When Tomorrow Never Came

chapter 5

The docks were loaded with a sea of people. I only saw Joseph long enough to wave to each other before we had to board our ships. Lily and Fletcher were entangled in a farewell kiss before going to separate ships. I wondered how terrifying it must have felt to finally be married to someone only to be shipped off where you could be dead the next day.

Once we were boarded onto the ship, Lily and I went to find where we were bunking, some of the newer nurses were a touch upset we wouldn't be where they could ogle the soldiers. Lily started to tease me about "my soldier" while inquiring how meeting his family yet and if I heard church bells I gave a sly smile and barely pulled my dog tags up where she could see my ring on the chain, quickly tucking it back under my shirt once she started squealing.

The next few weeks were spent talking about silly things, still holding on to the last bit of normalcy in our life before hell broke loose. I wrote Joseph another letter, trying to tell him about what had happened the day we got home but I couldn't write the words, so I told him I loved him instead.

Lily noticed my difficulty with writing my letter and asked if I was alright. I avoided the question by bringing up a random pointless conversation that struck Morris interest, into quickly joining in our random pointless conversations. Those pointless conversations came to a halt though once we were waiting to climb down to our higgins boat for the coast to be clear to cross to the beach.

I intently watched Joseph's Higgins boat as we waited knowing I shouldn't.

"We shouldn't be watching their boats like this." Lily whispered "it'll affect our abilities to do our jobs"

I gave her a quick glance. She was right but I wasn't ready to face the truth
"What else are we supposed to do while we wait? play I spy? How about Go Fish with our field notes?" I argued

"How about not scare ourselves" Lily argued "you yourself told me my first day in the field whatever your feeling push it down because there's work to do and no time for personal issues" she reminded

Her using my words sent shivers down my spine, she was right, "I realize now what you meant when you said that it was easier said than done" I admitted

"Well we didn't have someone we desperately cared about that was fighting back then, but still we have a job to do " she answered

We stood there in silence until we were given to go to climb into our Higgins boat finally sailing into the hell that was waiting for us. I forced myself to get a grip as our boat surfed along the waves pushing onward protected by the giant medical symbol alerting the enemies to not touch.

"Once we hit the beach go to each soldier you see and check vitals of everyone mark them with your ribbons work fast and keep your heads down and your white sash on your arm at all times" Ross informed as we drew closer to the beach

It felt like ages until we reached the beach, bullets and bombs echoed through the air along with screams of agony and pure horror almost knocking us to our feet as our boat drug against the rocky sea floor. When the ramp dropped we rushed around the beach mostly finding deceased soldiers, some were barely alive. Others were psychologically and or physically impaired from the traumatic events they just witnessed.

The blood wetted sand proved to be a challenge as we ran from soldier to soldier. Hurrying along we started tagging soldiers so the medics would know who was in dire need of aid and know who could hang on a little longer.

Some of the newer nurses struggled, even Morris. She went to mark a man as doa when he jerked forward and pleaded for her to save him only to choke on his own blood and die. Her eyes widened with horror as the overwhelming screams flooded her ears, smells of blood invaded her nose, and the sight of mutilated men scattered around the beach violated her eyes. She became an easy target as her head was up and her medical band was facing the ocean. I saw something shine over the seawall and ran to her slamming her down into one of the nearby craters barely missing a bullet that zipped past us.