Chapter 2: Rendezvous with Destiny

Somewhere over Normandy, France
June 6, 1944 0015 hours

The sound of an engine fills the air as the moonlight revealed a C-47 Dakotas transport plane, soon followed by more planes on either side across the night sky.

It is June 6, D-Day as the world will know, that these C-47s are carrying the men of the 101st Airborne Division, most preferably known as "the Screaming Eagles," to drop them behind enemy lines in preparation for the seaborne invasion that will be soon to come.

Inside plane number 53 are paratroopers from 3rd squad, Fox Company of the 502nd Infantry Regiment sitting on the bench on either side of the plane, some of them are sleeping, and some of them are puking their stomachs out due to air-sickness.

But, most of them are sitting there deathly quiet, their minds running scenarios of what will happen to them once they jump into combat. Are they going to survive? Will they be able to get home safely to their loved ones that they left behind to serve their country?

Or they are going to die knowing well what their loved ones are going to react once they see the army chaplain and an officer with a telegram in his hand?

They all made a promise to each other before the plane takes off from England that they will return home alive together, especially Sergeant Matt Baker.

I'd never asked to be a squad leader, but I have no choice. Now I've got thirteen soldiers under my command. Thirteen men depending on me to make the right decisions and not get them killed. Thirteen families are relying on me to bring their husbands and sons home. Thirteen...

Baker raises his head as he has been asleep and looked at all of his men around him.

Thirteen is not a lucky number.

Some of the guys here couldn't have been much older than Baker, which made a little bit sense to Baker since the average age before enlisting is 21 years of age.

Heck, some of the guys look like they just turn into adulthood, but quite a few are older than Baker.

All Baker could think is that these guys are counting on him. He is their squad leader. He has to lead them into combat in the face of the enemy and not get them killed.

The sad thing is that he promised them they would all make it home together alive. That thought has been with Baker ever since they first take off from England and right into the unknown.

What if he failed to keep his promise and got his men killed? Thinking about it feel like the pain of sorrow has taken hold around his heart and won't let go. He heard about men suffering from guilt when they lost someone under their command.

What's even sadder is that he never asked to be squad leader...

"Your father would've been proud."

Baker broke free from his thought and looked up, seeing Mac looking right at him with a kind face that a friend would have.

Mac knew his father and respected him highly ever since Baker's father saved him from an explosion at a training exercise in Georgia a long time ago. They have been close friend ever since the incident and Mac would follow Colonel Baker order to the fullest.

Before he was killed in action in 1943 at Anzio, Italy, Colonel Baker told Mac, upon learning that Matt is under the command of Mac in the airborne, that he wanted his son to be like his father, leading a group of soldiers into combat.

But Matt still doesn't want to be a squad leader, and he is now forced to take the role without having to realize it.

"You know, I never ask for this!" Baker told Mac.

Mac lends over and pats Baker's knee. "You'll be fine," he said, trying to sound hopeful. "We're in the largest armada the world ever knows. We are the stepping stone for Eisenhower army, and we are going to kick Hitler's ass back to Germany."

When he said this, a soldier next to Baker threw up, spilling contents on the floor of the plane.

Mac shakes his head. "Corrion, I told you. Hell, I told you three times to take those damn pills. Shit, they're gonna smell you a mile away, all cover in meatloaf and gravy."

Corrion wiped his mouth with his sleeve and cough. "Oh, I hate you." Then he vomited again.

"Doesn't look as half bad the second time around," Hartsock said, chuckling. "Did you eat some carrots?"

"Hate you," Corrion replied back with a spit to the floor to clear out the acids in his mouth.

Baker smiled a bit.

Corporal Joe Hartsock. Everyone called him "Red." It's because of his "oh-so-red-he-could-pass-as-an-Irishman hair.
The army nicknames are rarely creative.

Red lean back against the plane wall and stares off into the distance, thinking about his wife and daughter back home in Wyoming.

He dropped out of high school early and spent most of his days raising whatever hell he saw fit.
That is until he met his wife, Erma. She put the fear of God into him.
A fear we all be so lucky to have.

Corrion started wiping his mouth again with his sleeve after he felt confident enough that he is not going to puke. Although, the guys are still making fun of him, which leads him annoyed.

Corporal Sam Corrion, short in height...and in tone. He's been loyal to the fault, but only as a measure to float to the top. He's a lifer.
To my knowledge, he was a supervisor at a textile mill in Augusta. All of his workers were women, apparently.


Sitting against the top of his desk with his arm crossed before him, Corrion, in his business suit, said to the sobbing women before him with a tone of authority.
"We run a tight ship, and you knew that. You were late to work, again."
The women covered her face with one of hand as she sobbed. "I...feared, my son, had malaria...had to wait for the doctor."
Corrion nodded slowly. "Heartbreaking indeed. But time waits for no..." he got up from his desk and turn his back to her, waving his hands in the air. "I'm afraid you are fired, Mrs. Plunkett."

