101rst Airborn Short Story

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So I had to write a short story for Creative Writing, one of my last assignments. I love learning about World War II, So I decided to write about the 101rst airborne. Well here it is, lolololol

I picked up my pen and started writing into my journal that was small enough to fit into my pocket. The words just seemed to come together all at once, even though my hands are shaking. The mission was about to begin and I could not sleep. My pen hit the paper:

The year is 1944, the war is starting to equal out in wins and losses. This day will be what the Allies needed, I have been waiting for months. My name is James Jones and I am a corporal. I was picked specifically to be in the 101rst airborne team that is supposed to land behind the beaches of Normandy. My job is to land in enemy territory and make my way to the target area. My target area is a bridge leading to the beaches containing sectors that were going to be hit later on. My main goal is take the bridge with my team and hold it until Allied reinforcements arrive to make camp there. My threat could range from regular soldiers to armored units, I really wanted just soldiers. Maybe my team will be lucky and just not have any opposition. I wish war went that way.

I dropped the pen back into my knapsack and tried to get some shut eye. I thought hard about this sleep that I was about to endure. This might be the last night of good sleep I will ever get. Even in this barracks, I never get good sleep. I slowly drifted off because of all the thinking I have been doing lately.

I awoke to the sound of my team getting up from bed to get prepped. I jumped out of the top bunk and saw my friend on the bottom of the bunk with his hands in his head. I put my hand on his shoulder.

“It will be okay, let's not waste time,” I tried to encourage him, he was obviously not ready for drop time.

I picked up my sack and filled it with all the items that were needed. I hurled the sack over my back and I picked up my canteen. My team was already at the plane getting prepped when I walked out of the door. I caught up to my friend and starting talking to him again.

“How are you feeling, Erik?” I asked to spark anything out of him.

“Pretty crappy, just happy to get the mission over with,” Erik replied.

Private First Class Erik Jackson is his name, he has been a friend ever since I was drafted. He was drafted around the same time as me and we instantly clicked. We are both around the same age as well, I am twenty three and he is around twenty one. He was drafted five days after his birthday, his eighteenth birthday. Erik only has seen training combat and not actual fighting. This is both of our first mission, and hopefully our final mission, I hated this war.

I shook my head and kept walking to the air plane as the cold weather hit me. The wind and rain was not helping the mood between us two. We got on the ship and looked our team in the eyes. My thoughts are that the team exiles us around other activities then fighting. When we tried to hang out with them, they did not want anything to do with us. That's why Erik's bond with me is like we are brothers. I know that Erik and I, both have thought about our team not helping us in a fire fight, we just have not said it yet.

The seats were aligned with all of us sitting in a row. Corporal James Jones, Private First Class Erik Jackson, Private First Class Thomas Lockhart, Private John Wade, Corporal Daniel Stock, and Sergeant Nathaniel Miller. Nathaniel is the leader of the team and he is our go to guy with commands. He is not the best leader, but it is what it is. I would not be caught saying that out loud, only thoughts.

The plane lifted off when there was still night in the air. I grabbed my pen and started writing again. The writing calmed me down, I needed it especially at a time like this. The shakiness of the plane was not helping, this was going to be hard. I started to write:

I am as ready as I will ever be for this mission. The team that I am sitting in this plane with right now are the only people, brothers, I have. Our regiment is the 502nd Infantry and we are jumping to drop zone A. My hands are shaking more than I want them to, this might be my last journal entry. I will fight for these men and I hope they do the same. Why would they not, nobody wants to be here right now. If they do not, this is Corporal James Jones signing off.

I signed my name at the bottom, thinking this might be it. Thinking of my death kept me from thinking of the mission, which was really crude. I started to get everything in check for my drop, all the essentials needed to be perfect. I sighed and realized I did already check. I was nervous...

The light turned green and the door started to open. Sarge gave us the go and the mission was officially starting. I was last in line, but Sarge waited for everyone to go before him. He started to instruct everyone on when to jump, then proceeded with multiple “GO's”. I hurried up to the line and sarge looked at me.

“You can do this, Erik has already jumped, he needs you,” he said, “Get down there soldier!”

I jumped into the cool wind and the thrust of air immediately hit me. I settled my breathing and started to look for my squad. The night was brisk and I couldn't see anyone. Anti Aircraft explosions ripped through the air and I started to get a glimpse of my team. My team was scattered. I pulled my chute at the right time and tried to get to the drop zone.I guarded my face, and started to maneuver as anti aircraft guns lit up the night. I was about fifty feet from the ground when my teammates started to become more clear in the air. They were impossible to differentiate, but they were my squad. One of my teammates landed in the middle of a tree and I could hear screaming. I landed ten feet away from the tree and took off my parachute and got equipped. I looked back at the tree to see the man fall from the tree and hit the ground.

