Born on the Fourth of July Page #6

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everything you say.

I served my country.

They just want

to take from it.

Love it or leave it.

The other side's angry

because

we're not winning.

How can we win?

Tommy,

what's the matter?

Nothing.

Anybody listening here?

Tommy?

What?

Tommy's going

to fail English.

He doesn't believe

in the war.

What?

He thinks we're doing

the wrong thing

over there.

He thinks

it's all a mistake.

Mistake? What's this?

Spit it out.

You believe

in demonstrators?

Huh? What?

I just don't agree

with everything you're saying.

I don't think

you understand.

What does

Tommy know?

I don't understand?

He's hanging around

with longhairs

who take drugs!

That's not the reason.

Have they ever worked?

You want to burn the flag?

Huh, Tommy?

What is this?

You want to

bring down this country?

Love it

or leave it, Tommy.

All they're

trying to say, Ronnie,

is they don't

want more people

to come back like you.

That's an easy excuse.

Where were they when

their country needed them?

You served your country.

What did you

get out of it?

Look at you.

Well, look at me.

Look at you, man.

I got to go. I'll see

you around, all right?

What's wrong

with me, Tommy?

What's wrong

with me?

Is there something

wrong with me?

I volunteered,

Tommy!

You don't know

what you're talking about!

Were you there?

You can just love it

or leave it, Tommy!

Mom, I can't believe

what Tommy just

said to me.

I can't...

I can't believe

what Tommy just said to me.

Parade time, Ronnie.

You tell them I'll be

right there, all right?

What kind of car is it?

I think it's

a Continental.

Continental?

A convertible?

Yeah.

They said

it would be.

Coming up

in the world.

Would you like to ride

In my beautiful balloon

Would you like to ride

In my beautiful balloon

We could float among

the stars together

You and I

For we can fly

We can fly

Up, up and away

In my beautiful

My beautiful

Balloon

Die!

Today is July the 4th,

and I believe in America.

And I believe

in Americanism.

But most of all,

I believe in victory

for America.

Some people are starting

to say the war is wrong,

that we shouldn't be there.

Some people would like to

tear our country down.

But who are the kids

defending their right

to protest?

These are the kids

who care about America,

kids who have respect

for their flag

and their parents

and their government

and their religion.

Kids like Joey Walsh.

He was the first.

We got a street

in the park named after him.

And Danny Topinka,

Billy Vorsovich,

Phil and Larry Powell,

Tommy Finnelli.

Six boys from Massapequa...

and they all knew

what honour, duty,

and sacrifice meant.

They paid

the highest price.

They died for it.

This town's

been hit hard.

It's always

been hit hard.

Doc here, he was

in the First War.

A lot of us here

were in the Second.

That's why

we can't give up.

That's why we're going to

win in Vietnam.

Because Massapequa's

been there before,

because of those

six wonderful boys,

and because of him.

Ron...

come say a few words,

would you, please?

Ron Kovic,

ladies and gentlemen.

He was born

on the 4th of July, 1946.

Give him a big hand

on his great birthday.

I just want to say

for the guys in Vietnam

that we're doing our best.

It's not an easy situation,

but the boys' morale

over there is real high,

and you can feel

confident that we are...

we are going to

win that war.

I served my country,

and I don't want you

to feel sorry for me.

Do not shed a tear.

I have my hands,

my eyes, my ears...

I have my heart...

and I have...

what I feel...

I have what I feel is...

an unquen... quenchable...

O.K. It's O.K., Ronnie.

It's O.K., kid.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry.

And we'll

continue to fight

because of guys

like Ron Kovic...

Dad, where's the car?

It's across

the street.

Like he said,

we're going to

win that war.

Ronnie.

Ronnie.

Timmy?

Timmy, man?

Timmy!

I heard you were...

When did you get back?

When did you get out?

Wow, man.

Let's get the hell

out of here.

Mr Kovic?

Yeah. Sure.

Antiwar demonstrators have come

to Washington, D.C.

To shut the city down.

...and Martin's

Laugh In,

starring Dan Rowan

and Dick Martin,

with Sammy Davis, Jr.

And Judy Carne...

Honey.

Come on.

It's starting.

O.K. I'm coming.

It's the one

with Sammy Davis.

Oh, yeah?

Who else

used to play?

Come on, Ronnie.

No. Come on.

Tell me who.

Bobby Moore

at shortstop.

Grady Rogers

at third.

Grady got sick.

It was Finnelli at third.

Tommy Finnelli.

Yeah.

Got hit with one

of his own mortars.

That's crazy, man.

Sh*t, I heard

about that.

Remember the twins,

Phil and Larry Powell?

Oh, the twins. Oh.

They were great wrestlers.

Oh, man.

They were f***ing great.

Tough.

Tough bastards.

When Phil got killed,

Larry... who wasn't much

for brains either...

went down the next day

and joined up.

Oh, God.

Then he got hit.

Oh, no.

It's true.

A land mine

or something.

He got hit in the head

with a tree.

Yeah. I'm telling you

the truth.

He goes over to Vietnam,

and he gets killed

by a flying f***ing tree.

Oh.

That's really f***ing funny.

I think the whole town

got devastated, Ronnie.

I don't think

we got a friend left.

It's really funny.

When did you

get hit, Timmy?

September the 18th.

Near Dong Ha.

A lot of bad sh*t

up there, Ronnie,

I'm telling you.

Things I don't

even want to talk about.

You know.

I mean, uh...

it was crazy.

Shooting

anything that...

anything that f***ing moved,

you know?

When did you...

When did you get hit?

Me?

Well...

Uh, January 20th.

Yes.

Someplace off...

I don't even remember.

Up in the DMZ.

Walked into

a whole battalion of them.

Got shot

in the foot.

I got up

like I was...

back in the woods again,

like I was

John f***ing Wayne,

emptying a mag, screaming,

"Come on, Charlie, motherf***er!

Come on out,

Charlie, motherf***er!??

Rat-tat-tat-tat.

I heard this crack

above my right ear,

and I just

felt my body...

drop out from under me.

Well, I thought

I was dead for sure.

Was the, uh...

How was

the hospital?

It sucked.

I know.

Really bad.

I'll tell you

something, Ronnie...

Sometimes

at night...

I get these headaches,

you know?

They're bad.

And, uh...

they just kind of

come over me,

and these doctors

don't know sh*t, you know.

They just come,

like I'm going crazy or something.

I don't feel... I don't feel

like me any more, you know?

I feel like...

when they come,

I feel like

somebody else.

What do you do?

Nothing.

Not a goddamned thing, you know?

Well... mostly I do

a lot of drugs.

Do anything

you can, you know?

Y-You get through it

any way you can.

When I was

in the hospital,

I thought, "Yeah.

Yeah, this makes sense."

What makes sense?

'Cause I failed, Timmy.

What are you

talking about?

'Cause I...

'Cause I killed someone...

some people. L...

I made some terrible...

mistakes.

Ronnie, we all made mistakes.

I mean, you...

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