Battleground Page #5

- Where's Pop Stazak?

- Him and Hansan are on a roadblock.

Well, this might be it. It looks official.

Chatsburg News.

And The Dogpatch Gazette.

Get back to the aid station, Kinnie,

before those feet of yours get any worse.

They won't take frozen feet

unless they start to change color.

No combat fatigue, no fever cases.

You have to be bleeding from a wound.

All they got at the aid station

is aspirin and iodine.

- What about the field hospital?

- Captured.

Medics, casualties, equipment, the works.

It must have been after the meat wagon

got there with Wolowicz.

I guess Standiferd was there, too.

Some of the walking wounded were killed.

They say the fight they put up

was one for the book.

Layton, you're learning too fast.

How about spelling me for a bit?

The dreams are getting better all the time.

I was back home in Baltimore...

Ioading up on hard-shell crabs and beer.

That dream's against regulation, soldier.

You know what our boys overseas

always dream about.

- Mom's blueberry pie.

- Why, certainly!

That's what we're fighting for.

Boy, when I get home...

just give me a hot dog

and a slice of that pie.

Am I gonna kick if I don't get my job back?

No sirree. All I want is a...

So long, Holley.

So long, Pop.

- Au revoir.

- I found them!

I found them in another pocket!

You're just in time to work Pop's shift.

Go up and get Hansan.

- Where you going?

- Special Orders, Number 1437:

"Private Ernest J. Stazak

will proceed to Paris...

"where transportation to the US

will be arranged."

- Relax, chum. You ain't going no place.

- I ain't?

Here, read it yourself.

I don't care what it says.

Nobody's leaving Bastogne,

and nobody's coming in...

except maybe some Krauts riding tanks.

We're surrounded.

Surrounded?

If this is one of your crummy jokes...

I'll knock those GI teeth

right down your throat.

Take it easy, Pop.

He wouldn't have those teeth back

in his mouth if there was any way out.

Tough break, Pop.

You know,

I can get them in a lot of trouble for this.

It's against the rules of war

to shoot at civilians.

I'm sorry, Kipp.

Them poor devils

in the footslogging infantry...

nothing but walk, walk, walk.

The airborne, that's the life.

It's great up here in these gliders,

drifting along over the clouds.

They're liable to have you up

in juvenile court for smoking.

This your first time

away from home, Layton?

Basic training was.

That wasn't quite the same.

My folks stayed for a while

at a town near camp.

Did Mama rub your little footsies

after those nasty 20-mile hikes?

She made me brush my teeth

twice a day...

so I wouldn't have to

have them all pulled out.

- Hey, look at that.

- What?

I thought it was a shadow.

It's just some burnt-out powder.

You'll die of old age

before you see a shadow around here.

This fog ain't never gonna lift.

Did the planes have to wait?

Haven't they ever heard of flying blind?

Nobody cares. They just don't care.

I don't believe that, Kipp.

Reverend Layton

will now lead us in prayer.

Might not be a bad idea.

The C.O. Says you're to dig in

at that railroad embankment.

The rest of the company's

moving back 500 yards.

Right.

Third platoon,

whenever there's a dirty detail.

Let's go, men. On your feet.

Check your rifles. See if they're froze up.

Listen to Holley,

making a noise like a sergeant.

He's really GI now since he took over

the squad. Right on the ball.

Yeah. Strictly chicken, that's me.

Let's be chicken those bolts.

Check your rifles.

Why can't they pass down

some information?

If a man gets hit, he must at least know

what country he's dying in.

Now, that's for sure. That's for dang sure.

I've asked you 800 times...

I won't say that no more, Jarvess.

That's for sure.

Can't see them.

I'm with you, Holley.

Come on.

Second squad! You, too, Mac! Follow me!

Let's go, Abner!

Mama.

Wait till it clears.

Hold your fire.

Tell them to come out with their hands up.

Layton, you and Joe

check them for maps and papers.

See if any of them are still kicking.

Get the prisoners and wounded

back to Bastogne, Sergeant.

See if we've got enough men left, Holley.

I'm going to put this man in

for a Silver Star.

You know, a guy ought to be able to get

$100 for this back in Paris.

I thought Holley was running away.

That's why I ran after him.

How do you know

what Holley was thinking?

How do you know if he was thinking at all?

Things just happen.

Afterwards you try to figure out

why you acted the way you did.

I know why I ran. I was scared to death.

You just joined the biggest club

in the Army. Everybody belongs.

Just drop me off at the psycho ward.

Why did I have to get up and start firing?

A good thing somebody did.

Yeah. It didn't have to be me. A volunteer.

It happened so fast,

you had no time to look at your watch.

Yeah, sure forgot what time it was

in Springfield.

- Hansan, I hate to ask you, but...

- You can have it.

Let's get out of here, chum.

Thanks, Pop.

I'll drop back later.

Just don't get carried back.

Say, miss, how about giving him a shot?

Morphine. Him.

No more morphine?

That's great.

She pours him one more,

I'm gonna get myself shot.

They're way too big.

I wished we'd found them yesterday.

Let's go, men. Chow!

- What?

- You heard me. Hot chow!

I've been pulling KP ever since.

We was bombed out twice.

I'm telling you,

I never saw so much incoming mail.

Yeah, things are getting rough all over.

I wanted to go back on the line.

But they're short-handed

in the kitchen, see.

A couple more KPs got hit this morning.

I wouldn't mind a little action

for a change.

How about you and me switching?

Oh, no. They'd never let me go.

I've been learning how to cook.

- Bettis, anything left?

- No.

But it's clean. It's only leftovers.

I don't even see those things.

I wanna see them.

I wanna remember them.

We'll start back in about an hour.

Better stick around this area.

Where's the kid?

Who, Layton? He's in the barn, I guess,

putting on those dry clothes.

Bettis, how about breaking loose

with a bottle of cognac?

We ain't got any.

I'll settle for some hot water

to wash my feet in.

Coming right up.

Bettis, you got any trading material?

The belly robber keeps everything locked.

But there's half a loaf of bread.

A half a loaf is...

Where is it?

I could have sworn it was on that table.

Hello, soldier.

Pull up a chair, Holley.

Today you are a man.

This is Antwerp, up here.

To the north and the east

are the British and the Canadians.

Down at Belfort, over 300 miles away,

is the French First Army.

The Americans are stretched out

all the way in between.

If the supply line to Antwerp is cut...

at least 20 Allied divisions

will be strictly out on a limb.

- Where's Bastogne?

- There.

This is where the Krauts

found a soft spot in our line.

You see why Bastogne is so important.

It's at the main intersection

of seven main highways...

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