I ran over to see if I could help him in anway, I didn't know who it was yet. I quickly called over Wade because he was the medic of the team. Wade rushed over and found Lockhart with multiple broken bones. Lockhart also had a branch sticking through his arm. I got up and started to look for my team, keeping a close proximity to Wade and Lockhart. I didn't want Wade to be injured, we need the medic.

Five minutes passed as Wade tried to help Lockhart. Lockhart kept bleeding and bleeding, I couldn't look for myself, I just heard it. I knew Wade wouldn't be able to help him, he just wanted to save his friend.

“Friendly!” somebody whispered from a bush.

Jackson and Stock walked out of the bush, completely unharmed. They looked as if they lost a lot of their supplies though. Stock had all of the explosives and I could see all of them in check. Wade stood up, hands completely covered in red. He walked over to the tree and punched it out of frustration. Lockhart was gone.

“Has anybody seen Sarge?” Jackson spoke up after a moment of silence.

Everyone looked around and noticed that Sarge wasn't with them. We were leaderless...

“Wade form up, I know I'm not the leader, and I will never be Sarge's rank, but the task still is at hand. Let's cover up Lockhart and move to the bridge. Lockhart was a great soldier and he died where no body wanted him to. If we do not move now, so many more men will die due to us. Our first objective is to find the bridge and set up around it. The secondary objective will be to find Miller, hopefully he is on the way. I know he can fight for himself, hell, he might already be there. Let's get moving, we are burning time!” I exclaimed, the whole team needed a push.

Wade looked up and put his rifle in hands. He then looked at me and started walking. Jackson and Stock did the same. I followed close behind. Before we left, we said goodbye to a great soldier.

We didn't talk the whole mile and a half to the bridge. The air was silent, as our mood towards the war. We eventually came upon a patch of bushes and low trees, but right after it was the bridge. We looked around for any hostiles and tried to survey the land. Stock pulled up his binoculars and aimed them at the bridge.

“Two tangos on the bridge, looks like an artillery emplacement is being manned right next to it. The two on the bridge are having a smoke, and the artillery hostile is on point. He is the main priority for right now. He is looking at the sky, where he should be. He should not see us coming at close range.” Stock said and passed the binoculars to me.

“Yeah your right, Stock and Jackson, I need you to ---,” a hand grabbed my shoulder.

I turned around and aimed my rifle at the figure, smoke blew into my face from his cigar. Miller...

“You giving orders without me?” said Miller laughing, “That's a soldier at it's finest!”

I laughed and turned back around to the bridge. The Germans were still in the same place they were when we last looked. We needed to move fast though. Wade was the first to tell Miller about Lockhart and Miller's mood changed. I could see the red in his eyes, even when the night was so present. Stock then informed Miller of the bridge situation.

“Okay, I need Stock and Jackson to run left and put suppressive fire on the artillery gun. By the time you two make the run to that rock in the distance, Jones and I will be pushing through the middle. The German manning the gun should go for Stock and Jackson, while Jones and I take him out. Wade, I want you to take Stock's sniper rifle. I know you can't handle that gun as well as Stock, but we need the medic. I can't have you running feet first into the firefight, understood soldiers?” He commanded while looking at all of us.

Miller picked up his helmet and grabbed Stock's sniper rifle. He threw the gun to Wade and he caught it. Miller looked at me and I nodded. Jackson and Stock knew their plan. The mission was a go.

Stock was the first to run with heavy fire coming from the machine gun he held. Jackson followed close behind with the same deal, but with his rifle. Bullets ricocheted off the artillery emplacement. The men on the bridge were aware of their presence. Miller and I were set to go. Miller lead the rush towards the emplacement doing the same, suppressive fire all on it. I took my grenade out of my pouch and pulled the pin. I took two steps and threw it as far as I could. The grenade landed inside the emplacement. The explosion rocked the air in front of Miller and I. Next up the Germans on the bridge.

I could hear the sniper rifle going off as Wade placed his shots. All four of us formed up behind the rock. We kept with the same plan, Stock and Jackson suppressive fire with Miller and I close behind them. Stock and Jackson ran out as Miller and I took our places behind them. The guns went off in unison but nobody was hit. Stock made it to the bridge first.

“Oh my God, are you serious?” Stock screamed, so we could all hear.

Wade made both shots and the shots were perfect. Stock and Miller started to joke around about who should be the new sniper on the team and Jackson and I laughed. The mission was going surprisingly well, not including Lockhart. My stomach quenched at the thought of him again. I sat on the bridge with my legs dangling. I took out my journal and started writing again:

Surprisingly, that last journal entry was not my last and I am grateful for that. The team all landed at the suspected radius, which is good. Lockhart did not land in a safe location even though he was on point. We lost our best navigator and the team is frustrated. We are celebrating now, but when reality kicks in, I'll hear about it. We managed to take the whole bridge and the team is making preparations right now. Stock is rigging the bridge with explosives, just to be sure. That's a lot of explosives to be “just sure”. I can see Jackson with the map and compass, Lockhart's blood was on both. The blood completely made the map useless, but Jackson was trying. Our job is to keep this bridge, why do we need a map? Well I'm getting called by Miller, Jones signing out.

