This is War [ONC 2021] // Honourable Mention

Chapter Fifteen - Daniel

When the dust had settled and the gunfire had ceased, the men did their best to pick up the pieces from the battle. The group sat in their dugout. Henry nursed a small shrapnel wound to his shoulder that had been looked at by a medic, George tried to drink a cup of coffee with shaking hands, Daniel cleaned his rifle and Arthur sat on his bed, staring at the empty one across from him.

"I was going to give him his money back, mainly so I would take it from him again, but I was going to give it back," Arthur said.

"You weren't to know, Arthur," Daniel said, leaning his rifle against the wall of the dugout.

"We don't even have anything to send back. His tags, the Bible he kept in his pocket, the photographs, nothing."

"Why don't you send his family the money you won? Surely Captain Brooks knows how to contact them."

"That's a good idea. I ... I'll do that." Arthur stood up and knotted his hands together in front of him.

"I'll go and talk to him, you're too wound up. You're starting to put me on edge."

Daniel grabbed his rifle from the wall and slung it onto his shoulder when he stood up, readjusting his helmet and leaving the three of them alone in the dugout to sort through Tommy's kitbag. He couldn't stand to be in there any longer with George's constant fidgeting and Henry tying and untying the bandage around his upper arm so he wouldn't think about what had happened. Arthur's guilt was by far the hardest thing to have to deal with. There was nothing any of them could have done.

When the whistle sounded, the men instantly became separated by the smoke and the low visibility. Daniel moved forward as best he could, hiding in shell holes and firing his weapon at anyone who approached him. The excitement of battle took over any fears he may have had beforehand, once that rifle was in hand, everything felt different. His uncertainty about being able to kill vanished the first time he saw someone fall at the hand of one of his bullets. He wanted that glory, that feeling of being a hero.

He had made it back to the trenches, with Henry, Arthur and George returning not long after. Henry had been hit by a piece of a mortar shell that had torn his shirt but he refused to be evacuated to behind the line. Arthur and George both looked unhurt but none of them had seen Tommy since they left the trench. After searching the length of the front line and even asking the medics, they found someone who had seen him. Tommy had become lost amongst the smoke and debris and stumbled upon the German trench thinking it was theirs. He was presumed dead.

Arthur had been the last one to see him and blamed himself for not keeping a closer eye on him when they left the trench. There was nothing any of them could say to get him to change his mind.

"Captain Brooks, could I have a word?" Daniel asked, catching up to the Captain as he moved through the trench.

"Yes, but make it quick."

"Arthur, Private Webber, wants to send the money he won off Tommy back to his family since they won't be able to get his tags. Can we get his address, to write to him?"

"Later. I'll send my runner down with it when I get a free minute. I have to write the letters home so I'll dig up the address then." Captain Brooks continued to move through the trenches with Daniel following behind. "You did well out there, Private Morris. You made our unit proud."

"Thank you, Sir."

"Not bad for a farm boy who failed to hit a bayonet target during training. I'll see to it about that address."

Daniel nodded and watched Captain Brooks peel off towards the Officer's quarters where several of the Lieutenants and other Officers had started to gather. He turned and started to move back through the trench and towards the dugout, but he stopped for a second, accepting a cigarette and some coffee from some of the other men in the Battalion. Some of them had dirt still clinging to their uniform and others could barely lift their coffee due to the shaking in their hands.

When Captain Brooks had told him that Daniel had made the unit proud, Daniel couldn't help the pride that welled up in his chest. He had joined the army to make his father proud and he knew that if his father knew that the Captain had been proud of him, Mr Morris would never call his son a coward again. Daniel wanted to prove something to his father, to prove that he could be proud of him and that he had never been a coward. A coward would have run when the first shots were fired, but Daniel had stayed on.

He knew that the longer he stayed on the front, the harder he fought and the more battles he helped win, the prouder his father would become. Never again would he be called a coward. He'd be respected by his father, revered by his school friends and Maisie Thornton, he'd be a hero and no longer considered a boy amongst men.

"Captain Brooks is going to send a runner with Tommy's address later on tonight," Daniel said as he slipped into the dugout and sat on his bed.

"I'm going to send them the money I won, and a little something else. They should also know that their son died a hero," Arthur said.

"I expect they'll know that already."

"To tell you the truth, Daniel," George said, "I didn't think you'd still be here. I thought you'd go running at the first sound of gunshots."

"Looks like you underestimated me then." Daniel shrugged.

"The Hun's won't know what hit them with you fighting on our side. I reckon you'll be up for a promotion before the year is out."

"Father would love that."

George laughed and Daniel laid back against his bed and stared up at the roof of their dugout. He liked the idea of a promotion.

~~~

First Published - February 24th, 2021