foxhole and Dike was standing on the edge, it seemed like they were talking, when Dike suddenly turned and walked away.
"What was that about?" Charlotte asked Lipton.
"He wanted to know where I was from" Lipton said
The group went silent, they all tried not to think about home, it was too hard. Dana and Charlotte didn't know if they would be able to go home. Dana wasn't going to go home, even if she could, she would never leave Speirs behind. Lipton just blocked out home, so he could keep his focus on the company.
…
The next morning Nixon and Charlotte was sleeping in a foxhole, when a jeep stopped and a runner yelled for Captain Kahne and Captain Nixon.
Nixon woke up and shushed the runner, so he wouldn't wake up Charlotte, she was sick, but refused to go to the aid station.
Nixon grabbed the piece of paper the runner was handing him and dismissed him. Nixon read the paper and knew he had solution to one of Dick's leadership problems.
Nixon walked around the CP and found Emma and Dick drinking coffee, he poured himself a cup and said "good morning" and held up the piece of paper
Emma looked at Lew "Eviction notice?" she asked him
Lew laughed a little "Not quite, but I think, I got something that will help you, with your leadership problem"
Emma smiled "Dike is being transferred?"
"No, I can't help you with that, but division has decided, to pluck one officer from each regiment, who have served in the heroic defense of Bastogne and send them back to the states on a thirty day furlough, get them out banging the drum for the war bond drive, that sort of thing, turn out I been plucked" Nixon handed Dick the order
"That's great, good for you, but how in the world does you leaving help me?" Dick asked him
"Well I am not going, I already seen the states, I grew up there that's why I came to Europe, I just wish they told me there was a war going on, the point is this thing is wasted on me, but I am sure we can find an officer somewhere in this battalion who can use a long trip home" Nixon and Winters just nodded at each other.
"If you even consider sending one of my girls home, I will kill you both in your sleep" Emma breezed past the two officers, in the end Peacock was the one they send home, and the men was glad to see him go.
….
Sink, Nixon, Winters, Emma and Charlotte was in CP "If the Camera comes by here remember to smile for the folks back home"
"Why" Emma asked Sink
"Hell if I know" Sink said
Charlotte was coughing really bad "Maybe you should stay away from the camera" Sink told her.
"Ok, Captain Nixon what do we have waiting for us in Foy" Sink asked him
Nixon started to explain, what he and Charlotte had spotted in Foy, when Winters excused himself, he had seen two soldiers get of a jeep and one of them wasn't supposed to be alive.
…
Camilla was working at the aid station on New Year's Eve, when a bunch of wounded men was brought in, one of them men stared at her like he couldn't believe his eyes.
Camilla walked over to him and smiled, she checked his wound "Is everything ok here soldier?" She asked him
The soldier just stared at her "It is you, that means I am dead, or you are hiding out"
"What do you mean?" Camilla asked him
"You don't know me? Camilla come on, it's me Joe Toye" Joe looked at Camilla expecting her to laugh and say, I got you.
Camilla just looked at him "I don't know what you mean, I don't remember anything, not even my name, but I guess it's Camilla"
Joe continued to tell Camilla about how the girls just showed up in Normandy, and how they stuck around Easy Company, and how she fell in love with Lipton.
Camilla tried to process it all, she handed Joe off, to a nurse, and walked outside and sat down.
Well, she got her answers and now she had to decide if she wanted to stay with the 326th, or go back to Easy Company.
Joe only stayed at the aid station for a few days before he decided to go back to Easy, when he was getting in a jeep he heard a voice yell "Stop, I am going with you"
Camilla ran after the jeep and jumped in. Joe looked at her and smiled "So you decided you couldn't live without me" he joked
"You know it Joe, and I decided if I want to get my memory back, I need to be with my men" Camilla told him.