I took the pen and pushed it into my pouch. I stuffed the journal into my pocket and walked over to Miller. Miller was with Wade, looking over all the medical equipment he still had. Not as much as Miller wanted.

“Well we have good news and bad news,” Miller said taking a puff of his cigar, “The good news is that the invasion on the beach has just started. The bad news is that we are severely out of supplies, but we can make this work.”

He finished off his sentence confidentially, but I knew the gravity of the situation. We just needed to be ready. No more journal entries I thought.

The bridge was rigged to blow and we were set. Stock grabbed his sniper rifle from Wade and gave Wade's machine gun back to him. Wade gave him a face to show that he's better and Stock laughed. Stock walked back to the bushes where he had some cover. Jackson folded up the map and threw the compass and map into his pouch. He then walked up to where I was standing. Miller gave out where we should stay. Wade and I would be positioned on the far left behind the artillery emplacement. Miller and Jackson would be on the far right of the bridge, behind a crate. We all knew that was the best Miller could do under the circumstances. We didn't ask about it.

Around two hours passed by and no Germans were approaching the bridge. I kept thinking over that time, is this going to be this easy. It was never this easy. Wade looked over the emplacement to see if anybody was coming and he quickly ducked back down.

“German convoy, ten foot soldiers, an artillery gun, and a tank.” He stuttered as the words came out, especially on the last word.

I moved behind the emplacement and gave signals to Jackson. Jackson covered up behind the crate to tell Miller, I saw the cigar being thrown into a patch of weeds. I knew Stock had a line of sight on all of them. We knew the team had to think fast. One thing was wrong and I was the first to see it. Stock did not grab the wire that would blow up the bridge. The wire was in front of the bridge, close to Wade and I. I told Wade and he gave a look of panic. The tanks' wheels were heard, we had to fight...

Two German soldiers were the first to cross the bridge. Stock took the first shot and a German went down, the next was shot by Wade. The rest of the soldiers were not expecting the ambush and started to run across the bridge. Stock took out another one and I fired upon the crowd. I could see Miller on the other side doing the same. Everything is going good I thought, until the tank fired. The tank knew exactly where Stock was, the bush blown to pieces. I knew he was gone and I kept firing. The tank looked at Miller and Jackson and I shot at the barrel of the tank. The tank turned to Wade and I, and I ducked behind the emplacement.

“We need to move now!” I screamed, as I ran towards the back bushes.

I could hear the tank shell hit the emplacement and I jumped behind the bush. Wade was running fast behind me, but got knocked over by the blast. My head was spinning as I rose up to shoot. The bullets came out, but none hit any of the foot mobiles. I saw Wade rolling on the ground, he was hurt badly. He looked around for anybody to help and I saw his eyes meet the wire. He started to crawl towards the wire and all I could do was watch. Wade was shot inches away from picking up the wire. The tank moved up with the foot mobiles in front of it. They were all on the bridge.

I got up from the bush and got stopped in my tracks. I saw Jackson run at full force to the wire. The wire was ten feet away from him, and he jumped to it. He grabbed the wire and before he could push the button, he was shot by a German.

“No!” I screamed, as I sprayed my gun into the pack of Germans. Everyone of them took bullets and fell over. I pulled out my pistol and shot at the ones that were still standing up. I walked out to the bridge looking at my team's bodies. I felt horrible, but the adrenaline in me was pumping. I made it to the wire and picked the wire up. I pushed the button as a bullet hit my leg. I fell to the floor continuously pounding the button. Another bullet hit me and I fell face first. I dropped the wire and looked up at the tank, the barrel was aiming right at me. The bridge ignited under the tank and the tank fell into the water. The tank completely submerged under water and I knew we completed our mission. The pain was excruciating as I took my journal out of my pocket. I pulled out the pen:

My best friend is laying right next to me, why did he have to die so young.

I dropped the pen and the journal. Miller ran over to me and picked up my head as I motioned towards the journal. He picked it up and saw the pen.

“Write that this team might have been split apart,” I coughed up blood, “but we saved the lives of all the men that were about to face that convoy. I want you to remember me Sarge, I want you to remember this team, we are brothers.”

“No, don't die on me Jones, that's an order!” he held my head up.

I heard the foot steps of Allied reinforcements in the distance. I started to drift off to sleep. My vision blurred and I could not see anything. I could hear Miller screaming at someone to get a medic. I took my last breath.