My intrest in poetry started when we were assigned a poetry assingment in reading class. I have been writing poems ever since. The poem I enjoy most that i wrote is Minutemen. Since i found this website, i had found a beautiful and unbelieveable girl named Megan Cook, who just broke up with me.I recommend her work, and talking to her for advice.)
Bayonet
*Please Note*
This is not a poem. It is a short story.
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Joseph Winters winced as a wave broke over the front of the Higgins
Boat shared by his
company.3rd platoon. A. Company.1st Rangers. In a few minutes
those numbers would mean nothing to him. In a few minutes, all that
would matter would be survival. “Thirty seconds to landing, , ”
screamed the boat’s pilot over the roaring cloudy water of the English
Channel. “Keep your heads down and your actions clear, boys, I want
to see you all on the beach, ” said the Captain. Without warning, the
gates lowered on the boat and the pilot screamed, “Go, go, go, ” Just
as the gate opened, German MG-42 fire poured into the boat,
dropping a quarter of the company. Joseph reacted without thinking
and bailed into the water. It was deeper than he imagined, and he was
sinking quickly. Before he knew it, he was sitting on the bottom of the
Channel, and he was going to drown if he didn’t lose some of his extra
weight. Joseph pushed his BAR off of his shoulder and started to gain
buoyancy. He was rising, but it felt like his lungs were going to explode
if he didn’t breathe now. He took a gulp of water in, and looked around
at the bullets whizzing through the water. Joseph hit the surface,
coughing and sputtering. He managed to pull himself behind the cover
of a murder hole. Where is my company? The thought had occurred to
him numerous times already.
Joseph saw an M1 Garand beside him. He reached out of
the cover of his murder hole to get it. He grabbed it just as a hail of
machine gun fire forced him back. He stood up and ran to where he
saw his company pinned down, while at the same time firing a
bandoleer of 30.06 bullets at an enemy that he could barely see for the
muzzle flash. “What’s the situation here, Cap? ” said Joseph. “Well,
we’re where we’re supposed to be but no one else is, ” said the
Captain. “ What are we going to do? ” screamed Joseph over the
constant noise of the ongoing invasion. “Fix bayonets men, we’re
going to charge, ” barked the Captain. “Charge, ” And just as he stood
up, he fell just as quickly, and the rest of the company jumped up and
fired on the German bunker. “Get down, ” screamed Joseph. “Now
who’s in command here? ” “You are Sir.” said a private. “Alright,
covering fire, ” said Joseph. “Go, go, go, Jump that barbed wire,
move, ” Joseph found himself leading a charge across a beach loaded
with barbed wire, mines and flying lead. Joseph looked up in time to
see the German machine gunner fall. “Clear out these trenches, secure
the area, ” ordered Joseph. “Area all secure, sir” said a private a few
feet from him. “Good work, you men get some rest, tomorrow is going
to be a long day.”
Joseph awoke from his crude and restless sleep, knowing it
was D-day plus 1. “Okay men, it appears that I am your designated
company leader for now. Our job today is to take the small town of
Carentan. There will likely be heavy resistance, because it’s the only
town that we can move armor through to Germany, and it’s the only
path they can take to get to Normandy.” We’re moving out, let’s go, ”
As A. company was walking down the road to Carentan, a
burst of machine gun fire sent a private to the ground and the rest of
the company taking cover in a ditch. “Alright, get ready, this is going to
be clearing houses, so there will be close quarter fighting, use your
bayonets. “Suppressing fire, Move, Clear out those houses, ” Said
Joseph, with a note of authority in his voice for the first time in the war.
The first rocket exploded, and shocked the entire company. “Take
cover, they’ve got us zeroed, ” the company waited for at least 10
minutes before the constant barrage of rockets and mortars ceased.
Joseph knew that the barrage was a distraction by the Germans to get
more troops into Carentan. “Alright, they stopped firing, clear
these houses, and make sure that all of the German resistance is
cleared out. Joseph was not used to standing back while others did
the work, so he wasn’t about to start that habit now. Just as he rounded
the corner, he saw the flash of a panzershreck in the bright sun, aimed
toward the house that two platoons of men were searching. The
panzershreck was zeroed in and preparing to fire, when Joseph
charged at him full speed, bayonet out. He killed the panzershreck
man, ending the threat to his platoons. Joseph swung around to look
behind him, but he was too late to avoid the Nazi bayonet from
plunging into his abdomen. “Lieutenant, ” screamed a near by
sergeant. He heard a shot ring, and passed out.
