JohnÓ whispered an unknown woman. John, I miss you.Ó It was dark. Black nothingness surrounded him. John come homeÓ her voice echoing from nowhere.

John yelled out to the voice, Who are you?Ó

The woman suddenly appeared in front of him. She was dressed in a white gown that had the glowing of an angel. Her hair was silky smooth and was the color of the bright, beautiful sun. Her skin made her look like she would never get older, and then there was a fragrance of vanilla that made John aware of her presence.

She answered his question in a puzzled way. Why, IÕm your wife.Ó

John suddenly realized she was right. Tears began to fill up his eyes. Christine?Ó He whispered in a sad voice. John I want to tell you that I lo - - Thirty seconds dirt bags. So get the hell up!Ó Sergeant Caven interrupted.

John abruptly woke up. He hadnÕt slept in two days, but in war that was normal. As he quickly got his bearings he looked around the little boat, and saw the other soldiers and noticed they were just like him except for the faces of course. They all had the same dark green helmet on; the same light green shirt and pants, and they all had the same brown boots.

It reminded him of his training, but that was all over. Now he was fighting for real. He looked at Bran. He was the best solider that he new. Bran had a tough look to his face. His eyebrows were thick and heavy. He had tightly closed lips. His eyes were a dark, deep brown.

John had to get focused like him. He heard the rumors about the Nazis. How they killed ruthlessly, but then he thought Why did they kill ruthlessly? What was their motivation?Ó Twenty seconds!Ó Caven screamed. Great, I wasted ten seconds and IÕm still not ready.Ó John smacked himself at his lack of commitment.

Hey Bran, looks like your about to puke.Ó Stated an unknown soldier in a sardonic tone.

John then noticed Bran went from a focused face to a sick look. Bran then replied angrily in annoyance. Well why donÕt you just ulp. . .Ó He stopped short and threw up. At the same time salt water splashed over the side of the boat, and hit BranÕs face.

Then JohnÕs bluish green eyes stared at the angry white water. He thought about the water, how it splashed the metallic boat, then about the soldiers. They had no expression on their faces, but he could tell they were filled with fear. It was one of their first fights in real life too.

Then two powerful mounted turrets shot down at the boat, ripping three soldiers apart. John quickly reacted to the gunshots and crouched down. The others seeing that he did, crouched too. John was now afraid. Bran, who was stunned, just now realized that the soldiers were dead. He blurted out Holy s***!Ó And he was supposed to be the best,Ó John thought.

Then the boat hit shore. John jumped over the side of the boat and rushed out onto the beach. He then heard a whistling noise followed by a huge explosion behind him. John was thrown off his feet onto the sand, and he blacked out.

John slowly rolled open his eyes, his vision still cloudy from when a mortar hit his boat. He felt a pain in his left side so he turned over to his right. He saw some teammates run by, and then, a boat just like the one he was in, hit shore. The soldiers climbed over the side and rushed forward, but then a mortar hit that boat, and left not only a destroyed ship but a gory scene.


The soldiers that had gotten out of the ship barely made it past the roaring manned torrents. The ones who were caught by the explosion of the boat were either mowed down by the torrents or caught on fire by the flaming boat. John then thought Why didnÕt these soldiers get a chance to live? What will happen to their wives? What if I die? What would happen to Christine? His mind was racing with thoughts, but before he could think any more he started to get dragged away from shore by an unknown person.
When the person stopped pulling John, he lifted him up to his feet and yelled Get up, solider!Ó

John looked at the face of that person and saw two brown eyes staring back. At first he thought it was Bran, but then he saw the scar on his right cheek and then John suddenly knew that it was Sergeant Caven.

Caven slapped John. Wake up; we have to take out the guns.Ó He ordered him. The guns? What guns?Ó He thought, and then he remembered. His squadÕs mission was to take out the anti-aircraft guns. They were blocking air support.

Caven asked John Are you O.K.?Ó John was far from O.K., but he nodded his head anyway. Well then, get moving.Ó Caven commanded. John picked up his Thompson, and moved across the beach.

He saw that, as he ran, there was the Atlantic Ocean to his left, and a rocky ledge extending upwards to his right. The rocky ledge had ropes with soldiers climbing up them. John guessed that was where he had to go.

He moved to an open rope that already had two people climbing up. As John climbed, his muscles started to ache from the extra equipment on his body. The soldier in front of him suddenly slipped, but quickly recovered scaring John half to death in the process. If that soldier had fallen on John at this height they would have both died.