He says that "Cream always rises to the top."


Sitting on the left side of Corrion are two soldiers talking, one asking the other, "So how can you be sure that waitress gave to me, Garnett? She seems so clean..."

The other soldier took a drag from his cigarette before replying back to his best friend with a sighs, "Man, because she gave it to four other people I've talked to."

"Bullshit, name one."

"Himself, you idiot!" Garnett smiled with a wink.

Sitting across from, Hartsock chuckled. "Everyone at that pub has been talking about it for weeks. You two caught V.D. from the same broad. Gee, Allen, I gander that makes ya'll soulmates..."

"I told you, boys, more than once to keep your damn trousers on," said Corrion.

"Oh piss off, Corrion." Allen snaps back at the corporal. "Maybe if you dropped yours once in a while you wouldn't need to redress your bunk in the middle of the night. Or you think we wouldn't notice?"

Corrion hesitated for a moment, then turn away from Allen by not saying anything.

About 3 minutes later, the red light by the open door came on, signaling the paratroopers to get ready to jump as they are near their drop zone.

Acting as a jumpmaster, Mac stands near the door and faces the men to begin his jump command.

"Alright!" He yelled as he holds out both of his hands and mention upward. "Stand up!"

"Stand up!" The men repeated, standing on the center aisle of the plane in a single line and hold up their chute clip in their hand while facing towards the open rear door.

"Hook up!" Mac said again, raising his hand and bend his forefinger like a hook.

"Hook up!" The men repeated as they attached their jump clip to the overhead rail that leads out of the door. The way this works is as soon as the men jump out, their clip cord will pull their chute canopy open, deploying the chute. If the main chute failed to deploy, the men could pull on their D-ring located on a chute in front of their stomach.

"Check your equipment!" a man will check the one in front of him to make sure that his chute is ready to deploy.

Being the first in line, Baker stands on the edge of the door in case something happened to the plane and they need to make a quit exit.
Before he says the final command, Mac said to the men, "This squad stays together! Once you hit the ground, find Baker! Sounds off!"

The last man in the back of the plane pats the shoulder of the man in front of him as he yells out, "Fourteen OK!"

"Thirteen OK!"

"Twelve OK!"

"Elev-"

As if they came out of nowhere, German flak rounds exploded all over the sky, rocking the plane back and forth as the side of the plane was riddled with holes, spark flying everywhere and windows blown. The plane left engine started to catch on fire.

"Corrion's hit!" Red screamed as he noticed Corrion sitting on the floor of the plane, clutching his left shoulder.

The men started screaming as they tried to hold on without being thrown off balance. The plane started taking more hit, and the middle part of the plane had already started to be covered in smoke.

"Let's get the hell outta here!" Garnett screams as he's holding on to the plane overhead rail.

Allen started pushing the one in front of him towards the door. "We gotta jump Sarge!"

"We wait for the green light!" Mac screams back, trying to keep his men calm as more explosions rocked the plane.

"If we wait any longer! There won't be a fucking green light!" Allen said as he attempts to get Corrion back on his feet.

Baker steps away from the door so that he could see Corrion, but he was push back at the door by Mac. "Baker! Stands in the door!"

Baker steps back to the edge of the door with both hands on either side of the door for balance, looking at the tracers-filled sky as a C-47 exploded in front of him and spun towards the ground.

I never asked to be squad leader.

A round exploded dangerously close to the plane wing that the force knocked Baker right out of the plane door into the sky. Baker was shocked as he fell through the air and his chute deploys, sailing him to the ground as parachutes and C-47s alike continue to drift through the air.

The only available light that Baker could see is the moonlight, and he saw the ground is closing up fast.

Instead of hitting the ground, Baker's chute was caught by the top of a tree, breaking his fall but tugging his straps upward hard.
Baker breaths for a second then found himself crashing through the tree branches and hit the ground.

Ignoring the pain, Baker got up to remove his chute, by only to found out that he lost his rifle and musette bags that contains his ammunition and equipment. The only weapon he has is a combat knife that is attached to the side of his jump boots.

Great, Baker thought as he came to realized that he is weaponless and in the middle of enemy territory all by himself. Fighting against from panicking, Baker remembered in training that he must follow the path of the plane in his wishes to find anyone from his squad.

With no time to spare, Baker follows the plane path, avoiding anti-aircraft batteries in fields and staying in the hedgerows. He never felt more alone in his life without his men as he continues to walk through the French countryside.

Eventually, Baker came to a small village that is sitting next to an intersection. Before he could continue any further, a branch snaps behind him, alarming every senses in Baker as he felt the armed person is standing right behind him.

Before the soldier could speak, Baker spun around and tackle the soldier down, bring his knife to the throat of the soldier neck, which turns out to be Mac.

