I was checking out the blog section, as always, and decided to have a try at this contest. This story is based during the WWII era and may be a little graphic if your a pussy. So.... here goes

     Our squad was sitting in one of the landing crafts on it's way towards the Atlantic Wall. The water sloshed into the boat and got our boots wet. I looked around at the other soldeirs around me and the looks on their faces. I am Corporal John Patterson and my squad and I were ordered to storm Utah and push the Germans off the wall. My hands were extremely sweaty and my M1 shook in my hands. We could hear the large cannons firing onto the Germans expected positions. Most of my squad mates were praying to their gods or crying. I peered over the edge of the boat and watched as the first wave of landing crafts hit the beach. The German machine gunners opened up on the marines and started to decimate them. Soldiers fell in a constant flow and I was in awe. I slid down to the bottom of the boat and heard the driver of the vessel yell out. "30 SECONDS!" I cringed as the words pierced my ears. I started to drift towards the back of the boat as we neared the target. A large explosion to my left caught my attention. A landing craft adjacent to us drove over a mine and had blown up. Body parts were lying in the water and I couldn't help but vomit. "10 SECONDS!" I picked myself up, out of my puke, and grabbed my rifle.

     The front hatch started to fall when the machine guns started to tear into us. The bullets strafed our craft and took out three of our men. I saw Michaels head explode in a red mess. The bullet pierced his skull and sent his brains all over the back of the boat. I grabbed the side of the boat and hopped into the water. My pack was too heavy and was holding my body from rising to the surface. I unbuckled it from my waist and let it slide off me. Bullets sliced through the water, looking for an enemy. Suddenly, something bumped into my back. I turned around to see a dead soldier, he had been shot in the heart and the water around him was red. I made my way to the shore where my Sergeant was located. He was screaming for everyone to take cover behind any obstacle they could find. I made my way towards a Belgian gate and waited for a chance to fire. I aimed my rifle at one of the German barriers and fired off a full clip. The machine gun shifted towards my position and the bullets glanced off the metal gates. They then shifted their aim towards another craft that had just came up. The Germans were sending a large amount of mortar fire and the explosions were exceptionally loud. I watched as a mortar ripped into a pack of three marines. The explosion tore into their bodies and sent blood and body parts everywhere. The explosion also left a huge crater stained with their blood. A fellow marine headed towards me and dove behind the the Belgian Gate and looked at me. I motioned towards the German Bunker and he nodded. I noticed he had a sniper rifle and I watched him line up his shot. He squeezed the trigger and one of the German gunners fell backwards.

     My sergeant ran up to us and told us to start our advance along with the rest of the marines. I watched as hundreds of soldiers rushed towards the German Bunkers. I took one final breath and started my run. I ran as fast as I could and dove toward a small ditch. Several engineers started to cut through the barb wire that was hindering our advance. The rest of the soldiers tried to suppress the German fire. I aimed my sights at a German soldier and pulled the trigger. His hands groped his chest and he fell over onto the rocks below. I watched as his body smashed into the ground and he fell limp. The engineers pulled the barb wire aside and we made another mad dash towards the base of the lead bunker. Several marines were cut down on the way to the bunker and I managed to grab a Thompson as I ran by a dead body. I dropped my M1 at the same time without losing a beat. Once we made it to the bunker we started to scale the hill in order to get to the top of the bunker. Once at the top we jumped into the trench and made our way towards the entrance of the bunker. A soldier in front of me threw a frag grenade toward the bunker entrance and several bodies were sent flying. I slowly walked into the bunker and opened up on the awaiting Germans. My Thompson cut into their bodies and left them motionless. Once the first bunker was clear, we moved onto the next one. We could hear a lot of Germans coming towards our position and we readied our weapons. When the first German rounded the corner we easily cut him down. The others behind him seemed to hesitate a little. A potato masher hurtled towards us and landed at my feet. I grabbed the handle and threw it back. The grenade exploded in the middle of their group and blood spouted everywhere. The remaining Germans started a hasty retreat and we pursued. We met up with two other squads just in time to discover that the other bunkers had been captured.

     With the bunkers captured, the Germans retreated and the remaining were taken as prisoners. I met up with my friend Alex Smith and we started to round up the rest of our squad. Once the survivors of our squad were found we noticed that we had lost four men. The Sergeant told us that we were to set up camp in the village ahead. Once we settled in I sat there reminiscing about the battle that just occured. Even with all my training and all the videos I've seen about war, nothing prepared me for what really happened. I settled into my cot and started to drift off to sleep. I knew that we had a long road ahead of us and I needed my energy. I could still hear small arms fire as the sleep enveloped me in it's arms.