The Purple Heart

by Vincent Yee

  Akira’s head soon appeared from the doorframe, and he signaled to Hiroshi that the first building was clear. Hiroshi signaled to the rest of the men behind him, and they raced around the corner into the building. They found themselves in a living room with two windows with their shutters closed. The soldiers quickly opened the windows and two soldiers positioned their rifles along them. Hiroshi approached the door and turned around with his rifle aimed at the rooftops across the street, where suddenly three Nazi soldiers rose up and aimed their guns at him.

  “Rooftop!” yelled Hiroshi as he twisted his body and dove through the door. The Japanese American soldiers by the window immediately angled their rifles upward when the shutters across the street suddenly opened, revealing the tops of sandbags and two machine guns.

  “Machine guns across the street!” yelled a soldier at the windows as they threw themselves onto the floor. A barrage of bullets flew through the windows, shredding everything in their path. Hiroshi turned onto his back and kicked the door shut just as several bullets pierced the wooden door and lodged into the staircase directly behind him. Hiroshi rolled to his left as more bullets ripped the top part of the wooden door into shards. Hiroshi threw himself into a corner and quickly looked around. All his men were crouched low. Luckily, the building was made of stone, which provided some protection from the hail of bullets.

  Hiroshi looked at two men against the far wall and yelled, “Bazooka! Lower windows!” The two men understood and removed the bazookas from their backs. He looked over at Akira as plaster danced off his helmet. “Grenades! Delayed throw at the windows!” Akira nodded and pulled off two grenades. “Peter, cover fire for Akira!” Peter nodded as he moved behind Akira, who was already behind the door. Hiroshi looked at the four men crouched below the windows, who looked at him for instructions. Splinters of wood from the windowsill fell on top of their helmets and he blurted out, “Cover fire, now!” As if on cue, Akira pulled the pins from his two grenades and counted.

  The four soldiers nodded and got up from their crouched positions. They vigorously fired into the windows across the street. The Nazi machine gunners saw their chance and fired back into the windows just as the door across the street opened. Peter appeared from the door and fired right at them as Akira appeared from behind and lobbed two grenades toward the two windows. Peter slammed the door shut as another round of rifle bullets pierced through it.

  The grenades exploded directly in front of the two windows across the street, creating two red balls of fire that sent up shrapnel and smoke. With the fiery distraction, the two men with the bazookas quickly took up positions in front of each window and shot their bazookas through the windows across the street. The explosion rocked the entire lower level of the building as smoke billowed out of the two lower windows.

  The Nazi soldiers on the roofline, however, did not relent. They fired into the windows. One bullet found its mark and pierced the left shoulder of one of the Japanese American soldiers, sending him reeling in pain to the floor. Hiroshi quickly pulled him aside as he grimaced in pain. “Cover fire now!” Hiroshi yelled out as he motioned to another soldier to tend to the injured soldier, while another took up position by the window. “Bazooka, upper window, aim for the ceiling!” yelled Hiroshi. The other soldiers laid down cover fire at the rooftop, sending the Nazi troops crouching. The soldier aimed into the upper window and fired his bazooka. The ball of fire erupted as fire, smoke, and debris exited the upper windows just as the roof caved in.

  “Secure the building now!” yelled Hiroshi.

  Akira and Peter, along with four other soldiers, ran into the street, kicked down the door and stormed the building. Hiroshi and the remaining men covered them from the windows and doorway as their eyes darted along the rooftop and the adjacent buildings for any other signs of movement. Hiroshi heard isolated shots and assumed that his men were putting bullets through the heads of any Nazi soldiers that they found.

  Hiroshi heard a whistle and looked up at one of the windows on the second floor. The opening in the ceiling made by the bazooka illuminated the dark room. Dust sailed out of the window, but Hiroshi could see Akira’s face as he signaled that the building was clear. The distant sound of bullets and grenade explosions rang through the air. Hiroshi assumed other squads were encountering similar Nazi resistance elsewhere.

