House of Gold | Band of Brothers

Chapter 12: There is Quiet

With every sharp movement the plane made, Beth's body would jostle with it, sometimes smacking into the man beside her and sometimes forcing her to catch herself before she fell out of her seat altogether.

It had been a little over an hour since the pathfinders had departed Upottery, which meant they should be coming up on their destination soon. With the darkness of the night and the element of surprise in their favour, they hoped their drop would play out smoothly. Beth and her team were flying by the seat of their pants, hoping for the best but expecting the worst.

From beside Beth, Joel Conrad gave a weary smile and a thumbs up. Beth returned the gesture, hoping her nerves didn't show through the tough facade she was so desperately trying to maintain. 

Aside from a few silent gestures here and there, no communication had been had between the pathfinders. Everyone was too busy focusing on what was coming up and worrying about what they had left behind. Beth knew Lieutenant Copeland had a wife and kids back home, the same as many of the other men. She was one of the few who had no significant other or children to worry about never seeing again, but that didn't mean she didn't have family to think about at all

In the minutes leading up to the jump, Beth thought about Ben and her parents. She thought about their family dog, Finn, and she thought about her friends—the men from her company that she had spent the better part of over a year with. 

When Lieutenant Copeland called for the team to stand up and hook up, Beth didn't falter for a second. She knew that the only way she would be able to see the ones she cared about most again was to keep her wits about her and do her job exactly the way she had been told to do it.

As the plane door opened and the quiet countryside of Normandy appeared below, everyone stared down at it in awe. In a few hours, the area would be littered with soldiers, American and German, and the sky would be lit up with tracer rounds and explosions; but right then it was quiet and peaceful, a welcoming sight for a team of terrified pathfinders. 

Then Lieutenant Copeland turned to look at his troopers. He didn't open his mouth to speak—everything he had needed to say had been said on the tarmac in England—but the look in his eyes spoke loud and clear. When the red light beside the door switched to green, he gave a single nod, wishing everyone the best of luck.

It was time. 

Having been the last one to board the plane, Beth was at the front of the line, meaning she would make the first jump. Her heart was pounding against her chest like a drum as she stepped up to the open door, the harsh wind whipping her face. Still, she didn't falter. 

When Beth felt the tap on her shoulder, she let her training take over and jumped from the relative safety of the plane. The initial shock was jarring, as it always was, but as soon as her chute deployed and she slowed to a controlled fall, there was no more fear; all that was left was the mission.

Just like during her training jumps, Beth felt as though the descent went by in the blink of an eye while also dragging on for ages. Time felt warped when in between two destinations, especially when the in-between stage was spent in the air, leaving you unable to grasp onto reality fully. 

As Beth's body hit the ground and she disappeared into the tall grass, she wasted no time in detaching herself from her chute and finding her bearings. Looking up into the night sky at the other planes of pathfinders flying overhead, Beth watched as her team drifted to the ground after her, most of them managing to land in fairly close proximity. 

Corporal Brian Cook was the last to regroup with the team, and when he did, a blanket of relief fell over the group. Every single one of them had made it to the ground safely.