Thoughts and Regrets (Patterson)

[Stabsgefreiter F. Blutstein]

Country: Churbourg, France
Date: 1200 Hours
Weather: Light sprinkle of rain, some thunder in the distance.

The march had been strenuous on Freidrich and the men who accompanied him. Everytime a soldier fell behind, wounded or not, he would get some form of punishment. Whether it be an open hand slap or a rifle butt to the stomach. Freidrich was beaten pretty badly when he had tripped. The two young men that tried to help him up were pushed aside and yelled at. One was hit in the forehead by one of the American's pistol butts. It left a huge gash bleeding. After a few minutes of being kicked in the stomach, spit on, and punched, the two American soldiers found something better to do. Freidrich spit out some blood and tried to stand. He slipped on a pile of mud that sent excruciating pain through his leg. Regardless of the pain, Freidrich stood and hobbled to their destination.

The destination turned out to be nothing more than a transition area so the group of Germans could be pushed onto another group of Americans until they were brought to the true prison.

Freidrich and the other ten Germans were placed on a small hill overlooking a road. Five Americans were stationed to watch over all of them and one medic was moving throughout them all giving them decent medical attention. The medic came to Freidrich first. He bent over to put a bandage over his wound. Freidrich waved him away. "Nein...um...no. Please, attend to my men first." He said in good English. Before Freidrich was to be a Sniper he was trained in the English language so he could possibly one day be a spy. The medic looked at him and nodded. "Have it your way, pal." He said in an uncaring tone.

Freidrich sat back, relieving stress from his back and reached inside of his shirt. One of the Americans moved forward, rifle pointed in Freidrich's face. "What'cha got there, kraut?" The man said in the type of accent that interested Freidrich. "Es...it's a journal. See?" He said as he held out the small leather book. The man smirked and glanced away. "Your accent, it sounds like...New York?" The man looked back at Freidrich. "Yeah, Brooklyn. What's it to ya?" Freidrich gave the man a faint smile. "It...sounds interesting." He said. The man glared at Freidrich. "Screw you too, buddy." Then he moved away, back to his post. Freidrich shook his head and started writing in his journal.

[MAJ Patterson]

Patterson was finishing up the paperwork needed to transfer his prisoners on to another unit from the 3ID, he and his men still had work to do before returning to their respective base so this would be the last stop for them before they turned back around and went back toward the front. Henry looked up as a small package was slid across the desk to him. He looked up to see a clean cut Lieutenant standing there in a fairly well sorted out uniform. "What is this?" he asked as the papers that went with the small box were handed to him as well.

"These are yours sir, Congratulations." The butter bar said with a small smile before turning and walking away.

Patterson picked up the envelope and tore it open then removed the papers. "Let's see here. The U.S. Army is proud to inform you, blah, blah, blah..." Henry said under his breath as he skimmed over the paper. "...more blah, bit of extra blah on the side...and hereby bestows upon you the rank of...WHAT THE HELL?!" Patterson blurted out, the last portion could be heard by several within earshot. The looked at him oddly and he slowly sat back down and turned his eyes back to the paper. "The dang Army is making me a Major...Major headache sounds more fitting." Patterson grabbed up the small box and flipped it open. Sitting there on a crushed velvet backing were a pair of brand spanking new Golden Oak Leaf Clusters. They had never been worn and looked so nice that it almost had him feeling uneasy. He glanced around to see if this was a joke, but the signature at the bottom looked real enough, even had the right name one it. Henry slowly pulled them from their roost and rubbed them quickly up and down his sleeve. "Last thing I need is an over zealous Kraut with a crack shot to ruin my day when he spots these pretty ranks a mile away." he muttered to himself before pulling his Captain bars off of his shoulders. He looked at them nostalgically. They were all kinds of scuffed and scratched. There was even a small bit of dried blood on them. He smirked to himself and shoved them into his pocket before he pinned his new ranks on his shoulders.

The new Major finished up his paperwork and dropped them off with the Sergeant of the guard, his men would be taking the prisoners back to base in the morning. After a few short pleasantries he headed back over to his men. The sight he found was not one he wanted to see. Henry hadn't marched back with the bulk of his men or the prisoners, he went ahead on a bumpy ride so that he could get started on pulling fresh supplies and ammunition for his men so they wouldn't have to worry about it, they could just settle in, get a few hours of sleep and be ready to move out in the morning. "Holy mother of God!" were the first words out of his mouth as he approached the group. Immediately almost all eyes were fixed on him. "Who was in charge of these prisoners during the march?!" he spat quickly. A slender looking Sergeant scurried over to Patterson.

"That would be me sir!"[/i] the young man said slightly hesitantly.

"Right, of course you were." Patterson glared at him then leaned over in his sergeant's ear. "We've still got another mission before we head back to base. Should you live that long you can save yourself the embarrassment and come to my office and resign your rank, or I'll track you down and rip them from your sleeves in front of whoever is watching." Patterson was eerily calm while he spoke.

