The Girl In The War (Under Editing)

Part Three

The next day easy company were gathered, stood at attention, Speirs stood in front of them and he began to speak "general taylor is aware that many veterans, including Normandy veterans, still do not have the eighty-five points required to be discharged, on this day he has authorised a lottery to send one man home from each company effective immediately" Rose smiled as she saw Welsh pretend to root around for a name in a helmet as she knew that Shifty's name was the only name in the helmet as it had been her idea, "for easy company the winner is... serial number 13066266 sergeant Darrell C. Powers" Easy let out a cheer but stopped when Speirs began to talk again "Sergeant Grant will make sure that second platoon takes over at the crossroads checkpoint beginning tonight at 2200 hours, general taylor has also announced that the 101st airborne division will definitely be redeployed to the Pacific, so beginning tomorrow at 0600 hours we will begin training to go to war" Silence fell over the area as Speirs looked towards Rose who gave a gentle nod "also..." everyone looked towards Speirs not knowing what else he could say "I am happy to announce that Regiment has decided to promote Sergeant Johnson to Lieutenant" cheers erupted and Rose felt the people around her pat her on her back in congratulations but the cheers soon stopped at Speirs continued "sadly, tonight at 1900 hours, Lieutenant Johnson will be leaving easy company to join the 5th marines in Okinawa, in the Pacific" Rose stared down at the ground as she felt eyes land on her but she couldn't look up. Speirs waited a moment before dismissing the company, everyone crowded around Rose who still hadn't looked up from her feet, Malarkey made his way next to Rose "alright guys, give her some room"

Rose has finally made it away from the crowd of questions, she sat next to the lake looking out to the sparkling water and she was at peace. Rose heard footsteps from behind her but she didn't turn not until she heard the voice of Malarkey "we thought we could find you here" Rose turned and saw a small group of easy company men that included Malarkey, Luz, Liebgott, Babe, Bull and Martin. The boys all moved to sit in a line next to Rose, Malarkey sat on Rose's Left and Luz sat on Rose's right. No words were said but the group knew that this may be the last time they were all together. Silence rested around the group before Martin spoke "we're gonna miss you Tiny" Rose smiled sadly before answering "i know, I'm gonna miss you all too but you gotta look at the silver lining" the men all looked towards Rose "the 5th marines, the company I'm joining, is the company that Eugene is in" Babe let out a laugh and took off his boots and placed his feet into the water "that is a silver lining" he said "you get to see your marine" Rose rolled her eyes before sighing "for the last time, he is not my marine" the group burst out laughing and when they stopped Bull spoke up "we got you a present" Rose looked towards the man who had saved her life in Holland as he looked towards Liebgott who pulled out a box from his pocket and stated "its not much but... you deserve something" Rose grabbed the box and carefully opened it and smiled. In the box was three packets of lucky strikes, Rose looked up as Luz spoke "we know that your gonna need them" Rose felt a tear slide down her cheek gently as she smiled "thank you" she whispered, she was surprised that any of them were able to hear her but they were. Once Rose had closed the box again and placed it in her pocket she placed her head on Malarkey's shoulder as the group watched the sun set over the hills until it was time for the female medic to leave.

It was finally time for Rose to leave she had dressed in a completely new uniform, a marines uniform, and she walked out of the room and outside to see a line of easy company men waiting for her, making a path to the jeep that was waiting for her. Rose almost cried when she heard Winters order "attention!" all the men stood saluting the medic as she walked through them on her way to the jeep. Rose knew what it was saying, it was there way of saying thank you for everything she had done for them. Rose finally reached the jeep and placed her medic bag in before she climbed in herself, she looked back one last time at the men she had served with for her time in europe and smiled. The jeep began to move and Rose said a mental goodbye to easy company.