A Fallen Hero

The Opening

I could feel my heart heavily pounding inside my chest as I dashed across the lush, green meadow to meet up with my squad. The year is 1944. It is Operation Market Garden, British General Montegomery’s plan to end the war by Christmas. My name is Boyd Patterson and I am a corporal attached to the 101st Airborne Division or “The Screaming Eagles”. Just a few minutes ago I was sitting inside a C-47, waiting for the green light to flash, when anti-aircraft fire began to fill the air. Suddenly, our plane was hit and the red light lit up. Our sergeant screamed “Stand up! Hook up!” There was no time for roll call. I was the first one to jump out of the plane. As I leaped out of the aircraft, I saw hundreds of parachutes gently floating to the ground. When everyone was out of our aircraft, the C-47 burst into flames. Now, I am sprinting through the meadows of the Netherlands trying to reach my squad. When I finally reached them, they were in a firefight. I dove behind a tree to catch my breath. Sergeant informed us that we were 20 miles south of our objective, Nijmegan Bridge. I brought up my Thompson sub-machine gun, sprayed the area with bullets, and two Germans collapsed. “Charge!”, shouted Sergeant. We rushed up the hill to the mill with the MG42’s firing upon us. The private beside me was shot in the head. “Watch out, sniper in the building!”, I screamed. When we made it to the top, there were about eleven casualties and we only had eight soldiers left. One of the casualties was Sarge and now I was left to command what was left of us. “Two of you, go and scout ahead to see what we are up against. And guys, don’t get yourselves killed, I need you all alive if we are going to survive.” The two took of running and the rest were with me. “What do we do now?”, a private asked. “We wait for Nickels and Johnson to get back”, I said. Just then, here was a rumbling sound coming from the hedgerows. “Tank, take cover!”, I heard someone shout. “Fall back, move it!”, I screamed. We ran in the direction of Nickels and Johnson to try to find them before they got themselves killed. When we finally found them they were a half-a-mile down the main road. Luckily, the Germans abandoned the road when some of our boys chased after them. We cut through some of the openings in the hedgerows and came upon a squad. We were lucky to find them because we only had a few people left. The first day was tough but I can tell it will only get more brutal because sooner or later, we have to take Nijmegan bridge and back up the British holding out as best as they could at Arnhem.


Resistance

When we found the squad there were eight people in total. We made our way to a small little town that was said to be completely destroyed. Our objective was to mob up any German resistance still holding out in the area. Sergeant Dane was the leader of the squad we had just met. Just then, a German armored column came up down the road. Dane commanded us to get of the road and take cover in a ditch. There was one Tiger Tank in front and four supply trucks in back. None of us had an anti tank weapon so we had no chance of destroying them. After the armored column was gone, we continued up the road. When we got to the town, there was already a squad there under heavy fire. “I thought there were only supposed to be a few remaining German resistance!”, I screamed to Sergeant Dane. “I guess our intelligence was wrong, as usual”, he replied. Then he cussed silently under his breath. Dane ordered the command to fire and maneuver. I fired my Thompson and a German fell to the ground. I ran to a decimated house and jumped inside a window. I sprinted upstairs to provide cover fire so our men could move up. I found a ladder and climbed up onto the roof. I found a dead German with a sniper rifle near his body. I picked it up and intended to use it against the Germans. I lye prone on the roof and picked of a German. He never even had a chance to fire his weapon. Then, I focused on the MG positions. I had my sights on a German helmet when a bullet flew right past me. I took cover on the other side of the roof. It started raining so the roof began to get slippery. I took of my helmet and put it on a stick. I carefully lifted it up and a bullet hit it and knocked the helmet of the stick. It fell of the roof. That just gave away his position. I lined up my sights and fired the weapon. I never bothered us again. When I looked down from the roof, our men had already cleared up the Germans. I climbed down the ladder and down the steps, picked up my helmet and continued with my squad.

