A Soldiers Recount I woke to a loud whistling sound and someone yelling “Incoming! Get to cover! GO! GO! GO!” There was a loud clap that shook the earth under me, followed by another, and another. The claps were getting louder and I was terrified. I grabbed the metal pot on top of my head and pulled the straps burying my body as far in it as possible. Everything around me was a daze and I couldn’t remember where I was or how I had got there. “BOOM!” Just as fast as it had all started, the loud thunderous barrage had stopped. Thoughts raced through my mind. Where am I? The Ardennes Forest fighting the krauts in the battle of the bulge. How did I get here? That was easy to answer, the world was at war and I was drafted. Being drafted was the most terrifying thing in my life, but I accepted it and went to serve my country. A loud cry for help disturbed my questioning and I came back to reality. “Cpl. Gates! Get over here now!” I realized that loud voice was Sarge and he was calling my name. “Cpl. Gates! Godamnit get over here!” “Right away sir” I crawled out of my foxhole and was greeted with horrific scenes of mangled and broken bodies; there was blood everywhere, and men were crying for their mothers. Friends of the wounded were yelling for medics, seemingly useless gestures. I walked back to the “commanders” tent, more like a tarp draped over a tree. Standing inside were five men, Sarge, P.F.C. Wilson, Cpl. Bert, Pvt. Jonson, Pvt. Kolosky, and now me, Cpl. Gates. The commander was absent; the bastard never came to the front. Sarge wanted me to take Wilson, Bert, Jonson, and Kolosky on patrol to test the strength of the enemy lines. We were few, but it was all the Division could spare. I ordered Kolosky and Jonson to gather what ammunitions they could which meant taking it from the dead. We headed out under the concealment of nightfall to test the krauts lines. I was on point. When we were about 500 yards away from the kraut’s line of defense, we were hit with what seemed like everything they had. “Jonson! Kolosky! Take the right flank!” “Bert take the left!” “Wilson, stay on my ass!” I started unloading my M1 Garand into the camouflaged krauts. I was trying to yell orders at the top of my lungs but nobody could hear me over all the explosions and constant gun fire. The ding from my rifle prompted me to pop another eight round clip in. Before I could shoulder my rifle to continue firing, I heard a loud crack and a fist hit me in my shoulder and I collapsed in a heap. I looked up to see Cpl. Bert leaning over me and the world around me slowly closing into a black abyss. I woke up staring at the sky and all the trees around me bobbing up and down; I hear Cpl. Bert and Pvt. Jonson yelling that I needed medical Evac as soon as possible, they said a bullet had hit a major artery and that I was bleeding to death. But they couldn’t be talking about me, I didn’t feel pain, all I felt was the warm puddle that I was laying in. I tried to talk but all I could do was moan, Kolosky looked over me and reassured me that I wasn’t going to die, I tried to tell him that of course I wasn’t going to die but again all that came out was a moan. It came to me that I wasn’t laying in a puddle but rather a pool of my own blood and that I was dying. I tried asking what had happened but again a hoarse moan came out. I think that Kolosky caught the hint and tried to explain what had happened, I had been shot by one of the krauts and I was bleeding pretty bad. I needed medical attention and I needed it quick. Panic quickly kicked in and I tried to yell for help but before I could say anything a cold hand grasped around my mouth and stopped any sort of noise from happening. I was told to shut up or I would give away our position. I gave them a puzzled look, wasn’t I back behind our lines? Wasn’t I “home” in my foxhole? They quickly told me the situation. Apparently we were behind enemy lines with no radio and no hope of rescue since we were probably already written off as dead. The men told me to hang in there but losing so much blood was starting to take its toll on me. I felt tired and wanted to sleep. Jonson was trying to keep me up by talking to me, but it wasn’t helping and I drifted off. When I woke up I felt a surge of pain in my shoulder and I couldn’t move my arm without agonizing pain. When the pain subsided I over heard Cpl. Bert and P.F.C. Wilson discussing our predicament, we were low on ammo and had no food. Food was the least of our worries, we were behind enemy lines and it was almost morning, on top of it all no medical supplies, so no morphine. This was going to be a long night, and in the morning we were in for hell. I found a stick on the ground that I could bite into, it didn’t help much for pain but it at least could keep my mind off of my