76 Hours by Larry Alexander

Author:Larry Alexander
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blackstone Publishing
Published: 2023-02-10T21:22:27+00:00

Chapter 15

Crouched in a trench on the northern lip of the runway, the 187 Marines remaining from the First and Second Battalions awaited orders that would send them across the airstrip.

A few Marines ambled among the dead Japanese that littered the trench grimly searching through pockets and knapsacks for souvenirs. Cpl. Edward Hainley, a New Georgia veteran with Third Platoon, leaned over each body and forced open the dead men’s mouths in search of gold teeth. When he found any, he pried them out with the tip of his Ka-Bar. Probing deep into one man’s mouth, Hainley noticed Pete watching him.

“I’m from Canon City, Colorado, Hardball,” he snarled. “I left home when I was eighteen to pan for gold along Cripple Creek near Leadville and came up with barely enough to live on.” He held up a cloth drawstring bag and shook it. The contents rattled. “This is a damn sight easier than panning. I ain’t goin’ home broke.”

Hainley returned to his grisly gold rush, leaving Pete to ponder the depths to which war plunges some men’s sense of morality.

Plopping down on the sandy floor of the trench, Pete removed his helmet. A smile creased his dirt-caked face and a feeling of calmness swept over him as he gazed at Aggie’s full round face and soft features. Her deep-set, blue-green eyes seemed to twinkle despite the battered state of the photo.

Pete recalled the date he and Aggie were on the night Benny Talbot had beaten his youngest son.

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