As he reached the top of the ledge, he knew that this day, June 6, 1944, was a day that would scar him worse than any other battle he would go through. Trenches stretched out for about a mile. They were surrounded by straight, green trees like prison cell bars. To the left, he saw an opening, which had a crumbling city, probably filled with NaziÕs. To the right a needle pointed barbed wire fence from which NaziÕs poured out like rain water pouring out into a sewer. Then he looked at the clouds, the powerful, dark clouds. They looked as if they had been created by the rage of the soldiers among him.

As he got further on the ledge, he saw doom calling out his name with pulsing persistence. Dead soldiers were scattered a crossed the trenches, killed by powerful mounted turrets ripping apart anything in its path as if it were a rabid beast. It was all madness. All the colors John could see in those trenches were brown from the overturned dirt, gray from monstrous turrets, and red from the bullet ripped corpses, laid out on the battle field.

John was on top of the ledge now. Sergeant Caven following him. Bran went up to Caven and tried to say something, but it was covered up by gunshots. What?Ó Caven screamed. Where are the guns?Ó Bran yelled back. I donÕt know. Ask the other soldiersÓ Caven questioned.
John remembered the crumbled city and interrupted. Sir, see that city?Ó
Caven looked over at the city and answered back Yes Private, I do.Ó Could the guns be in there?Ó Yes, why, yes they could.Ó JohnÓ Caven ordered Move to the city.Ó
John moved forward into the trenches. He started moving forward when a Nazi got in the way. John quickly reacted pulled the trigger of his Thompson and filled the Nazi with bullets. That was the first time he shot and killed someone. He suddenly felt sad for the Nazi. He thought Was he no better than that Nazi?Ó He pushed the thought aside and moved on.
As John moved forward in the trenches. Two soldiers named Louis and Bogly fought on topside. Louis is an English fellow who made friends with Bogly, another English fellow, in the army when they were fighting. Bogly had rushed forward and got himself shot. Louis, angry that he had lost his friend went crazy and rushed forward blindly.
While this happened, John had come across a dead end and was covered by a torrent. So he threw a smoke grenade to cover himself and make his way around it. While Louis charged through the smoke. John snuck around in another trench when five NaziÕs poured out from underground. One of those NaziÕs threw a grenade at John. John saw this and backed up, but when he backed up, out of the smoke came Louis.

John knew that the soldier (a.k.a.Louis) was headed for the grenade. John stretched out his hand towards Louis and yelled GrenadeÓ but it was useless because even if Louis knew, he would still have been blinded by his anger.

So Louis ran forward. Louis jumped in the trench. Louis landed on the grenade, and Louis died.

John felt horrible. ItÕs my fault. ItÕs my fault.Ó He repeated to himself, but then he realized something, ItÕs not my fault. It was war that did it. War took the lives of all these menÓ John pay attention.Ó Bran yelled to him. YouÕll get killed if you donÕt pay attention.Ó Bran was right; John needed to pay close attention.
As John moved out of the trenches, and into the city he saw destruction. Some of the anti-aircraft guns had missed their targets and instead of hitting the enemy they hit the city. It was like a hail fire of fire balls had hit a prosperous city and didnÕt have mercy. As John ran by one of the houses in the city he saw a doll hanging on a piece of splintered wood; which made him think about home again, and he wondered if he would have a daughter. For which he could buy a doll for. John! Pay attention. YouÕre gonna get killed by not paying attention.Ó Sergeant Caven yelled. John had thought so much about having a daughter he didnÕt notice that the squad stopped at a road block. O.K. men this is what weÕve been fighting for. The guns are just down that path. Me and someone else will go down that path and take out those guns while everyone else will stay and guard the road block. John! Since you were looly gagging. YouÕre coming with me.Ó
John let out a sigh, but didnÕt ague. Caven was a superior officer. So John went down the path. As John got to the end of the path he quickly got prepared to fight, but when he rounded the corner. No NaziÕs were around. John use your thermite grenades to take out the guns IÕll guard.Ó
John counted the guns. One, two, three, four. Four guns. Five thermite grenades. He had enough. Each grenade had ten seconds till they heated up so hot it could melt steel. So John put four thermite grenades into four Anti-air craft guns and returned to Caven.

After John went back to Caven, they went back down the path, returned to their squad and radioed in that the guns were out. Sergeant Caven then said; Well, we took the guns out, our mission is over. We won the battle.Ó
John was shocked. He thought to himself. Its over? ItÕs really over?Ó He let out a sigh and remembered the dead men. Then he asked Caven; Could we have prevented this war sir?Ó

Caven stared at John. He thought about his question and answered. Get out your note book. HereÕs an inspirational quote for you. You can't prevent war, but you can sure as hell stop it.