Editor's note: It is a Huron Daily Tribune tradition to run the entries for the Huron Area Writers' Group's Creative Writing Contest. Below are two of the entries. See next week's Huron Daily Tribune for more of the entries.
1st Place - Age 12 Category
Red water
By Ryan Gordon
age 12, Grade 7North Huron Elementary
I started out to the beach. We were only about 100 yards away. William, my best friend, lit his cigar and said nothing. We met during our one and a half months of basic training. Our platoon was about to engage on D-Day. Everyone on the boat was scared to death but no one was going to say anything. I looked at my watch and said, "It's time." William and I stood up and walked over to the area where they dropped the landing crafts into the water and got into lines. The General came out of the boat and stood on a wooden platform in front of us.
"Today you embark on an attack on a beach section of Normandy. If we prevail, our triumph will be etched into the hearts and minds of future generations for untold years. I'm talking about glory! True glory! Now get the job done!"
The General sure could give a good speech. He reminded me of our baseball coach before our last game on Easter. Mind you, we lost that game by ten runs. We got into the landing crafts and the motors stirred up. After what felt like hours, I heard someone yell out, "30 seconds!" My whole body tensed. I went into my own world until a mortar blew past our boat by two feet and it brought me back. I clutched my MI carbine and thought of the people I might have to use it on. But then I thought of the weapons that might have to be used on me, my stomach churned. I fought off the urge to throw up, but the waves were not helping much. The boat next to us was nearly bombed right out of the water. "Drop the gate!" yelled the Lieutenant. The gate squeaked as it dropped with a deafening thud. I thank my lucky stars that I was in the back, otherwise I would have been hit immediately. "Over the edge!" someone said. I hoisted myself up and fell over the edge. My whole body plunged underwater. I kicked my legs trying to get up, but my backpack held me down. I unbuckled the straps and took it off my back and pulled it behind me. I got to the shore and all I could think about was that I had had enough but the chaos did not cease. And the only thing to stop it was if we ran right into it and ended it all.
I took coverage behind one of the hedgehogs on the beach.
"Get bangalore to the wire as soon as they start reloading," someone screamed.
Minutes passed but if felt like an eternity until the firing finally stopped.
"Move! Move! Move!" yelled the Sergeant.
I got up as fast as I could, I ran. I ran and ran but I didn't make it far before the firing started again. People all around me started dropping. When I reached the wire, I just threw myself in front of it. So did everyone who had made it. I put the bangalore mine together and stuck it into the wire and pulled the trigger back.
"Fire in the hole!" I yelled.
I got up and ran out of the explosion zone. The bangalore had blown a hole in the wire.
"Breech, now!" screamed the Sergeant.
I ran through the hole as dust dirtied my face and the smoke burned my eyes and nose.
"Get into the trenches and clear them!" I heard.
I ran to the nearest trench and jumped in. Germans were everywhere. All I could do was aim down the sights of my rifle and fire until I ran out. After I had fired my whole magazine, we had cleared the trench. My legs wobbled and I fell over. I had just killed a man. When I had first enlisted, I had almost been excited at the thought of going into battle and killing the enemy. But this was far from that. The man I had just killed had been just like me. He had a family like me. He was fighting a war like me, fighting to protect his homeland like me. All these thoughts swirled in my head.
"Find anything that's useful on them. Then get ready to advance," said the Lieutenant.
I had just killed a man and now he was telling me to take his stuff. I couldn't do it and I wouldn't do it. I laid against the sandbag wall of the trench and even though I hated it, I reloaded my gun. If it came to it, I might have to use it again.
Hours passed and we kept advancing. We had made it past the machine guns and the beach but now we had to clear nearby farmhouses with mortars on the inside. We made it to a road that would lead us right to the last farmhouse in the objective area. Many tracks were imprinted in the dirt from the slew of retreating soldiers that were in the area.
"This is the last one of the area but more likely than not, the most protected. We get this one captured and we're done for the day," the Sergeant yelled.
As soon as we turned the corner we started getting railed with bullets. The people who had gone first had no chance against the German machine guns. They were hit multiple times before dropping unconscious.
"We can't cross the road! We need to call an artillery strike on the house to cover our movement! William, get in a call on the field phone!"
William quickly got to work and called in the strike on the house. Minutes later huge bombs were being launched at the house, shaking the earth and diminishing the house. When the strike stopped, the sergeant yelled, "Move! Move!" Reluctantly we all moved up the road and to the entrance of the barn. William threw in a grenade. Bang! The grenade blew it up and we all breached the barn in single file order clearing every last German in sight.
