I could feel the ocean surge back and forth. The flowers were beginning to bloom into the beautiful roses and carnations that were so usual to Cottingham. It was March 14th, 1939. I was prepared to have the summer I had always dreamed of ... after all, it was my eighteenth birthday in one week. My parents were used to the fact that I didn't like surprises, so they wouldn't try and throw a party. Lucille was a tall beautiful girl, we had been friends since elementary school. For the first time that summer I felt like I was falling in love. The feeling of butterflies was overwhelming. I couldn't find the courage to tell her how much she meant to me. I decided that this was the year. She would finally know how much I loved her. But, later that year, when I got the letter from the draft office, I realized I would have to tell her now or forever hold my peace. I went to boot camp with a heavy heart, knowing that I would never again see the person who made this worth it. I became friends with the sergeant and a captain by the name of Bill Taylor. The sergeant preferred Sarge. Sarge and Bill became my mentors. There is a sense of family when you are in the military. Bill was from Bainbridge, Georgia. He never told us much about himself, only the same "pep talk" every time we had to shoot a gun. "It's thirty two degrees," he would start, "fifty miles away is the nearest backup. Your family wants you home by 6 for supper ... I'll apologize for keeping you late." gear up and get out! Get ready and MARCH. The word that used to mean happiness and hope in love now meant to kill or die. The synonym of love now was an antonym of hope. We were thirty miles from Calais, when I realized I wouldn't make it home. It was a sudden sharp pain in my side followed by the color of red washing over me as I fell. Men ran everywhere. Sarge ran up to me, I pointed to my helmet. Inside I had put a note to Lucille. As I fell into darkness I could only think of tears running down her face and the pain in her heart when she would receive the note. The note with only three words.