A Company of Heroes

D-Day Part 1

Chapter 7 Part 1:

3rd June 1944 – Upottery, England – Airfield of the 506th Parachute Regiment

It had been just over a month since Donnie had been given an offer to join the Pathfinders for the 101st Airborne Division and ever since then he had been nervous and on the alert for any signs that the invasion was to begin and all soldiers were preparing their equipment for the D-Day invasion.

Donnie was visiting Easy Company in their section of the airfield and saw Joe Liebgott handing out haircuts for 15 cents he then made a mental note to get one before he left the area. He was walking towards Guarnere when soon somebody came up behind him and smacked a hand on his face of grease paint used to blacken his face out. He soon cried, "You bastard Luz" "How did you guess it was me" he said laughing his head off.

"You are the only one who would be that dumb enough" "Makes good camo" "How many paras have you done?" "A couple men why?" "We are missing one" "Who?" after Luz said that Donnie then put his hand in the paint and left a large hand print on Luz's face at which he then laughed at saying, "What goes around, comes around" "Good point" Donnie then walked away as Guarnere then said, "Loving 2 handprints on your face" "Chalk that up to Luz" Guarnere then chuckled his head off as he returned to his food.

Vest was delivering parcels and was calling out for Donnie who was nowhere to be seen he got tired of calling out until he spied Donnie over with Floyd Talbert and Joe Liebgott as Donnie was getting his haircut down to a Grade 2 and was finished just as Vest came up saying, "Murphy and Talbert parcels for ya" "Thanks Vest" both Donnie and Talbert said. "What you got in the parcel's boys, cake or condoms?" "Hell knows" "What's it say?" Joe enquired.

Floyd read his parcel inscription as it said, "Dear Floyd give 'em hell" he said, "It's from the chief of the Kokomo Police Department" "Wonder what he gave you?" Donnie said as Talbert opened it and pulled out a Colt New Service Revolver which Donnie went wide eyed at, "Holy cow, that is a cannon" "You gotta love cops. What's yours say" "Let's find out, shall we?" Donnie took the slip knife out of his pocket and cut across the taped section and opened the side of it and soon found a picture of the Murphy family and his sweetheart Betty as the others peered over his shoulder and smiled as Joe said, "Damn that's a hell of a dame Donnie" "One of a kind" "Woah is that your sister?" Ranney said. "Yeah sure is" "She's hot" "Treading on thin ice".

The other soldiers laughed as Donnie then pulled out another item and in his hands, he held a 38 Fitz special as a gift from his Dad with a note saying, "Donnie, give 'em hell this baby kept me safe on the streets of New York and Chicago, see to it that it does the same for you also do return as well" Donnie smiled holding the weapon and looking at it saying, "This baby puts a tunnel through Hitler. Pack your bags the war is over" "We gonna see the Chicago side of you come into the war" "Only side you'll see is me fighting alongside my brothers in arms" "Hell yeah" "I gotta get going" "See you over buddy" "You too fellas."

Donnie walked off carrying his package back to where the Pathfinders were at and headed to his bunk to prep his Leg bag which held his equipment, (M1 Carbine, 10 clips of ammunition, 2 frag grenades, Hawkins mine, gammon grenade, smoke grenade, TNT, his sidearm and other equipment) Donnie then took the 38. Special and taped it to the inside of his jacket only putting one bullet in the loader hoping it would be enough making sure the chamber didn't have the bullet inside it.

The wait went on for a day as Donnie had not slept nor even took a nap fearing he would miss the moment he had trained for 2 years soon enough he got told the pathfinders would drop tonight and were ordered to the planes taking them to Normandy he got attached up and placed the photo of Betty in his left upper chest pocket running a finger over the picture soon the leader of the Pathfinder stick then said, "The Channel coast is soaked in with rain and fog. High winds on the drop zone. The invasion has been postponed we are on a 24 hour stand down" "Damn"

While the rest of the men went to go and see a movie that was playing Donnie was sitting in his bunk looking up at the tent ceiling and tried to sleep but couldn't he then got off his bunk and stood outside looking up at the sky as he then pulled out the revolver and started to clean the weapon making sure it did not jam when he fired it seeing that it was properly cleaned he then returned to his bunk and went to sleep thinking about tomorrow.

The next afternoon which was early evening as they found out all the Pathfinders present then got attached to their gear and prepared for the biggest invasion in history the doctors then passed around air sickness pills after he had taken the pill.

The CO then wished every man good luck and then started to get everybody into the planes ready which happened at 1930 hours. Donnie then made a mental note to pray for every man in Easy Company and for his brother in the Pacific.

He had found a seat next a paratrooper named Danny who had reminded him of his brother. That had got him thinking of his family and how they would be doing knowing Donnie was taking part of the liberating the world from oppression and hell he may have a reputation in Canaryville when he returned home from the war too. The last letter he had gotten from Eric said he was taking R & R in the pacific after spending long months sifting through hell and back but he wasn't relenting in his duties as Marine Gunnery Sargent.

Murphy was pulled from his thoughts and looked at his hands as the plane started shaking and jolting around he didn't hear the planes as he so wrapped in his thoughts he then walked to the front of the plane and took a look out at the sea seeing hundreds of Allied ships moving towards the Normandy coast as he smiled as he thought, "The Invasion getting underway soon" he then pulled out his photo of Betty and looked down at the ring that was now attached to his Dog tags smiled praying for his sweetheart that she would be praying every night for him and his brothers in arms.

Donnie soon started to panic as his breathing got heavy and fast, his heart literally pumping twice the rate he soon returned to his seat and knew that the air sickness pills were not making him sick it was fear.