Chapter : 54
John poured himself another glass of cognac and settled down in a leather chair in Dexter’s library before a roaring fire. It was almost sunrise, but Kelly's mind still swirled with to much anger to sleep. As he sipped his cognac, he dreamt of the Last time he saw his old friend and former commander Jefferson Anderson. It was June 1944, Jeff was the commander of the eighty-six Airborne platoon and John was a young airborne soldier. John and his fellow brothers in arms were preparing to parachute jump into German occupied France.The night sky was filled with exploding German artillery fire from the Wehrmacht, the German armed forces of the Third Reich.
John and his fellow airborne soldiers where blown off course and landed just south of the village of Sainte-Mère-Église.. A squad of German infantry armed with MP-18 submachine surrounded Kelly. Through thick clouds of gun smoke, John scrabbled on his hands and knees, for shelter behind a stone wall. Though his hands trembled in fear, John took careful aim and slowly pulled the trigger of his new colt 45.
Blood erupted from the German soldier's heads as the bullet from his gun disseminated their brains. John was thrilled by his first murder. Kelly quickly developed a lust of blood as his mind swirled with thoughts of glory, heroism and pride. A smile adorned the soldier’s face as he cast his green eyes upon his first confirmed kill. John searched in haste to find more German to kill before his imminent death.
Hundreds of Airborne soldiers descended from heaven. Their fluttering parachutes swayed in the breeze like leaves cascading down from a mighty oak tree. As the airborne platoon parachuted through the smoke filled skis, German snipers pick them off one by one. Their bloody bodies crashed to the French soil like rocks falling from the sky. Rage feasted in John’s heart as he tried to save his friends from being brutally murdered. Regrettably John watched in horror as his friend Private Daniel Osborn became snagged in an oak tree. Bullets from a German machine gun slaughter Kelly's friend before his eyes. A stick grenade, or as the Brits called them "potato masher," exploded in front of John. The grenade impeded his chance to save Daniel. As the smoke cleared Kelly could see Daniel’s lifeless body dangle from the oak tree. Private Kelly drooped to his knees and wept.
Four Germans soldiers dashed out of their jeep and rushed towards John. Terror engulfed his heart as he prayed to god to save his life. God answered Kelly's prayers when sergeant Jefferson Anderson released a barrage of bullet upon the enemy. Jeff thrust Kelly to the ground just as a German potato mashed exploded two feet away. The potato masher mangled John’s chest and arm as blood trickled down the side of Jeff’s face. Bleeding to death, the soldier pondered the possibility that they were about to die. Their lives were suddenly spared when corporeal Robert Banner and privateTodd Beacon grabbed the injured soldiers and carried them to the safety of a nearby barn. John and Jeff quickly became great friends as the medic’s attend to their wounds.