COTTESMORE AIRFIELD - 2000 HRS - JUNE 5, 1944
Eleven months later, Turnbull stands at an English flight strip, surrounded by paratroopers readying for the jump into France.
This airfield echoes with pre-flight engine checks, throttling engines, brusque sergeant's commands and clanking gear and weapons.
The decisive battle of World War II - D-Day - is at hand. Yet, while the paratroopers are lead players in this drama, they are business like and focused on the jobs at hand.
Turner Turnbull takes a moment to write a pre-invasion letter to his sister in Oklahoma.
"Please don't worry about me. I volunteered, just like my paratroopers. They are all good men, and we have spent months training together, practicing all the skills that we need in a fight."
"The training has been hard but 'hard training saves lives'. Well, our training has been hard enough that the boys feel ready for the real thing."
Turnbull quickly finishes the letter and gets back to checking on his troops.
"Hey Chief, do I gotta carry these extra grenades? I already got one of 'em, and I never liked 'em too much in a fight anyways. They never go off when you want them to."
Turner's men sometimes call him Chief because of his Choctaw heritage. Most paratroopers mean it affectionately but it always sounds disrespectful from Corporal Bowles, the platoon trouble-maker.
Bowles only joined the platoon only six weeks ago, but he's not afraid to remind everyone that he has the most combat experience of anyone in the battalion. He has a chip on his shoulder and he likes to argue.
"It's a division order, Corporal, straight from General Ridgway himself. Every paratrooper has to take two, so pack up those Gammon grenades."
Bowles, angry but silent, stuffs the grenades in a musette bag.
For the next hour, the platoon rests, talks or attends prayer services. Then a call goes out -- "Thirty minutes to loading"
The battalion gathers for the boss, Lieutenant-Colonel Vandervoort. A three combat jump veteran, "Vandy" Vandervoort knows the horrors awaiting his men. He speaks simply.
"We have worked long and hard for this moment. Collectively and individually, you are the best fighting men in the world. At this time tomorrow, we will be at Neuville-Au-Plain and will have made our next contribution towards winning this awful war."
"We won't all be there. Some of us will have fallen along the way. And, as men fall, there will be a doubling of effort from those who still stand."
The paratroopers move to their planes, gathering final bits of gear and equipment. Turnbull leans over and picks up a bandolier and a musette bag.
He stops suddenly, though, surprised to see three Gammon grenades lying beneath where his bag had been.
"Are those my grenades?" he wonders. "I thought I packed my own already. At least I think I did. I wouldn't be that careless..."
It will take a minute to pick them up and pack them but is it really worth it? No one will know if he leaves them behind.
On the other hand, he did just bawl out Corporal Bowles for not wanting to pack them either.
Well, Lieutenant, should you spend the time to drop your gear and re-pack the grenades? Or should you keep moving and leave them behind?
Leave The Grenades
Take The Grenades
