Home

No sooner was Christmas and New year over that they were now focused on their jump training. Flo was a bundle of nerves and excitement as they prepared to move to Fort Benning.

"Can you believe we're leaving Toccoa?" Flo exclaimed to Lip one morning as he was helping her move around some medical supplies while Gene was at briefing.

"Ahh, I don't think we're ever gonna really leave Toccoa fizz" Lip replied, "We will be using the skills we learned here for God knows how long this war lasts, and I don't think we will ever forget captain Sobel".

Flo shuddered "That man is gonna haunt my dreams till I'm 90 I swear". Lip laughed as Gene came in shaking his head.

"What's wrong Gene?"

"Col Sink has had the amazing idea of us beating the Japanese 100-mile march, so we the lucky 2nd battalion get to march from here to Atlanta, which is 118 miles in 3 days," Gene said with fake enthusiasm.

"At least we're prepared" Floss stated as Lip looked downcast.

From Toccoa to Atlanta her feet ached, she and Gene had played eye spy about 500 times by the time they reached Atlanta, the crowds were huge and photographers were snapping away.

"You alright Fizz?" asked Shifty as he smiled for the cameras

"Yeah" she whispered in a small voice

Soon the crowd noticed there was a young girl marching with them and to give the battalion publicity, Sink ordered her to pose for photos with Winters, Nix, and Sobel and give a small interview.

"What state are you from honey?" asked the reporter as he looked her up and down

"Oh, I'm not from America, I come from England" she smiled a small smile as she thought of home.

"Really, how did you wind up here then?" the reporter asked intrigued

"Erm, I was scouted by the US scouts over there when I was in the nurse corps and then I was put in easy company"

"Interesting, so did the men give you a good welcome?" he had a sinister smile on his face and Flo didn't like it.

"Erm, yeah they were all polite, is there a point to this?" Flo asked

"Hmm, that's all i'll be needing for now," The reporter said as he sauntered away

Then Bull came up to her, "I don't like that guy" Flo told him.

Bull pulled the cigar out his mouth "He looks right shady boy, gotta keep an eye on him".

At fort Benning, they did their jump training. Flo couldn't help but laugh as the men came tumbling out of the fake door.

Sobel was shouting "

You just broke both your legs, Private Gordon. Are you trying you get yourself killed?"

To which Flo whispered to Gene, "Like he's an expert"

They then did actual jumps, adrenaline coursed through Flo's veins as she jumped out of the plane, at first before she remembered to pull her chute, she was terrified but then suddenly she was floating, looking out over the world it was gorgeous.

She landed next to Dukeman and by the time they had got their parachutes under control and taken the clip off they were lying next to each other laughing hysterically.

Nix was the nearest to them and he came over and gave them a hand up, Floss spotted Muck as she stood up and ran over to him and tackled him to the ground, he let out a shrill scream

"You need to be aware of your surroundings Skippy" she laughed as his face was a picture.

"Fizz, can you check my ankle for me, I think it's twisted" shouted Popeye

"Coming" as she shouted running over to Pop

"You big drama queen, you've only landed on it funny, you can walk on it, should be right as rain overnight" she laughed

Over the next 2 weeks, they completed their other 4 jumps and it was time for the ceremony where they got their jump wings.

Col sink gave out their jump wings in a ceremony when Flo was called up there were cheers of "That's the way its done fizz". The result was she was smiling like a lunatic and as Sink handed her the wings be couldn't help but smile back at the bright, sparkly green-eyed girl.

That night they all had a big party to celebrate, Flo danced with pretty much every member of easy company, even Winters and Nix.

"Is that dust on your jump wings? How are you gonna slay the Hun with dusty jump wings?" Luz said as he impersonated Sobel.

Flo bent over double laughing, as the men smiled at their little sister. Sink entered and made a short speech about how he was proud of each and every one of them and to remember their motto 'currahee'. Then the party got a bit wild so Flo started making her way back to barracks. As she was walking she noticed Speirs stood outside dog companies party smoking and she watched as one of his friends went back inside leaving him alone. She went over to join him and they chatted for a few hours before Flo finally felt sleep catch up on her.

"Goodnight sir," she said happily walking away

"Night Florrie" he replied smiling.

As she was walking back someone roughly pulled her up against one of the huts. "I don't know what the armies playing at but the least you can do is provide us with relief," the stranger said as he started to pull down her trousers. Flo quickly kneed him in the groin and kicked him back as she ran toward her bunk. When she arrived Bill, Malark, and Chuck we're sitting there playing cards having left the party early, Flo ran up to them and grabbed the one closest to her, who happened to be Malark and hugged him tightly, Bill quickly nodded to Chuck and he ran outside. Bill and Malark sat her on her bed and both put an arm around her, she wasn't crying Fizz never cried.

