Personal Narrative-It's All Quiet On The Western Front

A Week From 1944

It was Monday, May 29th 1944. The brisk winds chilled the air, and I could see my breath as we ran through the mud. My standard issue black boots failed to repel the moisture seeping through to my socks. It had been raining for days, off and on, not too heavily, but a constant soft mist regardless, and it saturated the ground like a gentle flood. The balmy weather and constant precipitation turned the English city of Hampshire into a lush green tone on the shrubs and a white frosted color on the buildings we built just months prior. If I had made a guess, I would have assumed that two million troops were waiting in England. Waiting for action, waiting for orders from the big fella himself, General Ike, formally referred to

I’m a 24 year old sergeant in the United States Army, and I have been in this division for just under a year now. My division is the 501st infantry company, filled with some of the allied forces’ youngest, but most skilled, soldiers. My C.O., Captain Paul Metcalfe, leads the routine runs that every division is expected to complete. He was one of 17 British-born men in our platoon. The 501st was a small group, consisting of roughly 100 men, with five 20-man platoons. I lead platoon division 2, referred to as “Delta Squad”. These platoons are who we’re based with, sleep with, and spend the most time with. They’re my family. In the past, the food on base was fairly standard, although the food so far this week has been exceptionally better than before, and the crew was getting suspicious. You could see it on their faces. The look of worry ran across most of our faces, more than

Some senior officers were in attendance, including our own Captain Metcalfe. Colonel White’s voice boomed through the morning silence.
“Alright, gentlemen, your objective is not a basic one. Your platoons need to cross the Atlantic Wall and secure the beachheads of Northern Europe before the end of the week. You execute as follows: Juno Beach is your primary objective, you will rush the beachheads at 6:30 on Monday the 5th. Naval support will be provided by Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay and his naval fleet. Aerial bombardment will begin the evening of Monday the 5th, which will leave only German battlements for you to destroy. These are imperative for the invasion of German-occupied Europe. Your respective commanders will have details for you about the LCVP. Good luck and godspeed, gentlemen! Take care out there.”
We saluted White as he stepped into his staff car and left, and drew our attention towards Metcalfe. The day was looming over us, and we knew the chances of a successful raid to be low. The looks on our faces was something I would never forget. We were excited to return to battle, but dreaded the cards we were