Creative Writing: The Royal Australian Air Force

Moreover, during an extensive struggle on the Morris island, a lot of numbers of torpedoes were being used by the rebels in defense of Fort Wagner. In one of the huge explosions, a corporal of the 3rd colored troops was thrown about 25 yards. “the dead soldier landed entirely naked, with arm resting on the plunger of another torpedo.”

3.  “He stood and ran with the others, shooting from the hip, too close to use his scope, and joined the rest of the men around him in bayoneting the frightened Hun until the survivors ran from their trenches and down

They realized they had a problem since no other units were up to the line with them; they had to wait this out. They were ordered to lie down in the tall grass. The fighting started to break out in front of them at a small skirmish line. Many of the men had never seen battle, so some of the men stood up to watch what was going on. Maj. John D. Musser of the 143rd wrote: "… a few shells came booming over our heads, making many of the uninitiated dodge muchly and now and then a wounded skirmisher was brought in from the skirmish line and taken to the rear, all of which had a tendency to make us nervous and uneasy…" (Tomasak,

I had to order them to move back into line on the right wing. As the attacks and counter attacks of the 15th Alabama and 20th progressed, men became scrambled into smaller groups and attacks from the right wing eventually pushed the left wing of the 20th Maine to higher ground. Intervals of the struggle were seized to gather ammunition from the cartridge boxes of the disabled friend or foe on the field as ammunition ran low. Far to the rear of the 20th Maine, our men and those of the 83rd Pennsylvania and 44th New York Regiments began receiving fire from the right end of the 15th Alabama line at higher ground . It was then that Lieutenant Martin Van Buren Gifford who was sent by Captain Woodward of the 83rd to ask if we had been turned, but I denied and asked for a company to shore up our left wing . Captain Woodward couldn’t spare a company but fortunately, he would pull back the left wing of his regimental line and straighten it to the left, closing the gap between the 83rd, for me to move my right wing to the left. However, continued attacks by the left wing of the 15th Alabama forced companies E, I, K, and D of the 20th Maine to fall back up the slope of Little Round Top . Heavy fire opened from a scrub wood in the valley in two lines in rank by the right, taking us by surprise. By then, ammunition was soon exhausted and our men were

As General Sir John Monash later recalled “There was no flying and no photographing, no definite information of the German re-dispositions, no effective bombardment, and no opportunity of replenishing our ammunition dump”. For the Australians this meant more bloody battles and terrible losses.

An hour later four trucks and one truck with an M-60 mounted in the bed drove into town. Raising his hand, Jackson signaled his men to hold fire until they had the vehicles between them as he pulled his left arm out of the sling before wrapping it around the rifle sling and taking careful aim. Firing his first shot, Jackson took out the right front tire of the truck with the M-60 with his second round taking out the back right tire, effectively stopping the truck in the middle of the road. After those shots, his men followed suit, flattening the tires on the rest of the trucks with their well-placed rounds. Under fire with immobile vehicles, the militiamen quickly dove out of their vehicles and tried to return fire at their unseen enemy on the rooftops.

“Stop!” he thunders, but it’s too late. The enemy, seeing you stand and run, has opened fire. You sprint for your trenches, forgetting the others exist, but you feel something smash through the back of your skull. There is a flash of fiery agony, then everything blazes white. But you still have time to see your friends fall around you. Dead, because you tried to

After abandoning the camp we stumbled across the country side and found a house. As we sit by the wall, we think about our fellow soldiers now in heaven. I look up to the sky to see shepherds delight or more like the resemblance of the blood of the abandoned. Why everyone was quiet, I don’t know. There probably just tired from the great determination. Many of us seeking an end but will be disappointed and become depressed. Trepidation of death has occurred in several of us.

With his inevitable death looming just minutes, probably even seconds away, he figured he may as well make the most of the time he had left. If he was going to die, he was at least going to take some of these freaks down with him. He thrust his hands into the vat of goop between his legs, and the targeting arrays came to life. The guns had barely finished their

Swords crashed against shields like a field of doors slamming shut in the wind. Arrows whistled through the air; a murder of tiny crows swarming above us vulnerable soldiers. The grunts of men impaled by hafts and sliced open by steel join the cacophony of a battle raging into dusk. Wet warmness would splash across me in response to the dying cries of my comrades as one after another of those we battle would push our shields apart and break the line. The ground was wet and sloppy, dried earth had been turned to slush by a rain that did not fall from the sky. The ground was rendered difficult to manoeuvre through, encumbered by the lifeless figures of soldiers now without the allegiance that lead them to a face in the dirt.

He saddened every time he thought of his mother and couldn’t bear the consequences of leaving her behind. Luckily, Friederick was always there for him, comforting him along the way.

I write to you today from a hospital bed in France. I know that may sound bad, but truly I am one of the lucky ones. I have lost so many friends in this past battle. I am sure you have probably heard news of this back home in England already. The first day of the battle on the Somme was a dark day indeed. I have heard it word here that it could have been one of the bloodiest battles to date. I do not even know how to begin describing the war, but I have to describe it to someone. I would never want to tell my parents of these horrors I am facing; it would be far too much for them to bear. You are my closest friend back home, and I know if it were not for your health issues, you would be here fighting too, so I feel I can tell you about all this. I know I volunteered for this, but I never in a million years could have predicted what war would truly be like. Looking back on it though, we are truly lucky that Britain is a country that relies on volunteer

"We stood around awaiting orders of some kind. General Quarters sounded and I started for my battle station in secondary aft. As I passed through casement nine I noted the gun was manned and being trained out. The men seemed extremely calm and collected. I reached the boat deck and our anti-aircraft guns were in full action, firing very rapidly. I was about three quarters of the way to the first platform on the mast when it seemed as though a bomb struck our quarterdeck. I could hear shrapnel or fragments whistling past me. As soon as I reached the first platform, I saw Second Lieutenant Simonson lying on his back with blood on his shirt front. I bent over him and taking him by the shoulders asked if there was anything I could do. He was dead, or so nearly so that speech was

Both local newspapers began to signal, albeit discretely, that war could be approaching its end. Reports spoke in guarded terms about German difficulties and in the ‘Letters to the Editor’ columns, there were encouraging words, leaving readers in no doubt that a resolution was close. Talk in shops and at church services built on the speculation. When news of the imminent German surrender reached soldiers in the front line it was greeted with silence. ‘We did not cheer,’ one soldier recalled. ‘We just stood, stunned and bewildered.’ He continued: ‘On the stroke of 11a.m. the CO raised his hand and told us that the war was over. Then we cheered, with our tin hats on and our rifles held aloft. For old hands like me, it was funny realising that the day we had waited so long for had come at

“I fired on 7 machines on the aerodrome, some of which had their engines running. One of them took off and I fired 15 rounds at him from close range 60 ft. up and he crashed. A second one taking off, I opened fire and fired 30 rounds at 150 yds, range, he crashed into a tree. Two more were then taking off together.I climbed and engaged one at [less than] 1,000' finishing my drum, and he crashed 300 yds. from the aerodrome. I changed drums and climbed E.A fourth H. [Hun or Hostile] A. [Aircraft] came after me and I fired one whole drum into him. He flew away and I then flew