situation. Kolosky managed to stop the bleeding on my wound, finally things were starting to look good for me, but unfortunately I had already lost a lot of blood so I was weak and could barely move. When morning came, the German lines sent sporadic gunfire in our direction. Although they didn’t know where we were, it was only a matter of time before they found out. I didn’t want to be a POW. I had heard stories of POW’s and I didn’t want to experience it. The Germans started sending out patrols to find us, it would only take two or three patrols before they stumbled on us and we would either be killed or captured. We waited in anticipation. Our plan was to run like hell back to our lines hoping that our own guys didn’t kill us, but that wasn’t the problem at hand. It wasn’t too long when we started hearing whispered voices and branches cracking and crunching under boots. Everybody clicked the safety off on their rifles. We waited until we could hear the Germans barking orders to one another; we assumed that they must have found us because they abandoned all sense of stealth. I popped my head up over the log I was hiding behind and I found myself looking down a barrel of a K98 rifle. The kraut started yelling but I didn’t respond all I could think of was to pull out my 45. Semi auto pistol and shoot him, but before I could fire the gun Jonson flattened him with his BAR. After that all hell broke out, I was firing madly with my pistol but it seemed like we were shooting at ghosts. I heard Kolosky yell retreat; Jonson lifted me up over his shoulders and ran in the direction of our lines. We were running it seemed for hours but it had only been 5 minutes, still a long time and we were beginning to feel a little lost. Jonson put me down. “Where are we?” I asked “Somewhere in hell.” Bert said “Were gonna die out here.” I heard one of the men say Jonson started to say something but before we could finish there was a loud crack, we all hit the dirt but Jonson stayed standing looking forward at nothing, then collapsed in a heap. Kolosky ran over to Jonson but we all knew he was dead. When Kolosky was by Jonson’s side another crack echoed through the forest and Kolosky fell on top of Jonson. Kolosky looked up and looked me in the eyes; he mouthed something to me that I couldn’t make out. Wilson started laying down cover fire in the direction the shots came from, while Bert ran out and grabbed Kolosky; he pulled Kolosky behind a stump where they had minimal cover. We all knew we needed to get out of there, but with the sniper watching our every move it would be difficult. Wilson dived for cover next to me, we needed a plan. Wilson threw a grenade in the direction of the sniper; he hefted me over his shoulders and made a break for it. I yelled to Bert that he had to run. Wilson was running faster then I have ever seen some one run, branches were smacking me in the face causing minor scrapes. Wilson kept running and running it was like he was a machine, I could hear echoes from guns and shouts from Germans, it was like they were breathing down our necks. Wilson came to a stop, we were in a clearing. The American lines were just 200 yards in front of us, they started firing at us and we had to dive for cover. The situation was getting bad with Germans coming up behind with everything they had and our own people firing on us. We had to come up with some way to show them we were American… or Germans surrendering, I had a white cloth that I used as a handkerchief, and I lifted it over my shoulders and started waving like a mad man. The Americans slowly broke off their attack, we stood and made a mad dash for the American lines with the Germans firing at our backs, we were finally “safe” behind American lines, and we were treated like POWs until they realized that we were Americans. Sarge debriefed Wilson and Bert, explaining everything that happened. Bert was rewarded the Medal of Honor and Wilson the bronze star, I was given a purple heart and a bronze star and the same to Kolosky, Jonson was our best friend and our brother, we all saved each others life that day but we couldn’t save his and I will never forget that he was rewarded the bronze star. I was sent back to the states for the medical treatment I needed. Bert was sent back to the front lines, he was later killed by a stepping on a mine during a patrol. Wilson was promoted to Sgt., and finished out his tour. Kolosky’s wound left him paralyzed; the bullet was lodged in his neck. I had gotten an infection and almost died before I got back to the states, the doctors said I lost so much blood they were surprised I was still alive. “Those who have long enjoyed such privileges as we enjoy forget in time that men have died to win them.” Franklin D. Roosevelt. Corey Moon
Copyright © 2007 Corey Moon |