The Old Breed

Chapter 48

Machinato, Okinawa

May 3rd, 1945

"Where the hell's Bear?"

I looked at Sergeant Nelson, couldn't fight the image of Bear's twisted body lying on the ground in front of me, his eyes, devoid of life. The sergeant looked frustrated, could not know that another Gloucester veteran was gone, dead in the blink of an eye. Nelson glanced around the intersection of the trails, where we had once again met up, tapped nervously on the stock of his rifle.

"He's gone, Sarge. Christ, Bear's gone." Rocky answered, his hands still shaking, a quiver in his voice.

"Gone? Where the hell has he gone to?" Nelson sounded serious, as if he really didn't understand that Bear was dead. Maybe he was refusing to believe it. But he would have to. Bear wasn't coming back.

"He's dead, Sarge. We saw it with our own eyes. I... I got his dog tags." I answered now, my voice also shaky, scared. I held out the two oblong metal dog tags, his identification. Nelson took a long look at the tags, shivered slightly. "The body?"

"We had to leave it. He was too heavy for us to carry, and when Lanky threw a grenade to kill the yellow bastard, all the Japs on this ridge knew our position. It would have been too risky to move him."

"Once we get this ravine cleared up, the mortuary guys will get him. Look at me, Bishop. Deep breaths. The fight isn't over. We need to get back to our boys. We're spread too thin out here. The Japs could surround us, crush us. We fall back on my lead, got it?"

We nodded, Nelson turning, moving quickly back down the original path, staying low to avoid the incoming fire. We followed, Dgaf ending up in front of me, Kuhr behind. Kuhr was breathing loudly through his nostrils, fear, and I was suddenly angry, wanted to tell him to shut the hell up. Stop breathing if you have to, but stop the damn noise. I took a deep breath to calm myself down, knew that I was just as scared as him, had done the same my first few times in combat. As we got closer to our own Marines, the volume of noise increased, our boys spraying the opposite ridge, trying to keep the Japs' heads down as much as they were keeping ours. We turned a corner around one large rock, came upon a Marine lying in a low ditch just off the path, facing the opposite ridge, his upper body flanked by two fat rocks, his rifle set between two smaller stones. His legs extended out onto the path we were on, but he didn't notice us, fired off a clip towards the enemy. He ejected the cartridge and reached to grab another one off his belt, his face turning towards us, his eyes widening, an involuntary yelp. He quickly regained his composure, said sheepishly, "Jesus, you scared the hell outta me. Thought you were the Japs."

Sergeant Nelson pointed up the path, asked quickly, "Where's the officers?"

The Marine motioned with his head towards the path also. "A temporary command post has been set up a few curves down this path. Nestled between some boulders. Shouldn't miss it. 1st Platoon, right? Your lieutenant's there. See if there's extra ammo there for me, willya? Running a little low."

"Will do, Private. 1st Squad, let's move." The sergeant began walking again, back up the path, and I was unsure if we'd come back here, give this Marine the ammunition he wanted. I shrugged internally, couldn't care what we did. I just follow Nelson. If he tells me to do something, I'll do it.

The Marine's instructions were correct, not that I expected them not to be, but as we rounded one corner, we found the small command post, not much for its title. It was a small clearing, the slope of the ridge we were on making up the back wall while a six foot boulder made up the front wall, blocking the murderous fire the Nips were throwing at us. Two paths connected to the clearing, the one we were on and one on the far side, running against the steep slope. Against the far wall were a few ammo containers and a big blocky radio. Someone crouched besides the radio, facing away from me, yelling into the phone, and I recognized the voice, the bulky figure, Brand.