  Hiroshi signaled for Akira to meet him on the ground floor. The wounded soldier was quickly bandaged up and insisted that he could still fire his rifle. Hiroshi wasn’t going to deny him the opportunity. Hiroshi and the remaining men filed out of the building and took up defensive positions by the doorway. They listened for any suspicious sounds that may give away the presence of any Nazi soldiers, but there was none.

  Hiroshi took point, as did Akira across the street. They exchanged a few hand signals and agreed on their plan of action. Hiroshi and a second soldier took up a position on either side of the second door. A third soldier, using the butt of his rifle, knocked in the window shutter of the building as another soldier tossed in a grenade that detonated, sending out a puff of smoke. The door gave way to Hiroshi’s powerful kick and three soldiers immediately went in to secure the second house. Hiroshi entered as two other soldiers watched the doorway. The first floor of the second building was empty, as was the kitchen in the back. The three soldiers who entered first made a quick sweep of the second floor and found no one. It seemed that the house had been abandoned some time earlier. Hiroshi, along with the other soldiers, quickly filed out and prepared to take the third building.

  Peter and Akira were in a similar situation across the street. For the third building, Hiroshi and his men repeated the same steps. As the grenade blast dissipated, they were in another living room, with debris scattered everywhere. Hiroshi was about to direct his men upstairs when a creak in the floorboards came from the ceiling above.

  Hiroshi signaled to his soldiers to be quiet. He looked up and saw the holes in the ceiling. Light tunneled through the holes catching the dust in the rays of light. Suddenly something in the room above cast a shadow, momentarily blocking the light.

  Hiroshi reacted quickly. “Take cover!” he yelled.

  Bullets suddenly rained down from the ceiling as an unknown number of soldiers above fired through the floor into the living room below. Hiroshi and his men made their way over to the far wall, just out of reach of the bullets when they heard the ominous sound of clunking metal bouncing on wood. Grenades were tumbling down the staircase. Hiroshi, followed by the other soldiers, lunged forward through the doorway. The explosion sent a blast that followed them, singeing their backs. The last soldier caught some shrapnel in his calves and yelled out in pain.

  Hiroshi quickly took up a position beside the door. The soldiers fanned out and dragged the injured soldier out of the way. Hiroshi could still hear shots being fired from inside.

  Akira had entered the building across the street. Shots could be heard from the second floor. Akira made it up the steps more quickly and was engaged in a shootout with Nazi troops. Two of Akira’s soldiers were manning the door across the street but had turned to Hiroshi’s position after hearing the grenades explode.

  Thinking quickly, Hiroshi signaled to one of them to shoot his bazooka into the window of the building above him. He acknowledged, removed his bazooka, and took aim just as one of the shutters to the second-floor window opened. The bazooka fired and went right into the window. The explosion sent out a fiery blast and blew apart the closed shutter of the other window as well.

  Hiroshi quickly rushed back into the building, along with three other soldiers, and listened for any sounds as he crouched along the bottom of the stairway. Dust and ash covered his face as he regripped his rifle. No additional sounds came from above, but he heard an explosion coming from across the street. He signaled to his men with his eyes, then rushed up the stairs and took up a defensive position at the top of the stairs. Two other soldiers took up position at the base of the stairs and one soldier positioned himself atop th
e banister next to Hiroshi. The dust was still settling, and he was able to make out at least one Nazi underneath a pile of ceiling plaster.

  Hiroshi quietly counted two, possibly three rooms. He rushed to the front room, where the Nazi soldier was, followed by one of his soldiers. The third soldier rushed into the adjacent room while the last soldier covered them. Three Nazi soldiers were lying on the ground, two face up, one face down, and they were covered in whitish-grayish ash. The smell of gunpowder and explosive residue singed the air. They lay motionless with their rifles beside them. Hiroshi quickly kicked the three rifles aside when suddenly he heard a shot from the room next to him. The soldier who was in the room with Hiroshi quickly exited the room to investigate as did the soldier by the banister. Hiroshi began to follow his men.

