Wednesday, May 31, 2023

        The wet, snowy forest had a gloomy feeling about it. The engine of the CCKW roared as my heart pounded--I was filled with fear. It was cold, not like my home where the warm feeling of the sun shone without question. My hands shivered like a dog's tail wagging widely. I tried to keep them warm; at least I had dry socks on my feet. Abruptly, the truck stopped, and it made me lurch forward right into Joey. 

        “Hey, watch it,” shouted Joey. 

        “Sorry,” I responded.

        “You better be because the butt of your rifle left a mark on my back!” Joey snapped.

        Lutant Wallace came into view behind the truck. “Okay men, let's go! What are you people sitting around for?” he yelled.  “Start digging fox holes!” 

        I jumped out of the back of the CCKW, my feet making the snow crunch. I ran over to the tree for cover. I was terrified knowing the Germans could be anywhere. I took my shovel and started to dig into the frozen ground. Joey came over, his rifle at the ready. Robert, part of my fireteam, began to dig with me. We had known each other since boot camp. Robert always went by the textbook, but Joey was more of a trouble maker.

        We dug for hours, removing only a half a foot of snow and dirt. The cold had gotten worse as the day faded and the night began. 

        “Robert, do you think it's deep enough?” I shouted over the wind. 

        “No, we need a few more inches.”

        “Like how many?” I asked. 

        “Maybe… two or three.” We dug long into the night.

        “Robert, I think we're deep enough,” 

        “I agree,” he responded. Robert and I settled down in our hole while Joey watched for the Germans.

        I woke in the middle of the night; Joey was seated above me.

        “Hey, it’s your turn to watch,” he told me. 

        So I got out of the fox hole and sat by a tree as Joey took my spot. I gazed out into the vast forest. It was dark and would make no difference if I watched or not. This thought made my mind race; what if we get attacked and I don’t know it because I can't see? My heart raced like a horse filled with fear of the wip. I slapped myself on my face and said, “Snap out of it.” 

        For the next few hours, I sat there in the quiet darkness and filled with fear.

        As the night grew old, I heard something. There were little pops that filled the dark air. It took me a second to realize what it was--gunshots! I immediately woke Robert and Joey. 

        “Guys! Wake-up, gunshots!” I whispered loudly. They sprang up. 

        “David, Joey, listen up!” Robert said, “Go tell the Lieutenant about the gun shots.” I grabbed my M1 off my shoulder, loaded the chamber, and scrambled to the officers’ tent as fast as I could.

        As I came to the outside of the tent, a little light shone on the inside that made shadows as the officers moved around. I pushed the tent flaps open. The officers stopped and stared. I froze. I felt tiny. Suddenly, I felt a jostle on my back, and I fell forward, barely catching myself. I pushed myself up to turn around and found Joey standing there. I shook my head at him.

        “The butt of your rifle left a mark on my back,” I remarked.

        “Attention!” an officer demanded. I immediately turned and stood there as straight as I could. Now I could see who was talking; he was wearing a green army uniform and a campaign hat with the markings of a major.

        “What do you think you're doing, privates?” as he walked towards us.

        “We heard gunshots, Sir,”  Joey proclaimed.

        “That's interesting. We’re at war, soldiers, you might hear a few gunshots!” he shouted. As soon as he said that, I heard a boom--an immense boom. This was much closer than the previous gunshots.The major said, “What you all standin’ around for? Set up a perimeter.”

        “Yes sir,” I responded. 

        “Dismissed,” the major told us. I turned and left the tent. As soon as I got outside, I immediately ran to my fireteams foxhole. 

        Once there, I told Robert the orders that the major had given us. 

        “Well thanks, David! But, I can’t do anything with these orders. It's not my job, it's the Lieutenant’s. You did what you could, David. Notify the officers.” 

         Joey came running back, panting. “How are you so fast, David?” Joey asked.

        “Joey! David! I decided to have us wait here for orders.” So we all hunkered down in the fox hole. The explosions of the guns got closer. The sun started to expose itself through the trees. The gun fire continued and got closer every minute, and every minute fear kept creeping into my head. 

        The guns were so close now, and I felt the presence of the German army. My heart pounded like a cheetah. I saw something in the distance. It was people running around, taking cover behind trees. I couldn't see who they were or which side they were on. I pulled out my binos; I looked through them, and I saw a patch on the soldiers’ arms. It was a swastika. It struck fear in my heart. They ran around, taking positions about the trees.

