761st Tank Battalion

The formation of the 761st Tank Battalion at Camp Claiborne, Louisiana — arrival, first sight of the Shermans, training, institutional friction, an inspection, and orders to move to Camp Hood.

The 761st arrives at Camp Hood, Texas — better terrain, colder cruelty, the M5 Stuart light tanks, and the truth of Cross's letter.

Camp Hood grinds on for a year with no word on deployment. Cross's grief cracks his control; Hollis returns with the coldest verdict yet; Bates takes a real risk. The chapter ends as new equipment arrives, tarped and unidentified, in October 1944.

The tarps come off — the 761st is issued M4 Shermans and redesignated. Deployment becomes real: Camp Shanks, the crossing, England, Omaha Beach, and attachment to Patton's Third Army. The chapter ends with their first combat action at Moyenvic and Patton's own words of praise.

The 761st fights through the Lorraine Campaign, breaks the Siegfried Line, and survives brutal house-to-house combat at Morville-lès-Vic. In mid-December, word arrives of the German breakthrough in the Ardennes — the battalion is rushed to Bastogne with no rest, arriving at the perimeter as dawn breaks and the battle begins.

The 761st fights to help relieve the encircled 101st Airborne at Bastogne. A new friend, Pvt. Curtis Boone, is killed mid-battle — the story's first real loss. The battalion grieves that night, and Bates writes the letter home. The chapter ends as the 761st crosses into Germany for the first time, carrying real loss with them.

The 761st pushes through Germany, January to March 1945, liberating towns as the tide of the war turns. Directed to a reported camp, the battalion confronts something combat never prepared them for. The chapter ends with word that the war in Europe is nearly over.

The 761st's final push takes them through Germany into Austria, meeting Soviet forces at Steyr. Their last combat action lands on May 6, 1945. The chapter ends with occupation orders — the war is over, but going home is not yet, and something waits there too.

Occupation duty, a final reckoning with Col. Hollis, and the 761st's formal deactivation on June 1, 1946. Cross and Frog's journey home confronts the segregation waiting exactly where they left it — and Cross finally tells Frog the full truth about his brother Marcus. The chapter closes Arc 1 with the real 761st's historic recognition: the 1978 Presidential Unit Citation, the 1997 Medal of Honor for Staff Sgt. Ruben Rivers, and the 2005 monument at Fort Hood.