What? Why? These thoughts raced inside Roy's mind as he watched her disappear around the corner of the building. Roy would never see Nurse Lefebvre again.
After leaving the hospital, Roy endured an embarrassing ceremony in which hundreds of soldiers stood at attention in the warm sun. For several hours, a general droned on about various combat subjects, a band played marching music, and a dozen soldiers received awards and medals. For his performance against the enemy, consisting of distinguished personal bravery and self-sacrifice, Roy received the Medal of Honor. Thunderous applause followed his award. Then for Roy's extraordinary acts in connection with military operations against an armed enemy of the United States, he received the Distinguished Service Cross. Also awarded the Distinguished Service Cross posthumously, was his friend Stanley Riddle.
Roy could care less about the awards and would gladly trade them to have his friend Stanley back alive again. Because of his heroic acts and injuries, Roy was also assigned to a patrol unit in charge of cleanup operations, well behind enemy lines. He would report the following week, to the village of Thionville on the Mossel River. There the soldiers would search out for stray enemy troops hiding out or snipers waiting to attack the Allied forces from the rear.
The first week of duty was boring. Splitting the soldiers into smaller units, they spread out; canvassing house by house and barn to barn, ensuring the town was safe. From this village, they would march east.
By the end of the month, Roy was thinking of deserting and trying to find Nurse Lefebvre. He was walking down an empty street when he heard a woman's painful scream. He stopped, listened, and heard it again; only this time slightly stifled. Walking fast and stopping periodically to catch any sounds, Roy quickly covered several buildings to no avail. He could not pinpoint the source of the woman's cry. He was passing a narrow staircase that faced the street when Roy heard the woman scream again. This time, he also heard a punching sound and a groan. Stepping into the stairwell, Roy crept up the stairs making his way toward the awful sounds.
As he neared the third floor, he heard a woman crying and the sound of someone slapping flesh. The woman's voice screamed louder.
"Shut up you stupid whore, or I'll shoot you," a male voice said.
A woman's voice pleaded in French. "No more sir, please kill me!"
Roy stepped into the open area leading to the room and saw an Army soldier on top of a woman in bed. He was naked from the waist down and straddled a woman tied to the bed by all four limbs. He raised his fist and struck the woman in the face, and she screamed again speaking French.