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Belt 10 - Page 3

It's safe to say that every road junction in the 101st area normally featured the
remnants of enemy machine guns crews and dead Americans too. Lieutentant ordered
Hicks to dash across the road to draw fire if any. Nothing happened. While on the
other side of the road junction Hicks heard footsteps coming. He crawled into the
hedgerow and waited. It was a German. Hicks ran his ammo-less rifle between his
legs, tripped him and sank his trench knife into his neck. It was his first German.
The Lieutenant and Jelleseed extended to him their heartiest congratulations. "Now,"
said the Lieutenant, "is to kill the remaining 99,999,999 Germans and then we can go
home." They proceded on and met Aebischer and Droogan, the medic who was going nuts
trying to find the 2nd Battalion aid station and something with wheels on to transport
the wounded. There were now five in the group. All had lost their maps and just
headed in any direction hoping to bump into somebody who could straighten them out.
Hicks scout led the way. He had crickets answered with his. A voice called out of
the hedgerow yelled, "Flash." He couldn't for the life of him make his lips mutter
the countersign for the moment and in desperation shouted, "Don’t shoot. It's Hicks.”
As if the name ’Hicks' was well known by everybody hiding in any hedgerow. It turned
out to be Doug Roth, McNeise and Lieutenant McDowell -- all Fox men. The
Lieutenant's knee was in such bad shape that his leg turned around like a swivel
when he walked. Meanwhile the Lieutenant from Easy Company said his leg hurt worse
than hell and he’d hide away in a hedgerow until he spotted some friendly transporta-
tion to take him to the nearest aid station. Lieutenant McDowell had maps. They
were on the road from Ste. Mere-Eglise, the place of that tolling bell. We turned
about face and then east to the junction of Ste. Marie-du-Mont and from there to
Pouppeville. Aebischer and Droogan supported the Lieutenant on the shoulders. At
the junction 88 shells came in scattering the group like scared flies. A dud landed
with a cracking thud fifteen feet to the right of Hicks causing him to loose a fast
five pounds. Gordon Masther and Julius Hauk joined up at this time. Continual