War Stories

The story now shifts to the outskirts of Sainte-Régine in September 1944, shortly before the town is freed from the Germans. Jacob waits with his company to receive marching orders. Because he was only 17 when he enlisted, everyone refers to him as “High School.” The company receives the order to move but makes slow progress—artillery fire is pounding the only road into town. Though a Sherman tank attempts to accompany them, it soon becomes the target of enemy fire and explodes. Another tank follows, only to meet the same fate.

As a bulldozer tries to clear the wreckage of both tanks from the road, Jacob and his crew return the enemy’s fire. A mortar shell explodes and downs a large tree limb. It lands directly on Jacob’s friend, Beau. The teen struggles to free Beau before they are both shot. Once he is loaded on a stretcher, Beau is carried from the battlefield, leaving Jacob with only his anxiety about his company’s fragile position: “Bravo Company would never be able to take the town without tank support. In other words, if the plan to silence that German gun failed, the attack force was doomed” (20).

The story returns to the present as Daniel tries to convince his ex-wife, Julia, to allow Trevor to make the trip to France. Trevor lives with his mother and twin six-year-old sisters but stays with his father on alternate weekends. Julia says that Trevor will miss three weeks of school, but Daniel points out that he is a history teacher and will make sure his son keeps up with his lessons. Daniel says that such a trip is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and Julia grudgingly agrees.

In July 1943, Jacob is standing in a Connecticut railway station, preparing to mail a farewell letter to his parents. He enlisted in the army without their knowledge and faked his birth certificate to appear a year older. Now, he is about to board a train to take him to basic training. As he agonizes over posting the letter, he nearly misses the train, which is already leaving the station. He runs to catch up and is hoisted aboard by a conductor, who issues an ominous warning: “‘Don’t thank me,’ he said. ‘Someday you’ll probably wish you’d missed this train’” (27).

In the present day, when Daniel and Trevor arrive to take Jacob to the airport, they are surprised to see that he has packed his wartime duffel bag, which is now heavily patched with duct tape. Before they go, Daniel shows Jacob a Facebook post indicating that not all the citizens of Sainte-Régine will be happy to see him. A group called La Verite (The Truth) is protesting his arrival. They write, “Jacob Firestone does not deserve to be honored. He has French blood on his hands” (29). Jacob admits that some civilians may have gotten killed during the battle to free the town. He cryptically claims to be at peace with whatever may come to light: “If this is the past catching up to me, so be it. I’ve been carrying it around for seventy-five years” (30).

The first leg of the trip for the Firestone family involves a visit to Fort Benning, Georgia, where Jacob received his basic training. When the trio goes to the baggage carousel in Atlanta to collect their luggage, Jacob’s duffel bag has ripped apart, and Daniel must buy him a proper suitcase instead.

The story shifts to Fort Benning in 1943 during Jacob’s basic training. The drill sergeants scream at the recruits continuously. Jacob refuses to let the grueling pace beat him down. He becomes stubborn and tough instead. During this time, he bonds with two other recruits named Freddie and Leland. Everyone in Bravo Company hates the paratroopers, who think they are the army’s elite. A big Texan named Beau is the only exception to his snobbish fellow airmen. During an upcoming inter-squad competition, Jacob hatches a plan to beat the paratroopers. He convinces the kitchen staff to salt their food heavily. On the day of the meet, the paratroopers become dehydrated and can’t complete the course, allowing the infantry to win.

In the present, Jacob and his descendants arrive at Fort Benning and are given a grand tour of the army base. The old man carps about how soft life is for soldiers nowadays. His mood improves when he reaches the National Infantry Museum, where he can immerse himself in the exhibits, especially the Normandy beach invasion. The narrative compares Trevor’s knowledge of these events with his grandfather’s, noting the enduring impact of the latter: “Trevor had read books about it, seen movies that depicted it, and played video games that re-created it. But only his great-grandfather had lived it. From the look on his face, he was still living it today” (43-44).

In March 1944, Jacob is aboard a troop transport ship in the middle of the Atlantic. Many of the soldiers are suffering from seasickness. To add to their woes, their ship has been targeted by German submarines. Jacob and Beau watch in horror as a torpedo blasts a hole in a nearby transport ship. The submarine pursuing them is then destroyed by a depth charge, indicated by debris bubbling to the surface: “It was the remains of a German sailor, blown up, or drowned, or maybe both. It was the first dead body Jacob Firestone had ever seen” (50).

Back in the present, the Firestones have arrived in London. Rather than visiting all the city’s cultural attractions, Trevor insists on taking a tour of wartime London. As they continue their journey to Portsmouth to catch a ship to Normandy, Jacob decides on a detour to Petersfield, where he was stuck for three months before being sent to France.

During his time at Petersfield in 1944, Jacob and his buddies get lost on their way back to camp one evening. They wander into a pasture and are charged by a bull. Jacob manages to save Freddie from being gored. Everyone is impressed with his courage, but Jacob is shaken, torn about how to interpret the moment: “Maybe he really was destined to be a hero. Either that, or the fool who does something stupid and gets everybody killed” (59).

Jacob quickly grows tired of digging foxholes in Petersfield. Because he shirks his duties and doesn’t dig his hole deep enough, he is nearly flattened by a tank when it rolls over his foxhole during maneuvers. From that point forward, Jacob takes the task of digging more seriously.

In April 2020, the Firestones cross the English Channel by ferry. The weather is foggy, and visibility is poor. Jacob recalls that the Normandy invasion was postponed for a day because the weather in the channel was so unpredictable. As they make the crossing, Daniel checks the Facebook posts about Jacob’s visit. There are more hostile comments from La Verite, which makes Daniel worry for the family’s safety. They write, “At this very moment, Jacob Firestone is on his way to the shores of our beloved France. If we celebrate him in Sainte-Régine, it will be a stain on our village and an insult to our honored dead” (66). The post implies that La Verite knows the whereabouts of the Firestone family at any given time. When the boat docks in Cherbourg, the Firestones don’t realize that they are being observed by two teenagers.

On June 6, 1944, the Normandy invasion begins: “Five thousand ships—the largest fleet ever assembled. Across the darkened Channel they sailed, a vast column many miles across” (69). Jacob recounts the drama of arriving on the beach with enemy fire all around and his despair at the scene: “Machine-gun fire ripped through them, striking down at least half of the soldiers in the blink of an eye. We have no chance, he thought to himself. How could anybody ask us to try this?” (75).

From the bluffs above the beach, the Germans rain fire down on the approaching army. Some boats have run aground, and tanks meant to take out the enemy explode as soon as they land. Jacob feels a sense of hopelessness. He and his company are helpless, and nobody is coming to their rescue. He spots a machine gun nest on a bluff and risks gunfire to lob a grenade toward it, and his comrade praises him: “‘You got ’em, High School!’ Beau shouted. ‘You’re one crazy, stupid hero!’” (80). Jacob’s sense of victory is short lived; an instant later, his friend, Freddie, steps on a mine and is blown to pieces.