  The gray sleeve suddenly appeared from behind and wrapped itself around Hiroshi’s neck. It took Hiroshi by surprise and his rifle was knocked out of his hands. Hiroshi reacted quickly and grounded his footing to prevent himself from being pulled downward. He heard the unsheathing of a knife and quickly elbowed the assailant. Hiroshi gripped the upper sleeve of the arm around his neck and threw his assailant to the ground. The Nazi soldier landed on his back with a thud onto shards of wood and plaster, but he got up and spun around to meet Hiroshi. Hiroshi’s rifle was in between them.

  There was a wild look in the Nazi soldier’s face as his blue eyes glared back at Hiroshi. His light brown hair was tousled as patches of white ash hung from his hair. He took a step forward in an offensive posture as he waved his knife menacingly in front of him. Hiroshi was not amused and swiftly kicked the knife out of the soldier’s hand. The Nazi soldier looked dumbfounded, but he lunged at Hiroshi. As he did, Hiroshi stepped aside just in time for the Nazi soldier to trip clumsily over Hiroshi’s right leg and land flat onto his stomach.

  The Nazi soldier scrambled upward and lunged up with his hands toward Hiroshi, who had a calm look on his face. He threw a right punch, which Hiroshi stepped outside of. Then he suddenly felt Hiroshi’s forearm landing a blow to his neck. The Nazi soldier fell on his back but got up once more and faced Hiroshi as he coughed violently. His head was suddenly whipped backward by a kick that appeared out of nowhere. The next thing the Nazi saw when he raised his head was the butt of the rifle.

  Hiroshi was standing over the unconscious Nazi soldier, who lay on his back, just as one of his soldiers rushed back into the room. He looked down at the fallen soldier and looked at Hiroshi to make sure he was okay.

  Hiroshi quickly turned to make sure that the other two Nazis were not also playing dead and saw that they had not moved. He turned his attention back to the soldier.

  “Hashimoto found one soldier hiding in the bathtub,” the soldier said excitedly. “He thought he had the drop on Hashimoto–he got up and tried to shoot him but missed. Hashimoto shot him, but we think he’s still alive.”

  “Good work,” said Hiroshi in an affirming tone. “Secure this Nazi and then make sure this floor is clear. Then meet me downstairs.”

  “Yes, Sir,” replied the soldier.

  Hiroshi quickly went to the window to assess how the other half of his squad was doing. He saw Akira and two other men heading into the third building, leaving Peter and one other soldier guarding the door. That left one of his soldiers unaccounted for and Hiroshi could only assume the worst. Smoke and dust were floating out of the windows, the likely result of a grenade blast. There were no sounds of shots being fired, so perhaps it was another abandoned building. Hiroshi turned away and made his way downstairs and out of the building, followed by one of his soldiers. He momentarily shielded his eyes from the glare of the sun and saw Akira waving from across the street. The building was empty.

  The two remaining soldiers filed out of the building and stood behind Hiroshi. Hiroshi led his team to the last building, which was at the corner of the intersection. He could distinctly see the tank’s barrel barely jutting out. His forehead tensed up as his men approached the intersection. He turned back and directed the two injured men trailing behind them to direct their rifles at the building diagonally across from their position. The men nodded and ignored their pain as they covered the building.

  Crouching low and hugging the wall, he slowly moved toward it as a soldier followed him. One of the two injured soldiers had trained his rifle at the building across from them as Akira’s team prepared to storm it while the other soldier had his bazooka ready in case Hiroshi needed him to use it. It was their last one. The men across the street still had two more.

  Hiroshi saw that part of the corner building had already been bombed out. This meant that there were probably no Nazi soldiers lurking within, but they would have to make sure. He continued moving toward the corner, as the tank’s gun barrel steadily loomed closer. The corner was finally within reach. He readied his rifle, and peered cautiously around the corner.