"Sir I don't..."[/i] he was cut off.

"You see Sergeant..." The Major interrupted sarcastically. "...we have rules in this Army, and my men and I follow them. You may not have directly mistreated these prisoners but you were responsible for their well being. They were no where near this bad of shape when I left them in your care. Also, if you decide to cause a scene I'll rip your ranks off right this moment, but I don't think neither you nor I want to be responsible for the drop in moral for the rest of the men this would cause." Henry stood straight once more with a scolding look on his face for a moment before dropping it.

"Understood sir!" the fading Sergeant called out confidently. He knew he was in the wrong, and it happened all too often, but when you were charged with keeping your own friends in line that were almost hell bent on killing the men they were escorting, it was an all too tough decision.

Henry cleared his throat then addressed the group as a whole. "Listen up, we are turning these men over to Baker Company for the remainder of the trip. I've already situated your bunk arrangements for the night. Just head down this road two blocks and make a left. Look for the only building with a staircase still intact, that's us. I've been able to arrange for us to be left out of the guard rotation tonight, get some good rest men we move out again in the morning. For the time being remain here until Staff Sergeant Wells relieves you. Are there any questions?"

[Stabsgefreiter F. Blutstein]

Freidrich had just gotten done with being bandaged when he stood and started limping towards his men to comfort them. He made it to the other Stabsgefreiter first. "How are they holding up, Karl?" He asked the man. "They are doing good, given the situation. They feel that you did the right thing Freidrich." Freidrich saw truth in the older man's eyes. "And what do you think?" Karl looked down at his feet. "I think, we would have done better if those SS cowards had not have come." Freidrich smiled. "They lost their fight before the battle started, but let's not dwell on the past." Just as Freidrich finished his sentence an American walked out from behind one of the buildings. He was about thirty feet away from them when Freidrich recognized who he was. It was the man that had taken them pirsoner. He met what looked to Freidrich was a Sergeant and started speaking to him. It didn't look too friendly.

Freidrich then heard a commosion behind him. He looked to see one of his men being taunted by an American. He started moving closer. Now he could hear exactly what the American was saying. "What was that? You wanna get hit again?" He said then hit the m,an in the chest with the butt of his rifle. Freidrich finally made his way to the soldier. The German soldier was still on his knees sucking wind from when he got hit. Freidrich spoke to him in a whisper. "Breathe slowly." The American now started talking to Freidrich. "Oh, is this your mama comin' to save her baby?" Freidrich stood eye to eye with the man. "What're you lookin' at kraut?" He said as he pulled his rifle back to hit Freidrich. He stepped to the side and the man fell as he lunged to hit open air. A few of his friends laughed and beckoned him to leave the Germans alone. The man did so but not without spitting towards them. Freidrich shook his head in disgust.

"Listen up, we are turning these men over to Baker Company for the remainder of the trip. I've already situated your bunk arrangements for the night. Just head down this road two blocks and make a left. Look for the only building with a staircase still intact, that's us. I've been able to arrange for us to be left out of the guard rotation tonight, get some good rest men we move out again in the morning. For the time being remain here until Staff Sergeant Wells relieves you. Are there any questions?"

Freidrich put his arm in the air in response to the mans question. He knew he wasn't being addressed, but he felt he needed to speak to the man who seemed to be in charge.

[MAJ Patterson]

Patterson glanced over the mixed group and noticed a raised arm, a very out of place raised arm. It was one of the commanding German troops that had been taken as a prisoner not twenty four hours ago. Patterson was about to address the man when a hot headed American soldier started walking toward the questioning Axis soldier. "Lay a hand on him and I'll have you shot where you stand soldier!" the Major spat harshly at the man, the look on his face was worse then the tone he used, eyes narrowed, lips pressed together, jaw clenched. The man he stopped seemed to be fuming mad when the turned to face Patterson.

"Sir!"[/i] was all he said before he turned away, his pride a bit bruised.

Patterson relaxed himself a bit. "That goes for any other American soldier. Should I witness you mistreat a prisoner, may God have mercy on you. If you want to push it and I see you witness it without reporting it, well let's just say a firing squad is the easy way out." Patterson's men knew he was a hard ass, most on the outside of the unit saw him as a man that made empty threats, but those under his command knew that the results were rarely ever discussed which lead to the rumor. His men knew he meant every word he said, some feared him for it, but most respected him. It was rare these days to find someone that spoke what they meant and stood behind their word, even if it was the wrong one. The Major's word could be bet upon even on the worst days.

Henry walked a few steps toward the German soldier to speak with the man. "You speak English?" the Major asked.

