Bayonet Poem by Dylan Barker

*Please Note*
This is not a poem. It is a short story.
-------
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.