Its Just Another Day

Cap!! Cap!!

“Take a deep breath, tell private.”

“200 yards from here, 200 japs, 4 tanks, marching towards this shit place.”

“Ok, where is zap, zap!!, Zap!! , Come here.”

“Cap, we are f*****.”

“Keep down sergeant, how many men do we have?”

“20 plus 2 plus 1.”

“What's that plus two plus one?”

“Two greenies joined 10 min back and a medic.”

“Elaborate the team zap.”

“Four snipers, one motor, two machine gun.”

“Fine, there are about four five-story buildings to the right and four to the left. Our job is to secure the road. Let's call the two buildings near us to the left as A1 and A2 and the same applies to the left as B1 and B2.

Snipers! Snipers!

Jim, you lead the snipers. Take the armor you need, get to the top of the buildings A1, A2, B1, B2. When I call "fire" you four must take the commander of the four tanks.”

“Yes, cap.”

“Next, machine guns, gal, you command these three, take the armor you need, two to the third floor of A1 and two to the third of B1. the team at A1shoot the japs entering the buildings B1 and B2, the team at B1 shoot the japs entering A1 and A2. make sure no japs enters the building.”

“Ok cap.”

“Motors men on your feet. Plot your motors 20 meters behind me. You must destroy tank three and four, on my command.

Jack and root take a stovepipe each one, jack, take ground floor A1 as position and root, take B1 as position. After the tank is destroyed move to the first floor of A2 and B2 to destroy the second tank. Your speed makes us live.”

“Yes, cap.”

“You three stay to the right of me, you three stay to the left of me. Greenie, stay 2 meters ahead of me, this is your training session. Your aim must be on the 30 cal shooter in the tank one. I know everyone is starving. You have to stay alive to grab your pieces of bread private.”

“Ok captain”.

“Move”

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“Cap Cap”

“Wait for my command”

.

“Cap, they reached A2”

“Not yet”

.

“Cap They touched A1”

“Not yet”

.

The tank one is between building A1 and B1. tank two is between A2 and B2.

.

“Fire”

Commanders of four tank down.

“Jack and root take the tanks one and two.”

Tank one down

“Mates fire the ones entering the building. Mortar men mark tank three, 40 yards, 10o clock.

The men at left,

Displace! Displace! tank 2 got you.

Displace! Displace!”

Tank 3 down.

“Greenies fire on tank three”

Greenies crawling down in fear.

“James cover fire, I am moving to greenies.”

“Mates, cover fire, cover fire, the captain is moving”

I crawled towards the greenie.

“Private on your feet, this helps know one, you are killing your mates at the back. On your feet greenies. Pour it on them, let the japs have it, the japs will not take second thought in killing you”

“Cap, zap is down, tank 4 took him.”

“Medic! Medic! Move to B2, zap got hit.”

Tank two and three down

“Gal, Displace! Displace! , tank 4 got you, Move! Move!.”

“Cap, no men to cover fire, just you, me, and another mate.”

Tank 4 got gal. Gal's leg is torn off, gal helper is shot.

“Greenie move fall back, stay with us, mortar men what the F***, take the tank four."

“ We are not getting the position, cap”

“Mark the position, 50 yards 1 o'clock”

Missed.

“Add 5 yards to the left, fire”

Tank 4 down.

“All tanks down, pour it on japs, kill them all, James take a greenie and move to the position A1 of gal and take charge.”

A man on the left is shot.

“Snipers, watch at 12 o'clock, enemy sniper, take them down”

“Cap, we don’t have a vision on sniper”

“Root, attack the sniper at 12 O clock, with stovepipe.”

Sniper killed.

“Root and jack fall back, stay to the left of me”

Root is shot.

“Doc! Doc! Root has his lung shot,

hey you, greenie, there is a man in tank one. Grab your grenade, and drop it inside the tank.

James, 4 men behind tank 3, take them mate”

All japs are down.

“Ceasefire, Ceasefire.

James send the greenie down.

Greenies, move front and check, is there any japs left.”

“Ok cap”

A greenie was shot by a jap, on his shoulder.

“Medic, move, and check him. James, get a man and go help them.

.

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“Cap, when are we moving, bottles are out. We cannot last more than half a day.”

“Let's hope for the best private”

“James report?”

“11 dead, Gal's helper has a bullet in his ass, Gal's legs gone, zap is dead”

“Fine, boys grab the bodies in one place. Try finding yourself something to eat”

.

Wounded struggling with their pain.

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“Doc, get the wounded some morphine”

“Sorry cap, we are out of supplies”

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Wounded struggling, Other trying to keep their lips dry with the grass grown in the corners of the road. Sun is getting high, even the sweat is getting dried.

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An old man's voice...

“The day was getting worse, but the enemy was not the jap, its the sun. That day James told us that we will not be able to last more than half a day. The next day we saw god, the god is the truck which came a day late, took us back to the camp and provided us the bread and tea. By the time we loaded on the truck, Jim died because of his wounds. I still remember even the greenies who came the day before, started liking their sweat to keep their lips wet, but we were there for the past 6 days. A reporter in the camp asked about the fight in the road to James, he just replied

“It's just another day in a heatwave”

The next day again we were asked to join a platoon, the line James said ran on my head, “it's just another day in heatwave”.

It's not what happens in the war, its about what happens after the war. It's not about life, its about the soul. I had a team believing me even in that rough situation.

“We are alone together”

The day I got down from the train, I and my friend took a cab and went to the restaurent, pushed a teen from the line, and bought hotdogs.”

By your faithful captain 

Richard Phillip