Disclaimer: Band of Brothers does not belong to me. I own nothing and I mean no disrespect to any Easy Company member. My work is solely based on the tv portrayal, completely separate from the real life counterparts; with information attained from Brothers in Battle, Best of Friends by William "Wild Bill" Guarnere and Edward "Babe" Heffron, We Who Are Alive and Remain by Marcus Brotherton and various websites. I have the utmost respect to veterans, past and present and I mean no harm. I do not own the song "For You" by Keith Urban or "I Was Here" by Lady Antebellum, they merely inspired me, so I made them my story title.
A/N: This is my first fanfiction, in fact this is the first thing I have ever written; other than school required writing. I am trying to stay as true to history and fact as possible, but sometimes I might have to alter things to fit (hopefully as believable as possible). I have set up a Tumblr for this story: foryou-iwashere [d o t ] tumblr [d o t ] c o m; password is avasteinhauser. I also have a Pinterest board for the 1940s if anyone's interested in checking that out just let me know. I am not sure how often I will be able to update so I will make no promises as to when. I will try my best but as a mom with two babies under two, it might not be frequent. If you like this story, please let me know. I am quite nervous about posting. Constructive criticism is welcome. I hope whoever is reading this likes the story. Enjoy! :)
The White House has just released this statement that a massive ambush airstrike, by the Japanese, was made on Pearl Harbor and on all principal naval and military bases on the Hawaiian island of Oahu. Further reports are coming in of significant American causalities, of both military personnel and civilians. We have also just learned of a second air attack, reported on army and navy bases in Manila. It appears the Japanese-lead hostilities are opening up over the entire Pacific region.
September of 1942; Toccoa, GA.
"You people are at the position of attention!"
Please do not notice me, please do not notice me. "Lt. Steinhauser!" Darn it!
"Sir!" I replied. Sobel gave me an once over. "I can see your hair sticking out of your helmet, weekend pass is revoked!"
You might be wondering what in the world is a woman doing with a bunch of soldiers. Let me backtrack a bit.
July of 1942; Toccoa, GA
Today was the day. In about a hour I was to be at Camp Toccoa, a training group for paratroopers. If I made it through the physical training, I would be the first female medic/nurse to be stationed exclusively on the front lines with male soldiers. I would eat, sleep, train, and live with these men. With any luck they would become my brothers in arms. My closest friends.
Finally the train pulled into the station; I hopped aboard a bus that would take me the six miles west to the base. Breath, I told myself, constantly doubting if I could succeed. Thoughts kept popping into my head, Would they like me? What if they hated me? Oh what did I let Colonel Flikke and Uncle Frank get me into. But I must do this for myself, to prove to myself and everyone back home that I can succeed. To prove that a woman can do more than just organize balls and play dress up.
I couldn't help but to fan myself, the heat already being so much hotter than it was back home in New York. As I stepped off the bus with my trunk locker, bedding roll, my suitcase, and my musette bag; dressed in my uniform of a medium blue skirt, white shirt, black tie, black shoes, and my dark blue garrison cap; I stuck out like a sore thumb. Other than Colonel Sink's secretary, I must have been the only female within miles.
"Hey fellas! Get a hold of this! It's a dame!"
"What's a pretty little thing like you doing all the way out here?!"
I looked over to see a group of men smiling and cat-calling. Just ignore them.
"Miss Steinhauser?" I looked up to see a young man, who looked to be not much older than myself waiting for my reply.
"Yes, that would be me." He gave me an once over, and when he noticed my uniform with my second lieutenant insignia, I saw his eyes widen.
"Sorry ma'am," he replied and then saluted me.
"As you were private...what did you say your name was?" I asked him. He stuttered back nervously "Um, I didn't ma'am. My name is Loraine, Private First Class Gerald Loraine. I'm Colonel Sink's runner. He sent me to fetch you."
"Alright, lets go." I sighed.
PFC Loraine then lead me to probably the biggest building at camp. We walked up a flight of stairs and he knocked on the door.
"Enter." Here we go.
Once the typical formalities were out of the way Colonel Sink went straight to reviewing my file.
"Let's see, you graduated early from The Brearly School at sixteen. Immediately entered nursing school. Graduated with honors from Vanderbilt School of Nursing. Worked two years at Mount Sinai Hospital, in the surgery and burn ward. Joined the nurse corps and were stationed with the 2nd Evacuation Hospital at Fort Devens. You completed three month of intensive military training. From March to July you were sent to work at Lovell General Hospital in Ayer Massachusetts to aquire some hands on experience. You are fluent in six languages and can understand Japanese." Colonel Sink's eyebrows raised slightly and he looked to me questioningly.
"Yes sir. I am what's called a polyglot. My father is a Russlanddeutsche, which means he is German and Russian, so I grew up hearing those languages at home. My family traveled to a different country each summer from the time I was five to the time I was sixteen. I tried to make it a point to at least attempt to learn the language of each country I was visiting." I replied, leaning slightly forward.
Colonel Sink looked up at me and said "Now Lt. Steinhauser, I hope you understand that this is not set in stone. If, and only if, you make it past your training with Captain Sobel, will you become a member of Easy Company. You will be treated like just another soldier. You will not receive any special treatment, even if your uncle does so happen to be President Roosevelt."
I found myself nodding and said "yes sir."
"There will be many eyes on you Miss Steinhauser. There are a lot of people who want you to fail." My eyes widened slightly. "But there are also a lot of people who are rooting for you to succeed. Personally, I am one of those." Colonel Sink shot me a smile. Surprisingly I was able to muster one up in return.
"I will not lie to you Miss Steinhauser, training will be difficult. It will be long and hard. Not to mention it might take awhile for the men to warm up to the idea of a woman being with them. But with any luck, they will accept you as one of them." I smiled. "You will be permitted to wear your Army Nurse Corps uniforms, because technically you still are a member. You will have to wear the PT uniform though. I will have Private Loraine bring you your combat fatigues, boots, and anything else you may need."
"Do you have any questions?" Colonel Sink asked me.
A million thoughts ran through my mind, but I simply responded, "No, sir."
"One last thing, Miss Steinhauser, if you have any problems come to me first. Anything at all. I will not let my company's reputation be tarnished by anyone who cannot keep their hands or thoughts to themselves."
Sink then picked up his desk phone to let whoever was on the other end know that I was there and they were okay to come retrieve me.
"Good luck, Avalese. You will need it."
After Colonel Sink's introduction I was then introduced to two men.
First it was First Lieutenant Sobel, a man who made it extremely obvious he was not happy to have me there. His first words to me were that he "was not happy about having a female in his company, but because Colonel Sink entrusted my success to him, he would make sure I was as ready as any other man in his regiment.
The next man I met was Second Lieutenant Winters, a man who I could tell almost immediately was the complete opposite of Lieutenant Sobel.
"Lt. Sobel would like me to brief the men of Easy as to why you are here." Lt. Winters told me.
"Would you like me to be there, sir?"
"Maybe you should get settled in first before you meet everyone. I will inform them all of who you are and why you are here. It will give them a chance to digest everything.
"Fine with me Sir." I responded with a chuckle.
"Now about your footlocker..."
I never did find out what Lieutenant Winters said to the men. All I knew was that while the men obviously weren't happy for me to be there, they let me be. Eventually they would warm up to me though.