With bullets pelting the mud around him, Cole crawled over the top of the trench and down the hillside after the others.
It went against his grain to turn tail and run, but sometimes you needed to have the good sense to live and fight another day.
His squad and the rest of the platoon had fought hard and bled for that damn hill, all for nothing. The counterattack on Outpost Kelly had failed because of those damn Borinqueneers.
Cole wouldn’t mind finding those boys who had retreated and giving them a piece of his mind.
As it turned out, he was going to have to wait his turn.
Chapter Fifteen
“It’s too bad we can’t just shoot them for desertion,” Lieutenant Colonel Switalski announced, looking over the Puerto Rican troops. The unit sat dejectedly before him, stripped of their weapons, and not understanding a word of what was happening to them. “That would sure save everyone a lot of trouble.”
“What have they got to say for themselves?”
“I guess we would know if any of them spoke English,” the colonel said, clearly disgusted.
The object of his disdain was Company B of the 65th Infantry, who had managed to attain the defensive trench on Outpost Kelly, but had then abandoned it. They had not been under direct attack at that time, but had clearly lost their nerve. When an officer had confronted the retreating troops and ordered them back into position, they had ignored him.
They had been lined up against a wall of sandbags that delineated the MLR. Their weapons had been taken away and they were under guard. As far as anyone was concerned, they were now prisoners.
For their own part, the Puerto Rican troops did not seem to understand what was happening to them. Several had been wounded in the ill-fated counterattack and wore blood-stained bandages. Almost all of them were covered in mud or had uniforms in tatters from crawling through the barbed wire defenses on the hill. These men looked tired, hungry, and thirsty — pretty much how all soldiers looked after a fight. But a coward was a coward, and these troops wouldn’t be getting any sympathy from the commanding officer.
They returned the lieutenant colonel’s glare sullenly, which only made him madder.
“Shooting them is too good, now that I think about it,” the lieutenant colonel added as an afterthought. “Let’s see how they like eighteen years of hard labor at Fort Leavenworth. That’s the standard sentence for desertion. Of course, the Chinese or the Soviets or even the Germans in the last war wouldn’t have gone to all that trouble. No sir. A firing squad would be the end of it.”
“What do you want me to do with them, sir?”
“I’m thinking about it. Damn it all, lord knows I’ve got enough problems as it is. We need every soldier on the line so these Borinqueneers are letting us down. What the hell is a Borinqueneer, anyhow?”
“Must be Spanish for fleet of foot.”
“You got that right. Don’t they have any officers?”
“They were all killed in the attack, along with most of the noncommissioned officers. There was a great deal of sniper activity in that sector. The sniper seemed to be targeting the officers, at any rate.”
The lieutenant colonel’s mind was churning. He was well-versed in how the Army worked, and he hadn’t received the insignia on his collar by being a fool. The failure of the attack on Outpost Kelly did not reflect well on him, not to mention that the outpost had been captured in the first place. Normally, blame would fall squarely on his shoulders. He might even expect to be relieved of command and sent back to Japan to shuffle papers, his upward rise in the Army having ended on the muddy hillside in the distance.
But the cowardice of the Borinqueneers might just save his career. Somebody would need to be blamed for the failed attack. If not him, then who? These Borinqueneers would make a good scapegoat.
He intended to court martial the whole damn unit, but there wasn’t time for that at the moment.
“I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised that they ran. Look at them. They’re just this side of coloreds, aren’t they?”
“Sir?”
“Never mind. Here’s the thing. I can’t shoot ‘em, much as I’d like to. Hell, Puerto Rico would probably secede if I did that. I can’t afford to keep them under guard because we need every available man in case of a Chinese attack. Now with those goons dug in on our outpost, you know that’s coming. As for these deserters, I’m not about to give them back their weapons, but I need these men doing something useful until we can begin court martial proceedings. In the meantime, they will need a decent officer to keep an eye on them.”
“Might I suggest Lieutenant Ballard, sir? If anyone can whip them back into shape, it’s him.”
“Good idea. He can start by ordering them to shave off those damn mustaches.”
Watching the angry commanding officer, Cisco did his best to translate for his confused fellow soldiers. It was true that they had not stayed in the fight, but all of their officers and sergeants had been killed. No one had sent them orders. It was as if they had been left on that hilltop to die, and so they had made the decision to abandon their position and survive.
Cisco was likely the only one who could have explained their viewpoint to the lieutenant colonel, but he knew that he wouldn’t get the chance. A lieutenant colonel didn’t want to hear from a private, especially not one who spoke broken English.
“When will we get some food and water?” asked one of the men, an old campaigner who had been with the Borinqueneers since the last war. “We have many wounded men who need help.”
Cisco shook his head. “They are talking about shooting us as deserters, so I don’t think we will get water anytime soon.”
“Deserters!” The older soldier shook his head in disgust and spat into the mud. “We are Borinqueneers! We are fighters!”
Cisco agreed that the soldiers didn’t lack courage. They had helped take that hill like everyone else. But even he could see that his unit lacked training. There were a few experienced veterans like this old soldier, but most of the men were relatively new recruits like Cisco who had been rushed from the recruiting station to Korea.
They settled down to wait. Other soldiers passed by, casting dirty looks at the Puerto Rican troops. Word had gotten out they had run and handed Outpost Kelly over to the Chinese.
The sun came out, baking the muddy road dry and adding to the misery of the thirsty men. It was typical fall weather with hot days and chilly nights. They would be shivering after dark. Noon came and went, and still they’d had nothing to eat or drink. Those who could, closed their eyes and slept.
In mid-afternoon, a younger officer appeared. Tall and haughty, there was nothing kind or understanding in his gaze. He looked down at the Borinqueneers and scowled.
“My name is Lieutenant Ballard,” he said. “I’m your new CO for now. Let’s get a few things straight. First of all, you are no longer Borinqueneers. Unit nicknames are earned in this Army, and believe me, you don’t even want to hear some of your current nicknames.”
Speaking softly so as not to draw the attention of the lieutenant, Cisco translated the lieutenant’s words into Spanish. The men kept quiet, but Cisco could still sense their outrage.
However, the sharp-eyed lieutenant had seen Cisco’s efforts at translation. “You there, stand up and tell them what I’m saying.”
“Yes, sir.” Cisco took a moment to explain the lieutenant’s orders so far.
The lieutenant went on, “Next, I want all of you cleanshaven. Those mustaches must go.”
Cisco hesitated before relaying the order to the Borinqueneers. He knew that the order would be devastating to the troops. He looked at the lieutenant, just to make sure that he had heard correctly. “Sir?”