D-Day: Battle on the Beach by Kate Messner

Author:Kate Messner
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2017-03-22T04:00:00+00:00

“Got it!” Walt pulled the cable as tight as he could.

The other soldier had never let go, even as the cable had jerked him over the sand. He scrambled to his feet and shouted, “Let’s bring it in!”

“Careful now!” Walt called. Together, the men pulled in the cables. Finally, the wind seemed to give up on the balloon, and they brought it down onto the top of a truck. They covered it with a net and secured the lines to sandbags on both sides to keep the balloon weighted down.

Ranger sat on the beach and watched the men do a final check of the lines. His mouth was all scratched and sandy from the cable. He was thirsty, too, but the only water here was the salty ocean. Ranger felt a wave splash his tail and turned around. The sea had crept up behind him while the men worked. Waves lapped at the pack Walt had dropped on the beach.

Ranger barked, but Walt was busy lugging sandbags. Ranger trotted over to the pack, took the strap in his teeth, and tugged it out of the waves. He dragged it all the way to Walt’s feet and barked again.

“You got that mutt trained pretty well, don’t you?” one of the other men said.

“He’s not mine,” Walt answered. He bent and scratched Ranger behind his ear. “No clue where he came from, but he’s been looking out for me all right.”

Ranger leaned into the scratch. He liked Walt, but he missed Luke’s scratches. Ranger was hungry and thirsty, and his nose still stung from where the cable had slapped at him. When would he get to go home?

“Come on, dog. Let’s get to some shelter,” Walt said. He hoisted his pack over his shoulder and started following the other men back to the protected area behind the ridge of stones. Ranger trotted close beside him. It wasn’t as loud as it had been earlier. The rattle of gunfire was more distant. Every so often, a shell explosion would echo over the sand. But the constant booms had mostly been replaced with work sounds — the rumble of trucks and the shouts of officers giving orders to men moving supplies.

Ranger tipped his head and listened for the hum of his first aid kit. Was his work done yet?

All he heard was more men talking.

“Hey, Big Walt!” someone called.

Walt looked up and waved at some men unloading two nearby jeeps that had stopped side by side in the sand. “Go on, dog.” Walt patted Ranger and pointed up ahead. “I’ll be right there.” He turned and headed for the jeeps.

Ranger walked on to the sheltered spot to wait. The shallow ditch was piled with soldiers’ things now — packs and canteens and broken radios. Ranger poked around until he found his first aid kit where Walt had tucked it before. It was half buried in smooth stones that must have fallen on top of it in the chaos. Ranger pawed the pebbles aside and nuzzled the old metal box.

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