CHICK wrote:Move along fellas, my tata's are covered!
They sure as hell weren't on the beach that one night. I remember it only too vividly...
It was late -- warm, I remember. Must've been summer. The sky was clear: deep blue, moonless, with so many stars. The troop carriers had just landed and we stormed the shoreline, looking for cover anywhere we could find it.
We were taking heavy fire from the krauts and having trouble moving forward so the engineers could plant their explosives at the doorway and the wall; all around me I heard cries of "MEDIC!" -- I did what I could with my mauser, trying to silence the hail of enemy fire. They were standing on top of the bunker, jumping onto the wall to lob grenades and then jumping back down, running this way and that... taunting us. They seemed invincible, and deadly, weirdly accurate.
I took a hit, a bad one. I fell backwards; All I could do is lay there, try to get up, reach a hand forward, fall back. I feebly join the chorus: Medic! Medic! You ran to me, dropped your medipack and patched me up -- You worked so quickly; one moment I was lying there, the next I felt good as new, ready to fight and support our brothers as they blasted their way up the beach. But you grabbed me from behind, pulling me down into the soft, sandy soil.
"Don't go!" You cried; your eyes looked scared; weary, longing. You tugged at my coat, pulling me close to you.
"But..." I stammered, "I have to! We have to fight! We have a mission, we must get to the documents!" I looked back over my shoulder, and watched one of our boys explode in a sickening shower of red as a Nazi grenade found its mark. I winced and looked back at you.
"Please... Please," the tears ran freely down your face, "I won't, I can't! Let's stay here, wait until they've cleared the beach, stay safe with me!" You hugged me close, in a panic, clinging against my body. In a moment as we tangled for position, me wanting to rejoin the fight and you desperately trying to get me to stay, you pinned me on my back, and for an instant, our noses touched, and our eyes met.
The sounds of gunfire, death and torture fell away. The blood rose hot in my cheeks and ears, and my chest pounded from within. I became aware of the water lapping gently at the shore's edge.
Almost... peacefully.