        Then there was silence. I could hear the wind howling as the trees swayed in dismay. We waited and waited for what felt like forever…until the first boom, and just like that there was a barrage of bullets. They made wizzing sounds as they flew through the air. I was truly afraid. I turned and ran. I couldn't stay there any longer.  As I trudged through the thick heavy snow my boots filled snow with every step. I just kept running for miles and miles and didn’t stop until a while later.

        It was mid-day, and I couldn’t run any more. I looked around and found a log to sit on, but I did not know where I was, so I sat on that log and thought, I'm at least safe for now. I took off my boots and dumped the snow out. I took off my socks. My feet were blue from the frigid snow. 

        I took off my pack and grabbed a new pair of socks, a towel, and medical tape. I dried my feet, put on my socks and boots, and then wrapped the top of my boots in medical tape to keep out the snow. As I did this, I thought, What about my friends? Are they still safe or are they hurt? I must go back, but I can't, what if I die. Everything told me to go back, but I couldn't do it--my body wouldn't do it. I fought this battle in my head. It just kept on going until I just stood up and started to follow my tracks back to the Battle of the Bulge. 

        I had gone at least half-way back to the battle, maybe more, when I heard gun fire. Everything told me to run away, but I kept going toward my friends.The closer I got, the more I wanted to turn around. 

        I could see flashes now through the trees, and I could make out shapes in the distance. I started to sprint to the battle, and I held my gun at the ready, aiming toward those flashes and shapes.The wind blew a cold strong gust on my face. I could see what was happening now. Both armies were blowing each other with bullets. The white pure snow was stained by the blood of Americans and Germans alike. I stood in horror as I watched this happen. I heard footsteps crunching in the snow: I raised my rifle and looked around for what made the sound.

        “Show yourself or I'll drop you!” I yelled. Out from behind a tree, the head of a German popped out. He looked like a kid, maybe 16 or 17 years old. I moved my rifle to signal him to come out from behind the tree and turn around. I put my gun on his back and marched him down to the American camp. I weaved through the bullets and grenades until I came across the prisoners and the guards.

        “Can I leave him with you?” I asked the men guarding the prisoners.

        “Yeah. We can guard him for you,” one of them responded.

        “Thanks,” I said. Then I went to go find Joey and Robert in the woods. Soldiers were running this way and that as I looked for my friends. 

        As the day turned darker, the Germans retreated, and the battle ended with the Americans holding the camp. I walked around as the wounded were carried off the battleground on stretchers, their eyes filled with pain and clothes stained with crimson red blood. 

        I found an officer who was doing a head count. I went up and asked him, “Have you seen a Joey or a Robert?”

        “Let me check for you.” He flipped through his papers on the clipboard. “Sorry son, they're marked down as MIA,” he told me and walked away.


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        Now I’m old. I sit and think about my life and tell these stories to my family. To this day, I still wonder where Joey and Robert got off to. For the rest of the war, I fought on like any other soldier would, courageously in battle and not running from my fears. 

        Ding dong. The doorbell chimed, interrupting my daydream.

        “Hey, Billy. Can you get the door for your grandpa?”

        “Sure, Grandpa,'' Billy responded. He ran to the door, his bare feet patting on the wood floors. The door clicked open. I heard a familiar voice.

        “The butt of your rifle left a mark on my back.”




-Christian H.




5 comments:

  1. From Lucas S:

    What a cool story, Christian! I love how the story has the same line at the end and near the start. Quite cheeky. I think the Central Idea is: face your fears. The text says, "Then I went into the woods."

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  2. The historical allusions that required me to perform a quick search were the CCKW and the Swastika. I also did a quick search to find the meaning of the Battle of the Bulge. All these allusions helped me understand the context in which this story takes place.

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  3. I like how you used similes. One of the similes that I liked was, “My heart raced like a horse filled with fear of the wip.”

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  4. Christian, your story was amazing! it took place in World War II doesn't it it and that the main idea is that to face your fears and that the quote is fought on like any other soldier would, courageously in battle and not running from my fears. And that you could use this by if your afraid or scared and to not run away from this story

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  5. I like how the topic is shown it has a lot of strong words that I know. you did a great job writing this
    with your adverbs, there are a lot of good ones

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