[Stabsgefreiter F. Blutstein]

The man's hand was high above Freidrich's head. It was about to strike when a voice yelled a warning. "Lay a hand on him and I'll have you shot where you stand soldier!" Freidrich finally saw that at least one American held some value of human life. Whether it be enemy or ally. The man with his arm raised put it down and turned to the man. His face was red with anger as he walked towards the man. "Sir!" He said in an angry yet prideless tone. The older man that had yelled the order then turned to the rest of the group. "That goes for any other American soldier. Should I witness you mistreat a prisoner, may God have mercy on you. If you want to push it and I see you witness it without reporting it, well let's just say a firing squad is the easy way out."

Freidrich smiled lightly at the older man's remark. He remembered one of his Sergeants back when he was still in training. He would always yell, "The Russians and the Americans will be the least of your problem if you fail!" Freidrich's memory was stopped when the older man approached him. He saw a gleam off of the man's rank. Freidrich was sitting at the moment and stood to full attention. His leg ached with pain as he stood. He gave the respect of saluting the man. He tried to think of what rank it was. He had been trained in this, why was he struggling with it? Ah, yes. Major. The man then spoke. "You speak English?" He said as straightforward as Freidrich had heard.

"Yes sir." Freidrich said smoothly. "I see you are the Major that took the upper hand in our engagement." Freidrich said in a calm, joking voice. He was a bit hard on the consanants, but otherwise his English was very well and easily translated. Freidrich then became serious. "How many casualties did you have, Major?"

[MAJ Patterson]

Patterson took a moment and looked the man that spoke to him over, sizing him up perhaps, or just seeing the extent of his injuries. The man stood and saluted Henry which brought an odd look on the Major's face. "First off, do not salute me, you are no longer a soldier and those actions could end up with my men or myself shot. Second off I was a Captain when our engagement took place. Third I'm not going to reveal such information to you as that could signal weather your tactics were effective or not and I'd hate to personally be responsible for the reshaping or bolstering of my enemy's tactics." Patterson paused and just looked into the man's face, he was different than most, it took a strong man to speak to Patterson that served with him, but even more rare were prisoners confident enough to do so.

The Major cleared his throat before he continued. "Tell you what, you have a seat as you seem to be favoring your leg a bit and I'll see to it you personally join me for a hot meal and we can talk. It's been quite some time since someone in your position could hold a conversation with me, much less actually did so. Would you like that?" This brought a couple of smiles to the American soldiers faces, their commander had only offered up the opportunity twice before, and to this day there had been no takers. They seemed to think it was their Major's way of saying that he still had to grit to handle things on his own. One day they might figure out what it was truly about, if they lived that long.

Henry finished up his proposal with a nice gesture as well. "Oh, and I know how accepting this offer would make you look to your men, if any of them can understand us right now, but I will make sure they too get a hot meal. So you can either join me and they all eat nice for a change or you don't join me, they can eat leftovers and you still will not be quartered with them. That's standard U.S. Army policy anyway. Can't have the leaders staying with their men, might try something after all." He was speaking the truth. Research showed that no matter how horrible or astounding a commander was, if he and his men are taken prisoner and they remain in contact their loyalty for the man will sky rocket, not to mention their resolve to escape.

[Stabsgefreiter F. Blutstein]

Freidrich listened to the Major intently. He didn't mean to address his rank, just show his respect to the man. He followed what God said, that all men were created equal. He intended to treat everyone as such. He listened to the rest of the Major's lecture before he cleared his throat and went on in a seemingly kinder tone.

"Tell you what, you have a seat as you seem to be favoring your leg a bit and I'll see to it you personally join me for a hot meal and we can talk. It's been quite some time since someone in your position could hold a conversation with me, much less actually did so. Would you like that?" Freidrich was confused. The kindness didn't seem like the American way, but who was he to judge. He looked at his equal, Karl. He had been listening to the conversation and nodded. Freidrich knew that Karl would watch after the men when he was away. When he turned his head back, the Major went on.

"Oh, and I know how accepting this offer would make you look to your men, if any of them can understand us right now, but I will make sure they too get a hot meal. So you can either join me and they all eat nice for a change or you don't join me, they can eat leftovers and you still will not be quartered with them. That's standard U.S. Army policy anyway. Can't have the leaders staying with their men, might try something after all." Freidrich gave a slight smile. "As it would seem, Major." Freidrich hesitated on the last word.He wasn't quite sure how to address the man seeing as he corrected him about his misuse of rank earlier. "I will accept your offer, but I have one question. May I address my men to tell them what is happening? None of them speak English." Freidrich turned to his men (assuming he is allowed to addres them) and spoke. "I have good news, sons of Germany. The gracious Americans have allowed us to have a hot meal and will show us some of their better hospitality." He said in his native language. He moved to Karl and spoke softly to him. "Make sure the men don't do anything stupid while I'm away." He backed up and smiled as he patted his equal on the soldier. He then turned to the Major and waited for a reply.