The Pill Pusher -- Revised

Joseph trudged through the station, his heart pounded and felt like as heavy as an elephant, for he knew he wasn’t prepared for what he was going to see. He never was anyways. He looked forward and saw what he was supposed to be used to; several wounded soldiers all laid on mattresses layout in front of Joseph like a museum. Except for this time, this museum isn’t showing anything that people would like to see. A bloody mess of wounded soldiers lay out in front of him; the scene would haunt Joseph for the rest of his career. He could’ve saved more-- he should’ve been able to. He wanted to bring back more of them, but he failed-- numerous times. He took off his helmet and looked at the small red and white symbol plastered on the front of it. It gleamed proudly underneath the scorching sun, a stark contrast to what Joseph thought about his role in the red cross. He cringed. I don’t deserve this, not if I can’t save them all.
***
A few weeks ago, American Troops along with the Fifth Fleet came to the island of Okinawa, after their successful Battle of Iwo Jima. The Americans were so close to invading all of the Ryukyu Islands. But upon the arrival on the beach, the American Troops experienced very little casualties. Joseph had imagined that they’d be surrounded and get swarmed by huge masses of Japanese troops. But that didn’t happen either. Yes, the American fought hard against their enemies and there were soldiers who got injured. But something wasn’t right. Joseph had a bad feeling in his stomach, and he knew better than to ignore it. Something’s wrong here. But he didn’t understand what it was, and he couldn’t put a finger on it. He tried telling it to some of the soldiers, but they ridiculed him.
“Whaddya know about the war, you scrawny pill pusher? Can’t you see we’re winning against them Japanese?” One soldier laughed at him.
“Hell yeah! Those stupid Japanese probably ran away, too scared to meet us Americans!” Another joined him.
“By this point, we’ve probably already won the war!” Another comrade joined, and they began to rejoice, and the air was filled with laughter and smiles and talks of how they’d finally be able to meet their families in peace.
He never mentioned anything about his bad feeling afterward. Perhaps I was just overthinking things, Joseph commented in his head.
***
“Hey Doc, whatta ya doin still standin’ like a statue, hm? Stop day dreamin and save more of em’ if ya don’t wanna be haunted by the many deaths you were responsible for!” Joseph quickly jolted his head to the source of a voice. Another combat medic, another red cross, and another wounded body engulfed in blood that had to be carried back. He quickly nodded, and with heavy boots carefully sneaked towards the front lines. He could do this. He’d save another one, and help them recover. But images of the dead bodies of soldiers still lingered in his mind.
Bullets whizzed past him, and those guns were louder than almost anything he’s ever heard. But he kept walking, wanting to save more. He knew what it was like to lose someone dear to you, especially family.
“Mary, wherever you are, please look over me and the kids.” Joseph gasped under his breath.
Bullets were whizzing everywhere; it was like heavy rain-- but instead of rain, it was deadly bullets that could kill him. I have to find them and save them-- quickly. Bullets were raining down on him hard, but he knew he attracted them. It wasn’t necessarily the movement of his own body attracting the bullets, but his helmet; it made him an easy target. Suddenly his right boot stepped on something on the ground, and it followed with a grunting sound. He looked down, and the face of a man. All bloody, bruised and scratched up. The eyes of the man sprang open and stared at Joseph. The body quickly grasped Joseph’s ankle, surprising Joseph and making him lose his balance.
“Doc, ya gotta save me. Please”, the body barely whispered. He could still understand the soldier, despite the rain of bullets, “I swear I’ll be able to make it if ya helped me.”
This was it, this was his chance.
“Hold on just a little bit more soldier,” Joseph replied.
He began to examine the soldiers’ body. Everything about his body seemed fine-- except for the dry blood covering the majority of his right arm. He must’ve passed out when he got shot. Near the bicep of his right arm, Joseph saw a small crater, set deep into the soldier’s arm. Found it. Joseph pulled a tourniquet from one of his pouches and began strapping it above the wound.
He knew that it was dangerous to be exposed out here, especially with his helmet on. Don’t think about it, just save him. Joseph nodded the thought away and helped the once passed out soldier up on his feet. And together, they walked towards the station-- slowly but surely. They were so close to reaching the station.
Then it hit him. A bullet grazed the side of his helmet. No-- it was aiming for the cross. Whoever the enemy was, it was aiming for the cross.
“Soldier, go back to the station, it shouldn’t be so far from here.”
    Before he could look back, a whizzing object him hit near his chest. Everything began to get blurry and dark. Spot emerged out of nowhere and seemed to engulf his vision. Joseph felt around his chest with his arm, as he stumbled to the ground. He could feel some sort of liquid spewing out. With what Joseph had left of his vision, he vaguely saw the soldier slowly making his way back to the station. At least he's safe.
   


Works Cited

“Army Combat Medics.” u-s-History, www.u-s-history.com/pages/h1719.html.

“Combat Medics of WWII.” Artsandculture, Google, artsandculture.google.com/exhibit/qALSyyD-LpymLg.

History.com Editors. “Battle of Okinawa.” HISTORY , A&E Television Networks, 21 Aug. 2018, www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/battle-of-okinawa.

Karuga, James. “Major Battles Of World War II (WW2).” World Atlas, Worldatlas, 26 July 2018, www.worldatlas.com/articles/major-battles-of-world-war-ii-ww2.html.

“Kits of Medical Personnel Medical Kits & Contents.” Med-Dept, www.med-dept.com/articles/medical-kits-contents-kits-of-medical-personnel/.






Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connections Between Characters and Setting

In a story, characters and the setting are connected and have a relationship with each other, and can help the audience further comprehend the story. Those relationships include how a character's actions can reveal the setting of the story-- but the setting in a story also influences a character's actions. "The Sniper a short story by Liam O'Flaherty, is a good example of this connection. A character's actions can reveal the setting of the story, take for example, The Sniper , a short story by Liam O'Flaherty. The main character of the story is the first sniper-- the protagonist. Though the protagonist does mention that a civil war was occurring, other actions such as the sniper killing his brother, can also reveal the setting (O'Flaherty). Near the end, it is revealed that the protagonist killed his brother. This action reveals a major part of the story's setting; the story is happening in a civil war-- the Irish Civil War to be exact. A civil war
Read more

Historical Snapshot

Craters on Dublin It wasn’t supposed to happen. I didn’t want to believe it, and I couldn’t. I couldn’t feel anything, and I felt so numb. I walked past of what used to be decent-sized houses. Now they were just huge graves. They were massive craters dented into Dublin. The bricks of the house came undone; along with the families it once held. They were huge homes that once acted as a shelter for a family. How lucky these families were, to have a ma, children, and a Dad. A Dad. I wish they'd known how blessed they were to have one. But Dad has to come home, right? Ma can’t possibly support the two of us on her own. She needs Dad. I need Dad. I stopped in my tracks. I heard bells ringing, which signaled the start of school. But I couldn’t move, though I had to go to school or else the money will go to waste. My chest started to tremble, and I felt the sting of tears coming. He had to be safe, right? He’s a strong person, and he’d never leave me or Ma, right? De Valera promis
Read more

Imagery and Tone

Tone: Comical  The bright, vibrant green cap of the juice bottle shone brightly under the classroom lights, all basked in its reflective glory. The juice inside was supposed to fill the bottle, though it just barely covered the bottom of the bottle. How inconvenient. But the little liquid that was left in the bottle happily swished around it its messy glory, unknown of how unuseful the juice bottle was. 
Read more