Joseph awoke several days later with a piercing pain in his
stomach. Where am I? Joseph thought. Joseph stopped a medic as
he went by. “What’s going on here? Where am I? ” Joseph stuttered.
The medic stopped, turned around, and started to speak. “Lieutenant,
you were injured in Carentan, we’re gonna fix you up. You’re going to
have a special visitor today. He will be here around noon. Get some
rest.” Joseph awoke to the sound of a doctor telling him his ‘visitor’
had arrived, and to come meet him in the lobby of the makeshift field
hospital. As he walked into the room, he was astonished to see
General Eisenhower, commander of the U.S. Armed Forces in
Europe. “Lieutenant Joseph Winters, I am here to present you with the
Congressional Medal of Honor. You showed bravery and courage in
saving the lives of your men and stopping a disaster. Congratulations,
soldier.” said General Eisenhower. Joseph struggled to find
words. “Thank you sir.” He stammered. “That’s not all, soldier.
Because you were wounded in this great battle against tyranny, you
receive a Purple Heart.” Eisenhower said, handing him the Purple
Heart with the Medal of Honor. “Thank you again, sir.” said
Joseph. “You get some rest, and I’ll see to it that you get linked back
up with your company. They can’t afford to lose a good man like
you.”“Sir, will I be reinstated as the company’s commanding officer? ”
questioned Joseph. “Son, I’m sorry to say that no, you will not. The lead
of the company has been taken over by a higher ranking officer.”said
the general. “Yes, sir.” replied Joseph.
Joseph was returning to his company in Bastogne, Holland. It
was late winter and cold. He wasn’t sure that he could handle taking an
order from an officer that had just joined the company. He knew these
men. He had known them since basic training. Seeing them fall under
the command of an officer that barely knew the men and their
limitations made him feel uneasy. “ Winters, How you doing? ”
shouted the sergeant that had saved Joseph’s life. “What’s your name,
sergeant? ” questioned Joseph. “Mcgraw, sir.” answered the
sergeant. “Sergeant, you saved my life back there in Carentan, and it
is the wish of my superior officers and I that you be promoted. You will
be receiving a field commission to the rank of lieutenant.” Joseph said,
pinning a golden ‘I’ on the collar of the new lieutenant. “Personally, sir, I
believe that you made a better company leader than that new fella,
Captain Kirkpatrick, was it? Can’t ever find him when you need him
most. Least you were there for us, ” said Lieutenant Mcgraw.
It was cold. That was all he could think about on the day of the
attack. Cold. Constantly snowing. Joseph climbed out of his foxhole to
find Captain Kirkpatrick. It seemed just as he opened his mouth to ask
a platoon leader where he was, the German 88s opened up and lit the
woods up like it was the Fourth of July. The first shell exploded,
throwing him like a rag doll into a tree. He looked around and saw
trees exploding around him. He could hear screams of ‘get down’ to
the rest of the troops. Suddenly, the artillery stopped. “Jeez,
Lieutenant, how did you make it through that? ” “I don’t know, but
where is Captain Kirkpatrick? ” “I’m not sure, sir. No one is, ” said the
medic. With that, Joseph got up and walked away from the medic and
into the open field of the woods. “Captain, Where are
you? ” “Lieutenant, get out of there ” commanded Captain
Kirkpatrick. “Coming, sir, ” Joseph said. He felt a sudden burst of pain
on his back. Suddenly, he couldn’t hold himself up. He fell on the
ground in the field.
Joseph looked around and noticed he was in another a
hospital. Not again, he thought. It was all happening again. He stopped
a medic and asked “Where am I? ” “You’re in St. Francis hospital,
Massachusetts. Back in the states for good, ” said the medic. And with
that, Joseph Winters blacked out.
Dylan: Your work is very good. Of those poems I have read my favorites are Fall, In My Mind, and Caught Up. There are some on the site that are far too personal for me to comment on, but I feel comfortable discussing these three. Each of them shows genuine style and talent. I'm going to make three suggestions to you. First, don't stop writing. Ever. Second, read whatever you can by whomever happens to strike your fancy. In other words, let your curiosity take you wherever it may lead. And third, after you've written a poem try to read it through the eyes of someone other than Dylan Barker. In fact, try to be someone as far removed from Dylan Barker as possible. I suspect this will lead you to develop and strengthen your style, focus your content, and stir your (already remarkable) imagination. I look forward to reading your volumes. -G