"Whoa, easy there, soldier," Mac said as he raises his hands up in surrender. "Is this how you treat your enemy, Baker? I thought you knew better than this."

"Mac?" Baker said, surprised. He helped Mac to his feet, feeling joyous that he found someone he knew. "God, you'd scared me. I thought you were a kraut."

"And you scared me," Mac said, then he noticed Baker doesn't have his weapon. "Where's the hell is all your gear?"
"I lost them in the jump" Baker said with a shrug.

Mac sighs. "Well shit." He reached for his pistol shoulder holster and pulled out a Colt .45. "Here, takes my .45 and shoot anything that's gray."

Baker was hesitant at first, then took the pistol by the grip, feeling the weight as it lays on his hand.

"Alright, we're going to have to go through there first." Mac pointed at the small village behind them. "We need to know where we are."

Baker nodded in response and followed Mac to the wall right behind the first house. They stay to the side of the wall and walk silently. They reached the opening that leads out into a courtyard and immediately ducks into cover when they found two German soldiers talking as they look at a dead parachutist that is dangling from a tree.

"Ich glaube, um den brauchen wir uns keine Sorgen mehr zu machen." One of the soldier said to the other.

"Ob da noch mehr von ihnen sind?" the other asked with a worry looks right when Baker and Mac opened fire, killing them both.
"That ought to show em," Mac said as they both steps out into the courtyard to where the tree is.

Mac reached into his shirt and took out a map, looking at it while Baker went over to where the dead parachutist is hanging.
Oh please, don't be one of my men.

Baker doesn't recognize the face. This man must be from another unit.
Baker sighs with relief but felt saddened that this guy died all alone with no one beside him. What if that is what happens to the rest of the guys?

Baker forces the thought out and focuses on the mission. They need to know where they are before dawn arrive.

Mac let out a deep sigh and told Baker as he put his map away. "I don't recognize this place. Hell, I don't remember seeing it at the division briefing. We have to be in a wrong place."

"So what do we do?" Baker asked.

Mac thought for a bit to work out his plan and replied back in a serious tone. "We're going to have to find whoever we pick up and makes our way to the rally point."

Baker nodded. At least doing something is better than doing nothing at all.

"Let's go," Mac said and led back out of the courtyard and towards the intersection. They were moving towards it when Mac raised up his left arm, signaling Baker to stop.

Baker stops and listen, broadening his senses as he looks around and peers through the darkness. He didn't see anything, so he whispers to Mac in front of him. "What is it?"

"Shh!" Mac shushed him and nodded towards a wagon on the other side of the intersection. Baker looks closely and could see something moved behind a wagon.

Mac got up and quietly made his way across the intersection and behind a water fountain, motioning for Baker to follow him.
When Baker reaches him, they heard a quick whisper, "Flash!"

They look around, trying to find where the voice was coming from until they realized it came from behind the wagon.
"Thunder!" Mac gave the countersign and moved towards the wagon. Behind it is Private Kevin Leggett, who exclaimed as soon as he saw his two squad mates. "Oh shit! Mac and Baker! I thought I was lost."

He wasn't the only one there. Next to him happened to be Lieutenant Colonel Robert Cole, commander of 2nd Battalion of the 502nd, who said to Leggett in a low voice. "Quiet! Keep your voice down, or the whole goddamn German army will show up. They'll be plenty of time to reminisce later."

Baker was surprised at how Leggett somehow managed to link up with their battalion commander. But if Leggett is here, then the other must be nearby.

"Anybody know where we are?" Mac asked the others.

"No idea." Leggett shrugged. "I thought you guys would know."

Cole steps towards the closest house while saying to the other, "I'll find out. Stay put." As he walk up the front step and knock on the door while saying, "Hello. Je suis American."

They heard movement inside in the house, then a women voice spoke out at them very fast, " S'il vous pla, laissez-nous en paix."
"American! What town is this?"

"S'il vous pla, partez d'ici."

Cole was getting frustrated, and he turns back to the three soldiers behind him and ask them, "Any of ya'll know French? I can't understand a goddamn word she's saying."

Leggett raised his hand meekly and said to Cole, "I can speak a bit, sir."

"Then get your ass over here, son."

Leggett walks up to the door and knocks on it. When he heard the women again, he said in a calm voice, "Pouvez-vous nous dire onous sommes?"

The women must've calmed a bit and said through the door, "Juste au nord-est de Sainte Me Eglise."

"She said we're north of St. Mere Eglise." Leggett translated.

Cole rubbed his chin and said to himself, "Dammit, we're headed in the wrong direction." And he looks up at the soldiers around him. "I'm going to see if I can gather some more guys. Y'all head that way through the gate and link with anyone else you find as you head east. Stay alive. That's an order."

And just like that, he was gone, leaving the other their first objective.