Battle Cry Page #10

It's been extremely difficult,

but I've had to discipline myself...

...never to interfere in

the personal affairs of my men.

This is one time I'm forced to.

I have no choice.

I like you too much.

As Andy's commanding officer,

I certainly can't sanction this behavior.

As a man, I do understand it.

Pat, you've done a lot for this boy.

You've given him his place in life.

You can't let him betray himself now.

Betray him to what, Colonel Huxley, his grave?

I haven't forgotten about another boy...

...a boy who was buried at El Alamein.

Do you think you and Andy could ever live in peace?

This would destroy both of you,

even if you got away with it.

I knew this was going to happen.

Why did I let it?

Colonel, where is our war?

Tell me, why do I have to give him up?

- Tell me.

- He's a man. He has a job to do.

You're no different than millions

of other women in this war.

You know what you have to do.

Andy, hold me.

Hold me tightly, darling.

Hold me.

Honey, you're all upset.

I'm here now. I'm here.

I'm not going back to the ship.

I said I'm not going back.

I expected it.

We can make it.

I got it all figured out.

I got a place in Ngaio where I can hide.

Then we'll make a run for it.

Fly to a south island, maybe Australia.

Three or four years, we can come back.

All right, Andy.

You mean it, honey?

- You really mean it?

- Yes, Andy.

We'd best pack right away.

- I'd better not take your radio.

- What do you mean?

You don't want to hear it when your battalion lands.

What will we call the baby?

We should have a nice, common name.

We won't be able to give him our own, you know.

- Let's not worry about that too much.

- Cut it out.

We'll have to change our own name

every month anyway.

We should start out with Smith.

We'll call the baby Joe Smith.

- It's a pretty name, isn't it?

- You're just trying to get me riled up.

- No, I'll go with you.

- What do we owe this lousy war?

- What do we owe the Marines?

- Each other.

You don't care any for me.

You'll have your baby.

That's all you want.

How dare you speak to me like that?

How dare you?

I didn't mean it, Pat.

I didn't mean it.

I'm just going out of my mind.

- I didn't mean it.

- Andy, if that's what you want, I'll go.

I must be crazy, Pat.

Crazy to even ask for something like this.

I'd never be able to look my kid in the face.

I'd lose you too.

I don't know why I ever asked.

I better get back to the ship.

- I'll go with you.

- No, I better go alone.

Do you love me, Pat?

Very much, Andy, very, very much.

You'll write to me, won't you?

Don't worry none if you don't

hear from me, being aboard ship and all.

Take good care of yourself and the baby.

Get up to the farm.

If we're lucky, we'll get back here soon.

But I'll be back as soon as I can.

- You're not sorry about us?

- No.

Just tell me once more how you love me.

I love you, Andy.

I love you.

Tarawa. A name to go down with

Bunker Hill, Gettysburg and the Alamo.

Every man in Huxley's battalion had been positive...

... that this time we'd lead

the division into the beach.

And then the word came through.

We were being used as

the mop-up boys again, the also-rans...

... sealed in our ships while the rest

of the division fought the battle.

When the smoke cleared and what was

left of the division limped off...

... they again told Huxley that he must

find the elusive Japanese garrison...

... who, this time, were hidden

in 45 miles of island atolls.

We cornered them after a four-day chase...

... and in a brief skirmish,

we closed the chapter on Tarawa.

Our casualties were light, but we left behind...

... the kid who might have

written the great American war novel...

... Corporal Marion Hotchkiss, Sister Mary.

Then, January 1944, we made

a 2500-mile voyage to rejoin the division.

Huxley's Harlots, the orphans of the Marine Corps.

Always a bridesmaid, but never a bride.

On one of the remote islands of Hawaii

we were dumped on a desolate camp...

... and for all practical purposes,

disappeared from the face of the earth.

- Good morning, sir.

- Jim.

Sir, we just received word from Headquarters.

The 1 st and 3rd Battalions move out

with the rest of the division.

We're to stand by, break camp, and follow in five days...

...which means we're in reserve again.

We take this battalion in reserve again

over my dead body.

- Jim, get my jeep for me, please.

- Yes, sir.

You didn't waste any time in getting over here.

You requested permission.

What's on your mind?

General, the rest of the division

is getting ready to move out.

My outfit is ordered to stand by in Hawaii.

- We won't leave them there.

- No, sir.

But if you have us scheduled

as reserves again in this campaign...

Just a minute, Huxley.

You don't like your assignment?

No, sir, I don't.

Then I see no reason to carry

this conversation on any further.

Will the general listen to my request?

You're getting quite a reputation as a troublemaker.

You went out of channels on Guadalcanal...

...to try to get your battalion

reassigned to a beachhead.

Sir, no man in this Corps

loves it any more than I do.

No one has a greater respect for military custom.

But those boys of mine have worked hard.

I have the greatest bunch of boys in the world...

...but they've got to have

a chance to prove themselves.

You can't train a champion to a fighting edge...

...and then just throw him away on exhibition matches.

We've sat in reserve and mopped up

while the war went past us.

This may be our last chance, sir.

Give it to us.

Come here, Huxley.

Ever see one of these?

The complete plan for the Saipan Operation.

Hundreds and thousands of pages.

Intelligence. Naval gunfire.

Communications. Artillery.

Landing plan. Engineer.

The personal history of the enemy commander.

Name it, you'll find it there.

Three divisions.

Sixty-thousand men are storming Saipan...

...to give us a base to bomb

the Japanese land round the clock.

But you're ready to question

the labor that went into that plan...

...just because you don't like

your assignment. Who do you think you are?

You can take that book

and throw it in the ocean.

You know as well as I do the book is dead

when the first shot's fired.

It wasn't a book that won us Guadalcanal.

It wasn't a book that kept those boys

coming through the lagoon in Tarawa.

It's those men with the rifles and the guts

that's gonna win your war for you.

We want that beachhead.

Once upon a time, we used to think

you were a bright young man.

There is such a thing as insubordination.

When I came to you, I knew I'd leave here one of two

In command of my battalion

or by the brig.

You might as well court-martial me, sir,

because I'm not going back to my boys...

...and tell them that they're gonna carry

a broom and dustpan again.

You stuck your neck out a long way.

Stand by until I can put through

a change in these orders.

I'm sending your battalion in

on the exposed left flank of Red Beach.

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