A Soldier of No Importance [ Band of Brothers ] 1

FORTY SIX

This chapter is dedicated to my Uncle Mike, who was a Staff Sergeant and Radioman for a C-47 Skytrain with the 316th Troop Carrier Group, dropping paratroopers near St-Mere-Eglise on D-Day. Miss you.

June 6, 1944

Normandy, France

The Day of Days started out as a terrifically horrifying Night of Nights. The first hour or so had been calm, with only the racket of the plane making noise. The men around her had stilled. But a few hours into the flight, the Germans made themselves known.

Explosions rocked the plane. Alice felt her heart leap into her throat when she glanced out through the doorway and saw the sky painted in sunset colors of red, yellow, and dark blue. But the colors weren't from a setting sun, they were anti-aircraft weapons, flaming C-47s, and clouds of smoke. They didn't hear screams; the cacophony of war drowned out any human noise from their plane or another's.

The flying became erratic. The pilots and radiomen did admiral jobs dodging weapons fire, but so much of it filled the sky that it became almost impossible to navigate. And even if they dodged the missiles, they had to contend with exploding C-47 ripping apart in flames around them. Alice couldn't keep her eyes off the door to the sky.

Harry nudged her. They locked eyes, looking out from beneath their helmets at the other. She nodded. He nodded back. His smirk calmed her nerves ever so slightly. They'd trained for this. They knew what to do. Nothing could stop her from saving France.

And if she did die before hitting the ground, at least she'd die over her home.

Suddenly the light came on. Harry and Alice led the way in standing up. But as they stood, hooked up, an explosion clipped the side of the plane. Something scraped across her face, but behind her, they heard a man shout in agony.

Alice couldn't see who it was, but Harry carefully maneuvered back to where Spina and another man stood comforting the wounded soldier. Then without ceremony, the light turned green.

At the front of the line, Alice stood in the doorway. Again, she looked out at the strange horrific beauty of the early morning sky, painted by red and yellow flames. With a deep breath, Alice gripped the metal sides of the doorway. The next step: make it to the ground. She leapt.

One thousand.

Two thousand.

Three thousand.

Four thousand.

The jerk of her chute coming loose did nothing to distract her from taking a moment to look around in the sky. She saw a plane burning below her. Another one cracked in half above. She turned back to the present and began maneuvering the chute to try to avoid a body of water that grew rapidly near her. She missed the water, but she didn't fully miss a tree.

Her chute ripped as it caught in the branches. Falling near the ground, Alice pulled out her trench knife and sawed through her harness. It took a few minutes, but finally she pushed herself free and dropped the remaining foot to the ground. Darkness covered the world around her. She could hear machine gun pulses, but they sounded far enough away not to be trouble. Like a heartbeat, the pounding of 88s rang in the distance.

Looking around her, she realized her leg bag had gone missing. She thanked God that she'd only put a few things in there, as she hadn't wanted weight on anything not directly near her upper body; she was strong, but she didn't want to test her muscles that much. Alice double checked the rest of her equipment while crouched in some bushes. With a readied rifle, she gave a quick nod to herself.