David Webster had been gone for months—he’d missed out on Bastogne, decidedly the most gruesome campaign of your time in the war so far.

Haguenau was better than the snowy forests of the Ardennes—you got beds, warm food, showers. Not that you could sleep or eat much. The sound of soaring mortars overhead became familiar to you. Then you saw him. David Webster, returned to Easy Company. He saw you, smiling brightly—he looked so different from all of the other men. You resented him for it.