You'll Only Know Peace

Chapter 1

July 1942

Elaine sat quietly on the train to Camp Toccoa, the rhythmic clatter of the wheels beneath her mixing with the distant hum of conversations from other passengers. Her long and light brown hair was tied neatly into a low bun. Usually, her soft curls fell gently down her shoulders, and she knew she would miss the feeling of the blowing wind in it. She absently stroked the tight braid at the nape of her neck, her eyes fixed on the endless patchwork of fields that blurred past the window. In her hands she held a letter from home. With a deep sigh, her brown eyes slowly wandered down to it.

Our dearest Lainey, she mouthed quietly as she read the first words. It was a letter from her parents. Only her brother used to call her that name, and she hated when they used it. That name made her feel vulnerable; soft. And from now on, she would have to make sure to not let those feelings get a hold of her. From now on, she had to remain strong, and that's the one thing she always knew how to do. She got back to the letter her dad sneaked into the pocket of her jacket before she got on the train.

"We couldn't be prouder that you've chosen this path. Your courage to accept the army's call fills us with pride, even if it's tinged with the fear that any parent would feel. I know your mom is proud too, you just have to get her a bit of time. She is just worried, dear. She wouldn't survive losing you too."

Elaine sighed softly and kept on reading.

"Every time she prays, she is asking that you're gonna be protected. I know your decision was not a lighthearted one, and I am once again more than impressed about what a strong soul you have become. Always keep your head held high and remember all the things I taught you, my dear. You've always been the strongest.

Breathe in, count, continue.
We love you the most,

Mom, Dad and Ruby.

P.S: Ruby says that when she grows up, she wants to join the army too. Let's hope your courage won't make both my daughters wear weapons."

Elaine chuckled slightly as she read the last sentence. Her thoughts wandered back home to Wilmington, Delaware. Her sister Ruby always looked up to her. I hope that too, dad, she whispered while folding the letter and putting it back into her pocket.

As thoughts of home crept in, a wave of grief welled up within her, a familiar ache that reminded her of all she was leaving behind. She shook her head and quickly recalled what was laying in front of her. Damn program, she thought.

As the army became more involved in the war, they began recruiting women for jobs like nurses, mechanics, pigeoneers... basically everything where they wouldn't have to fight. The pay was good, and her family needed it - she grew up in a household deeply affected by the great depression. They never had much money, and as much as her parents were trying to give her the love she deserved, they couldn't. Elaine's childhood had been marked by a profound loss, one that shaped every decision she made. She had a twin brother, Johnny, who was her closest companion in their early years. They were inseparable, two halves of the same soul, until illness struck them both when they were just fourteen. Their parents, already struggling to make ends meet, couldn't afford the best treatment. Johnny, always the quieter and frailer of the two, succumbed to the sickness. He was too weak to make it; she wasn't. The memory still haunted her, a silent reminder of the fragility of life and the reason she had to learn how to be strong – to survive when others couldn't.

In the years that followed, Elaine carried the weight of her parents' grief in silence. Every glance they cast her way seemed to carry a mix of sorrow and longing, as if they were searching for the son they had lost in the daughter that remained. Her father, a stern man shaped by his own experiences serving in the First World War, became even more rigid. It was as though he was preparing her for a battle; one that neither of them knew was coming. He pushed her to be strong, to be resilient—to survive at all costs. And so she did, because she had to. But the scars of those years lingered, hidden beneath the surface, driving her to find a purpose that would make sense of all the pain.

At sixteen, driven by a need to escape the shadows of her past and a desire to make her parents proud, she joined the Army nurse program. It was her way of finding purpose in a world that had so often felt purposeless.

Only a few months after joining the program, she received a letter from the army. She would be transferred to the 506th PIR. She would be joining the Airborne.

———

"The Airborne?", one of her friends in the program asked. "Why would they send you there?". "What even is the Airborne?", another nurse asked. Elaine stared at the neatly folded letter in her trembling hands, feeling the weight of the words pressing down on her. "I don't know", she whispered as she continued scanning over it. "It says, and I quote, due to the lack of medical forces, the u.s. army had to resort to spare units, just like the nurse program, to fill out any missing recruitments. We are honored to announce that you have been chosen to integrate into this new path of making your country proud." Elaine swallowed and looked up to the other nurses again. Audrey, who grew to be her best friend, walked over to them and waved with something in her hand. "I got one too", she said casually as she approached. Elaine watched her in disbelief and concern, but Audrey just shrugged her shoulders.

"It's an experiment", Audrey scoffed. "They're training them as paratroopers. I read about it; the training is said to be harder than any other one in the army. They want to build the most elite unit... they want them to be the best... basically", she began to explain.

Elaine still looked at her in disbelief. "They must've mistaken us", she said quietly. Another nurse stood up. "Most elite? The best? And they can't even find themselves some medics?", she mocked. The room filled with quiet chuckles. Audrey, sensing Elaine's turmoil, walked up to her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lacy", she spoke quietly - most of her friends addressed her by her second name. "What are you gonna do?" Elaine looked up to her friend. "I don't know."

———

Now, just weeks after receiving that letter, she found herself on a train bound for a future she hadn't imagined. Was she ready to step into a world so far away from the one she had known? A world where the stakes were life and death, not just for her patients, but for herself as well? Determined to prove herself, Elaine braced for the grueling training ahead. She wanted – she needed – to succeed, yet beneath her resolve, a gnawing fear took root, whispering of the unknown challenges she was about to face.

A woman in the army?, she thought, and her breath hitched. After all, she was still only a seventeen-year-old girl. The sound of people rushing through the train tore her from her thoughts. Lost in her reverie, she almost didn't notice the landscape shifting outside the window. But as the train began to slow, the sight of Toccoa's small station pulled her back to reality – it was time.