Hill 258

After we cleared up the town, we moved up and came upon a hill. “Intelligence says that there is heavy enemy activity in this area this hill, it can ruin the whole operation” explained Sergeant Dane. We followed him up the hill. There were countless trees in the area, and if artillery hit here, all of us would be killed by splinters. We came upon a tank and luckily, the squad we met in the town had a bazooka. We all took cover behind the trees and the private fired his weapon. Boom!, the tank exploded. I grabbed my Thompson and ordered my squad to move forty meters on the other side of the hill to secure that flank. There was no enemy activity going on so they must have moved to the action for reinforcements. I carefully moved up the hill and I saw Germans getting ready to fire on the hill. We had to destroy them or Sergeant Dane would be killed, along with his squad. I told my squad to cover me on my signal. “O.k. men, cover fire!” They started firing upon the German soldiers and about half of them went down. They had no idea what had hit them. I took cover behind a supply truck. I threw a grenade near an artillery gun. It exploded. “ One down, own to go”, I whispered to myself. I found another one that was getting ready to fire upon Nijmegan Bridge. I looked of north side of the hill. There, still standing, was the bridge. I quickly took my Thompson and sprayed the gun with bullets. None of the crew was left. I pulled out a Comp-B from my satchel and ran away as fast as I could. Boom!, it exploded. When I got back, the hill was secure. Our job was done here in Nijmegan. Without taking this hill, the operation would fail.


Briefing

After Operation Market Garden, which ended in disaster, I was promoted into the OSS. There was a dangerous mission that had to be done before Operation Varsity could take place. I had to parachute into enemy territory in Kiel. Intelligence says there is a factory outside of the city in a forest. If Intelligence is correct, the factory is manufacturing experimental German jet aircraft. This could threaten the whole operation. I will not be jumping alone though. Along with me will be William Crowe, a corporal that was an experienced demolition expert , and Peter Travers, a private. I could tell that all of us will be pushed to our limits in this top secret mission.

A Leap of Faith

It was 5:00 a.m. when we just got over the German border. We were surprised that there was no anti aircraft fire. “You guys know our mission right”, I questioned. “We are to land outside of Kiel in a forest. Then we are to proceed to the factory and take out all the experimental aircraft”. “Yes sir”, replied Travers. “Do you know the name of the forest?”, Crowe asked. “No, I was not given the name of the forest”. Everything after that was silent. Around 5:45 anti aircraft fire filled the sky. I looked outside the window and the right engine was out. “Jimmy, right engine is out!”, I screamed to the pilot. Just then the red light lit up. “Stand up! Hook up! Role call!” “One O.K. Two O.K. Then the green light lit up. “Go, go, go!, I screamed. After they were out it was my turn. I took my leap of faith and jumped out the C-47. Around me I saw the city of Kiel and the forest, but not the factory. When I landed I saw Crowe and Travers already up. “Lets go!”, I said We made our way threw the first part of the forest when we came upon a road. Since I had no map of the place, we decided to follow it thinking it would take us to the factory. I could tell that this operation was going to take some time.

Fall Back

When we followed the road, we came upon a smoking pile of wood and concrete. The factory was destroyed and we had no idea where the Germans took the jet aircraft. “Travers, radio to headquarters. The operation is a failure. The Germans took the planes and high-tailed them out of here. They must have been warned”, I told Travers. “What now?”, asked Crowe. “We fall back, that’s what we do”. Just then, I heard the rumble of Panzers, Me 109’s, and FW 109’s. “Fall back!” I screamed. There was a massive attack coming from our left flank and tanks coming in from our right. We started sprinting to the forest to try to lose them there. All of a sudden a heard a loud scream then a gurgling noise. It was Crowe. I could tell that the Germans had snipers in the trees. Half of Crowe’s face was torn off because of the round. I explained to Travers to run in zig zags because they had snipers. When we finally got to the forest we didn’t stop. Travers and I had until 4:00 tonight to get the **** out of here to our extraction point. The panzers were firing into the forest now and was throwing splinters from the trees that was capable of going right through us. Just then, I saw Travers on the ground.

The Extraction

I quickly picked up Travers, who was badly injured and could barely speak. It was about 10:35 when we finally got out of the forest. During our journey through the forest, I had to put Travers down sometimes just to fire back. We finally lost them but now we had to worry about getting out of here. We finally got there at 3:55, just in time. A truck was driving behind enemy lines to pick us up. It finally got here but you have to remember that the time you reveal yourself is the time of most danger. Two medics were treating Travers and putting him in the truck while I was securing this zone. I turned my back for a second and all of a sudden I fell with stinging feeling in my leg. It was a bullet and I felt as though I could not breathe. A medic came over to me but I starting to lose a lot of blood. They gave me morphine and loaded me onto the truck. In that truck I thought about Sgt. Dane and Crowe. I was thinking about joining them. I closed my eyes and never opened them again.