I was one of five women chosen to serve our country, fighting side by side with the men, and only some of us had come home. Being surrounded by friends and enemies, having to choose who you can save, who you can love, and how to survive is something...
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We were ordered to move out of the farmhouse sitting just beyond the fields of Brecourt Manor towards Saint-Come-du-Mont, where we would be resupplied and given new orders from Lieutenant Colonel Robert Ballard. We would have to travel through Vierville to reach our destination and as we marched on, more and more of our men joined the fray.
The men rejoining us, who were dropped all across the peninsula, shared their horror stories of being outnumbered and surrounded by the enemy. While each story was slightly different, the men admitted they hoped to find friendly faces, to travel together until it would eventually lead to their proper units.
With the addition of more familiar uniforms falling in line, my heart raced as I hoped Webster would be one of those men but so far, he wasn't accounted for. The last words he last spoke to me echoed in my memory.
"I'll find you!"
I was so lost in my own mind, worrying about Webster and reminiscing over everything that happened in the past twenty-four hours, I didn't hear Bull Randleman approach me until he spoke beside me. "How are you holding up, Em?"
I blinked out of my trance to look up at him. His usual stern-looking expression held a soft gaze as he watched me with his gentle blue eyes. I could even see the hint of a reassuring smile on his lips after he removed the stub of the cigar he always seemed to have from between them. I turned my gaze back to the path before me. "I'm okay. How are you?"
"I'm fine, thanks for askin'," he said before placing the cigar back in his mouth, his teeth clenched down around it to keep it from falling out. I spotted the puffs of smoke billow past his head briefly. As my mouth opened to ask another polite question, Bull interrupted me. "How are you really holdin' up?" he asked, concern apparent behind his gaze.
I side-glanced up at him, trying to avoid looking directly at him. I knew if I held his stare, I'd most likely collapse into a ball of tears - and that was the last thing he needed. I answered somewhat honestly, "I'm not sure...I guess I'm just worried."
He nodded. "That's to be expected."
"Is it?" I asked, blowing a heavy sigh from my lips. "I mean, I'm not really worried about myself but everyone else."
"It is."
"I keep thinking about the girls and the men we haven't found yet..." my gaze lifted away from my boots to look him in the eye. I asked with a soft voice, "Do you think they're okay?"
Bull removed his cigar in his mouth again, allowing the smoke to billow out as he spoke. "They'll be all right, Em. Just like you." He gave me a wink and another reassuring nod before he walked ahead to rejoin his friends. I hoped he was right but I wasn't convinced. He left me wondering how one could be so confident in the midst of a war.
Before I had a chance to linger on the thought, gunfire pierced through the air, snapping overhead. There were sounds I didn't recognize immediately but it didn't take me long to place it - branches were sawed off with horrendous cracks as the bullets blew them off of the trees. Someone down the line shouted the order, "Find some cover!"