There was still one place we had not cleared, the loft. Being the first to notice this I decided to climb the ladder up to the loft with my pistol in hand. I had nearly got onto the wooden platform when a German officer popped out from behind a haystack. I stopped dead in my tracks. He looked at me knowing he had no chance but to take me with him. He pulled his pistol out and fired a single shot at me hitting me in the gut.
In shock, I fell backwards nearly 15 feet onto my back. The world around me went completely white, in my gut I felt a hot searing pain. I went into almost a new world-there were no sounds, nothing to see, just absolutely white nothing. I then felt a shake and everything came back to me. I still had that horrible pain in my side but overtop of me stood William shaking me!
When he saw my eyes open, he picked me up and carried me to a truck with wounded men in the back. There were probably over fifteen men, many looking close to lifeless. I looked back to the farmhouse, it was diminished to nothing more than some debris.
When we arrived at the beachhead once again, they took me and the rest of the wounded to see medics at a station that we had set up. I was placed right next to the edge of the station near the beach. I looked out at the beach, although it was secured, the water was stained with the blood of those who had lost their lives. Unfortunately, that was only a sliver of the lives lost so far in the war effort.
1st Place - Ages 10-11
Farm girl tough
By Annie Bowman
age 11, Grade 6Christ the King Lutheran, Sebewaing
Agriculture is the heart of our nation. Most people think farmers just produce our food, but farmers are much more. They get up early before the sun, work all day and call it a day after the sun goes down, sometimes seven days a week. Let's think from a farmer's perspective for a moment. They are continuously battling the elements of weather and the market values. They are some of the hardest working individuals out there, and virtues have been passed on from generation to generation. These principles that they live by have helped them for years to feed our nation. Not only have they grown our food, but they have fed the family values that we live by.
Our family has narrowed the character traits of a farmer down to four strengths: emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental. Below I am explaining these four elements that have helped farmers to persevere.
Let's start with Emotional. When I think of being emotional I think of emojis. Emojis remind me that each one of us has different feeling about certain issues. For instance, each one of us has a different perspective about this quarantine. Even though we may or may not want to do a particular thing, being emotionally tough means that you dig down deep and do it anyway. It also means that you do the right thing even when no one is looking. It may be the more difficult path to take, but it is never wrong to do the right thing. It's tough to see a tiny gosling pass away in your hands as you try to give it a nutritional drench to help make it stronger. You bury the downy bird, sigh because you will miss it, but you know you tried, and return to the pen to care for the rest of the flock.
The next quality is being spiritual. When I think of myself as being spiritual I see myself going to church every week, believing in God, and believing in myself. Spirituality consists of two words: faith and trust. Faith and trust work closely together in this world. You have to trust someone in order to let them do something for you. You need to put your faith in God and trust that He will take care of all things. Read the last sentence again. Those two words are working together. He is our personal caretaker and is essential.
Now let's talk about the physical trait. Being physically tough is exactly what it sounds like. You need to manage your health and well being to maintain a physical capability to manage your daily tasks on the farm. It means having self discipline. It means recognizing physical strength and health in yourself, your animals, and your crops. I work hard on our family farm. My mom always says I won't get any stronger if someone does the job for me. I gain mental strength from figuring it out and physical strength by doing the work. I love going to the feed store and picking up the 50 lb. bag of feed and carrying it to the counter. That ability didn't happen by chance. I earned that ability by working hard.
Last but not least, is the mental aspect. When you are mentally tough, you have to make difficult decisions, even when it would be much easier to take the simple way out. This quality makes you focus on your attitude and think positively. My mom always tells me that I can do anything I set my mind on. There is one thing that might stop me, and that is my attitude. Sometimes we have to look at the big picture and not just what is in front of you. You need to learn to look at how the short term decision will effect your long term goals. Farmers do a great job planning ahead and making the short term decisions that will effect the family for the entire year.
I have explained the four major attributes that farmers utilize in their families and on their farms: emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental. Being able to be tough in each of these areas has helped farmers succeed and persevere for years. They have taught generations life skills that are uncomparable to others. Farmers are some of the hardest working individuals in this world and I hope to grow up and be able to pass these same attributes on to my children on the farm.
In the meantime, I will continue to work hard so I can become Farm Girl Tough.
The Link LonkAugust 08, 2020 at 11:32AM
https://www.michigansthumb.com/news/article/Red-water-15468621.php
Red water - Huron Daily Tribune
https://news.google.com/search?q=Red&hl=en-US&gl=US&ceid=US:en
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