  The tank was only about five feet away. Its dark-gray barrel pointed straight into the air. The tank’s treads looked ready to roll on–but they wouldn’t get the chance. The entire back half of the tank was covered in rubble from the bombed-out building, whose damage was more evident around the corner. The tank turret was partially crushed, and the machine gun that was affixed to it was mangled. The tank was a casualty of the earlier aerial bombardment, and Hiroshi let out a sigh of relief. He quickly looked at the other end of the street and saw no obvious signs of Nazi positions. In a crouched position, he made his way back to his men by the last door.

  Though Hiroshi was pretty confident that there were no Nazi soldiers holed up in the last building, diligence was the wiser choice that day. They repeated the same steps as a grenade was tossed into the building. After the explosion, three soldiers entered the building. A soldier exited and confirmed Hiroshi’s suspicions that there were no Nazi soldiers inside. Half of the entire second floor had collapsed and the far wall had crumbled on top of the tank.

  Feeling satisfied, Hiroshi ordered his men to secure the corner building. He looked across the street and saw Peter and one other soldier already entering the last building on the corner. It had suffered some partial damage, most likely from the aerial bombardment but for the most part it was still intact. Akira and two other men appeared out of the previous building and Hiroshi realized that the last building was being secured with only Peter and one other soldier.

  Peter had entered the dimly lit building, which was ghostly quiet. The second soldier had followed him as he swung his rifle from side to side, looking for any hidden Nazi soldiers. There didn’t appear to be any. Papers lay strewn over the floor, most likely scattered by the explosion of the grenade. A partially blown wooden table stood in the middle of the papers along with upturned wooden boxes. The room looked like it had been used recently but there was no one around.

  Peter carefully entered the kitchen, saw no one, and headed back to the living room. The other soldier covered him and acknowledged Peter’s signal that he was going to head upstairs.

  Peter moved furtively up the steps, keeping an eye on the landing above. Ample light had poured into the rooms from above, and Peter could see that the roof had partially collapsed. There were two rooms on the second floor. His breathing was slow as he reached the landing with the second soldier following closely behind him. Peter entered the front room and found it to be empty. The wall between it and the adjacent room had partially collapsed, and through it, he could see that the adjacent room seemed to be a bathroom. He backed out of the room cautiously and then signaled to the soldier that he was going to enter the second room, whose door was partially closed. The soldier acknowledged and covered him from the stairs.

  Peter took up his position at the door with his back to the wall. He held his rifle vertically in front of him and kept thinking to himself that if they cleared the building, the first mission objective would be completed. He stepped forward, spun around and kicked in the door and lowered his rifle. It was a sparse room and to the left was an open door that led to the bathroom that he
saw earlier. There was a dark wooden desk and a chair in the room. But Peter’s eyes settled onto the Nazi military cap lying at the corner of the desk and then the heel of a boot sticking partially out from behind the desk. Peter gripped his rifle tighter.

  “Get out of there now!” shouted Peter in a firm tone. There was no movement from behind the desk. Peter boldly took a couple of steps into the room and placed his finger firmly on the rifle’s trigger. “Get the fuck out of there now! Or I’ll empty my entire rifle at you!” shouted Peter once more.

  A pair of hands suddenly emerged from view and slowly, a man in a Nazi officer’s gray uniform rose from behind the desk. He was an older man with grayish hair that was parted meticulously on the side. His blue eyes stared defiantly. He finally rose to full height with his hands raised above him. He still had his gun holstered to his right side.

  An officer, thought Peter, he had caught himself an officer. It would be good news for his squad. Peter was feeling emboldened as he took a couple of steps forward when he heard the rustling of clothing to his left. Peter turned his head just as the officer in front of him smiled. A Nazi soldier was rising from the bathtub and had his rifle pointed directly at Peter’s head. Peter froze as he realized his mistake. “Oh no,” he thought.

  A single shot ran out. Peter’s heart jumped as he continued staring at the soldier whose eyes suddenly bulged. If that moment was what it was like to take a bullet before collapsing, it was an odd sensation to witness. But Peter didn’t have to wait long for the bullet to finally do its deed. Peter let out a breath; the Nazi soldier collapsed and slumped over the bathtub with his rifle tumbling to the floor.