War Stories

Kent

Kent unclipped the clasp holding his secondary weapon in its holster. He grabbed the sand-covered grip, and pulled his M1911 from its home at his side, and held it, barrel towards the dimly lit sky. He grabbed the pull, and yanked it down, making a crisp click as the .20 caliber bullet was chambered. He pushed off the ground with his feet and started sprinting as fast as he ever could. He ran from where he was hiding behind a large metal 'x', across the shore. He didn't know where he was running, he just wanted to get away from the dead man that lay behind him.

He was so preoccupied with his own concentration that he didn't even realize that he had fallen. He placed his foot down, but there wasn't sand there for it to hit. His balance was thrown off and he fell into a rather large crater. He hit the ground hard for the third time, this time on his right. The right side of his face was soaked in something thick and wet. He moved to get up, but something in his gut told him to stay put. He looked down at whatever he was sitting in. It was dark red, and he estimated it to be almost a foot deep. It smelled like iron.

Kent almost lost his gut at the moment that realization hit him. He gagged, and covered his mouth. He stood up to get out of the pool. Then he heard a sharp whistle from somewhere behind him. He turned around to look over the edge of the crater, and he saw that a small group of American soldiers were making a push. Kent made a fast decision that was probably not his smartest. He chose to join the push.

The gunfire swerved towards the rapidly advancing target. The soldiers around him started falling. He continued sprinting as hard as he could towards the flood wall where he would have cover. He focussed on getting to that flood wall like it was the most important thing, which it was. He pushed himself to go faster, urging himself forward. The now slick rubber of his boot slipped again, and he flew forward, his pistol flying farther than himself.

He rushed to get up, but someone running past stepped on his hand. He yelled out in pain, pulling his hand close to him. He couldn't waste anymore time, he had to get to the flood wall. Staggering, he got to his feet, tripping over himself as he ran. He dodged to the left as an explosion went off somewhere to his right. He nearly fell when he finally made it to the wall, weaponless and beaten.

He dropped, leaning against the sandy wall, stretching his fingers, trying to ignore the pain in his left arm. Trying to block out the rapid gunfire. He quickly glanced around at the advancing American soldiers. There were several LCVPs that lay idle on the shore, filled to the brim with corpses. Countless weapons were scattered around the beach, lying forgotten and unused. At least half of the remaining men were leaning, like Kent, on the wall, waiting for orders.

'Orders' Kent thought, 'I had orders'

He looked around at his comrades. Then he yelled, "Pull together, into formation, we need to get through the razor wire on those staircases!" The men reacted almost instantly, relieved that they were being commanded. They stacked up against the flood wall, near one of the sand covered stone staircases. Kent ushered a boy that held a long Wire Buster bomb forward. Kent tapped the man in front of him. The man turned around to face him.

"Mind giving me your pistol?" yelled Kent over the deafening gunfire. The man shifted his rifle into his other hand and unclipped the pistol, and handed it to Kent. He grasped the hilt, and was surprised when the weapon weighed more than he expected. It was an Enfield No. 2, 6mm revolver. He took it, balanced in his hands, and pulled the hammer back. It was double action, meaning it was slow. Kent then realized that the boy had made it to the wire and was now safely behind cover again.

"Alright soldiers," Kent ordered, "On my go, we rush to the artillery bunker! Three! Two! One! Go!" The boy that had set the bomb hit the detonator. The barbed wire exploded, sending shrapnel everywhere. The small group huddled around the stairs charged up, gunsmoke raising from their weapons as they fired at the German infantry in the way. Kent charged up behind them, His weapon at the ready.