Under The Same Sky
It was 1943, and the Pacific theater was at its boiling point. The Allied forces were locked in a brutal campaign against the Japanese, and every inch of ground fought for was drenched in blood. On the island of Leyte, the air was thick with smoke, the sounds of gunfire echoed across the jungle, and the ground trembled beneath the march of soldiers who had witnessed horrors no human should ever have to endure. Private First Class Thomas “Tom” Hayes had been a part of the 5th Marines since the start of the war. A farm boy from Tennessee, he’d enlisted after Pearl Harbor, full of youthful idealism and patriotism. But as the months dragged on, as his comrades fell and the battlefields grew bloodier, that idealism had been replaced with something harder—survival. He was stationed at a field hospital on Leyte after a particularly grueling assault. His body was tired, his uniform stained with sweat and dirt, but his mind was still sharp. There was always something to do, whether i...