Chapter 7 - Epilogue
Three years after the end of the war:
Paul LeMay appeared out of the blue at the Saunders residence. For years, Caje had played that fateful moment in Cherbourg over and over in his mind. He kept asking himself, if the supply sergeant had said something other than, "Prove It," would he still have acted as judge, jury and executioner or would he have walked away, angry but resigned to the fact that there was nothing he could do?
During most of the three weeks he stayed, he barely said a word to Kathy, the Sarge's wife. In the evenings the two men went for long walks. Kathy joked about it, saying they were, "going out on patrol." On those walks, sometimes they said nothing for hours. Sometimes they talked about what they had endured at the château. Eventually, Caje told his sergeant what happened while he was on his four-day pass. Time and distance finally allowed both men to come to terms with their ordeal and its consequences.
One morning Paul came to the breakfast table with a smile on his face, as if the weight of the world had been lifted from his shoulders. He thanked Kathy for her hospitality, hugged and kissed their son, little Charles Grady, and left that day. Kathy never knew the reason for his sudden appearance or what had changed. There were some things her husband would never share.
Three years later:
Chip bent over and kissed his wife as she was breast-feeding their new baby daughter.
"Have I told you lately how beautiful you are an' how much I love you?" he asked.
Kathy laughed. "Well, not within the last thirty minutes, and a girl can never hear it too often."
He sat down on the hospital bed and gently stroked the back of the baby's head with his finger.
"Have you decided on a name yet? You remember our deal, I name our sons, but the name of this little one is up to you."
"I was thinking of Grace, after your mother."
"Mom will like that, but what about your mother?"
"She'll have to wait for the next girl," Kathy said with a laugh.
Chip smiled and shook his head. "I don't think we can afford to feed another one. What about a middle name?"
"I can't think of one I like. Any ideas?"
He didn't answer right away. Then, he quietly said, "What about Madeleine?"
"Madeleine? That's pretty old fashioned. Where did that come from?"
"Oh, a little rabbit I once knew," he said enigmatically.
"Grace Madeleine Saunders," she wrinkled her nose, "I'm sorry, but I don't really like it." She thought for a minute and then said, "How about Madeleine Grace Saunders. We could call her Maddie."
He leaned over and kissed her. "Have I told you lately how much I love you?"
()()()()()()()()()()
Jim and Connie (18) stopped for a visit several months later when they were on their way to one of Doc's medical conferences in Pittsburgh. The women were in the kitchen talking as Kathy prepared dinner, leaving the medic and the sergeant alone for a few minutes. They sat on the back porch and watched Chip's two little boys romping in the yard.
"Caje was so proud that y'all asked him to be Maddie's godfather. Ah thought he was gonna burst when he told me." The medic was quiet for a moment, then continued, "Ah know she saved your lives. It's a nice tribute to her."
"You're right, Doc. She died saving us...I hope Caje is still proud when Maddie turns out to be a holy terror an' we ask him to come up an' straighten her out." Saunders laughed at the thought, because he already knew that baby girl was going to be able to wrap him and the Cajun around her little finger.
"Say, Ah brought something that Ah thought you might like Maddie to have." He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out Claudette. "She asked me to take care of it for her. Ah think she'd approve of it being passed on to her namesake, if you'd like it."
Saunders took the little doll and held it in his hand. "Yeah, Doc, I'd like that a lot. Thanks."
()()()()()()()()()()
Several days later Kathy looked in the crib and saw Maddie's pudgy little hand wrapped tightly around the leg of a strange little doll. When Chip got home that evening, she asked him about it. He gave her another enigmatic response.
"Oh, that's Claudette. I have it on good authority that sometimes little girls need someone to talk to. And, I have it on equally good authority that Claudette's an excellent listener."
()()()()()()()()()()
(18) Doc's first name, as well as the names of his and Saunders' wives and the name of Saunders' first born son all come from "Pvt. Joseph Lydecker: Part 6, Chapter 2 - Epilogue."
()()()()()()()()()()
()()()()()()()()()()
The torture depicted in this story is the result of the author's imagination and does not represent (to my knowledge) any documented incident perpetrated on U.S. soldiers in the ETO.
Historical Note #1: Within two weeks of the civil war breaking out in Spain in 1936, Nazi Germany had sent planes and pilots to help the Nationalists bring back 3,000 troops stationed in Morocco. Most of those early German military personnel were volunteers. They were later supplemented with assigned Luftwaffe units, and organized into the Condor Legion. The German troops remained in Spain until the Nationalists, led by Generalissimo Francisco Franco, achieved victory in April 1939. In all, around 16,000 men, and almost one hundred planes saw action in Spain. España Partida en Dos: Breve Historia de la Guerra Civil Española by Julián Casanova.
Historical Note #2: The Red Ball Express began operating August 25, 1944 after the Allied breakout from Normandy. The twenty-eight Allied divisions needed constant resupply and the idea of truck conveys was conceived from that necessity. At its peak, the Red Ball Express operated 5,958 vehicles and carried 12,500 tons of supplies a day, including food, ammunition and gasoline. It was primarily (75%) staffed by African-American soldiers.
The trucks ran on marked routes that were closed to civilian traffic. In theory, the convoys consisted of at least five trucks escorted in front and behind by a jeep. However, it was not uncommon for one, two or three trucks to depart from Cherbourg as soon as they were loaded. It was also not uncommon for the drivers to disable the engine governors which limited speed to 56 mph.
Like the Pony Express, the Red Ball Express was short-lived, only lasting 83 days (until November 16, 1944). When the port facilities at Antwerp, Belgium were opened, enough French rail lines were repaired (many of the tracks had been bombed by the Allies in the years prior to D-Day to interfere with German logistics), and gasoline pipelines were installed to support the tank units, the Red Ball Express was no longer needed.
Historically, the term 'Red Ball' attached to any type of transport meant that it was important and vital that it reached its destination quickly.
Historical Note #3: Between June 1944 and April 1945, the U.S. Army's Criminal Investigation Branch handled a total of 7,912 cases in the ETO. Forty percent of those involved the misappropriation of supplies.
()()()()()()()()()()
Dear Reader,
I hope you have enjoyed each of the four parts of "Trials and Tribulations" and the story as a whole. Like the Joey Lydecker saga, this tale has taken more than a year to create, starting with the first plot idea through the outline, research, rough draft, rewrites, proof-reading, beta reading, and more rewrites.
As with all of my efforts, I would greatly appreciate it if you would take a few moments to offer your comments and/or constructive criticism. While I do enjoy writing these stories, it is disheartening to work in a vacuum, only hearing from the same few people (Thank You!) and not from members of the wider audience of Combat! fiction fans, i.e. if only a few people are enjoying them, should I keep posting them?
Thanks, in advance…QB