Chuck suddenly flew into the room with Winters on his tail, they both stood in front of Flo and knelt down,

"Floss whats happened?" Winters asked

"It was nothing, I pushed him off" she whispered

All the men looked at each other with rage in their eyes

"Do you know who the man was?" Winters asked quietly

"No, it was too dark," she said as she looked up at him, "Sir really I'm fine, I was shaken for about 2 minutes but I'm okay, he was drunk and I will be careful and only walk around at night with one of the boys" after that she smiled at all of them.

Winters looked unsure but eventually nodded and said "Keep an eye on her men" and they all nodded and she then said she just wanted to sleep. They left her and went back to their card game on Bill's bed. When she wasn't looking at them Flo's face turned to one of sadness and pain. Why did one person have to ruin one of the best nights she had, had in a while.

The next thing she knew she was on a boat headed for home.

Listening to the boy's conversations in their cramped bunks was some of the most amusing entertainment Flo could ever have imagined, she was smiling quietly to herself trying to read her book of The Tree of Heaven when she heard Perco going on about the Pacific "

Right now, some lucky bastard's headed for the South Pacific. He'll get billeted

on some tropical island. Sitting under a tree with naked native girls...helping him cut up coconuts so he can hand-feed the flamingos."

"Shut up Perco, anyway Flamingos bite" said Bill

"So do the naked native girls. With any luck," replied Penk

Then Joe piped up "Guys I'm glad I'm going to Europe, Hitler gets one of these across the windpipe, Roosevelt changes thanksgiving to Joe Toye day and pays me $10 000 a day for the rest of my life" and with that Flo burst out laughing. The men all looked up and smiled, it had been a rough couple of days for their girl.

The next part of the conversation showed exactly how they all felt about Sobel, they were all beginning to think of him as a joke since he had got them all killed in a training exercise and had the audacity to blame Winters and Nix.

"What if the paratrooper you're next to turns out to be Sobel" asked Muck

"If I'm next to Sobel, I'm moving down the line. Hook up with another officer,

like Heyliger or Winters." Malark was saying

"I like Winters. But when bullets fly,I don't want a Quaker fighting for me" said Joe

"How do you know that?" asked Chuck

"He ain't Catholic." Joe replied

"Neither's Sobel." said Penk

"That prick's a son of Abraham." said Bill

This conversation was starting to get to Flo, she doesn't like boats and being in this cramped area was giving her a headache. An argument about religion was the last thing she needed.

"He's what?" asked Lieb

"He's a Jew." Bill replied

"I'm a Jew." Lieb responded and stood up staring at Bill

"Congratulations, get your nose out of my face" Bill then said.

And then there was the inevitable fight between the two. After a minute Flo couldn't take it anymore

"Will you both shut up, i've got a banging headache, and i don't need you two blowing up at each other just cause we've been stuck on this bloody boat for 2 weeks. Now i'm going up for some fresh air". Flo then stormed away and the men looked guiltily at each other.

As she was walking up, she bumped into Speirs who had just been in a meeting for the NCO's. Flo smiled at him and followed as he nodded his head towards the deck, it was around 10pm so the men should be sleeping. As the two walked past, Winters and Nix shared a smile, they knew Speirs wouldn't do anything to hurt their young medic and it was good she had someone to talk to outside of easy.

Up on the deck it was beautiful, the stars were so clear. The pair walked to the furthest end of the boat and leaned on the railing. As Flo was looking up, Speirs was watching her.

"How are you Florrie? I haven't seen you for ages" he asked

"I know, it's been weird, I have been waking up at half 4 on sundays and have nowhere to go" she laughed

He smiled, then said "You know you didn't answer my question", he looked coyly at her. "Come on Florrie tell me what's up"

She sighed "I guess, it just feels real now you know. I'm starting to think about medical procedures in my sleep and I'm scared. I'm scared that when my boys need me, I won't be there or I'll be frozen in fear during gunfire or artillery and most of all I'm scared that because I didn't get there quick enough or I don't know what to do, I will be the cause of a man's death and i can't think how I will get over that" she whispered.

Speirs didn't say anything, instead, he wrapped the young girl up in his arms and held her tightly and she pushed her face into his neck and they just held each other like their world was ending.

Speirs eventually whispered into her ear "It will never be your fault. It's all the fault of a man called Hitler. Don't ever lose who you are because of it, you may change in some ways, become stronger or not turn a hair at death but don't change your personality that we all love".

"I'll try"

Then they let each other go and looked out at the sea. After about half an hour in which they chatted about their memories from Toccoa, Flo suddenly noticed lights in the distance and she then said with a bright smile on her face,

"Ron, I'm home"