Men of Honor Page #2

Sailors, get him up!

On the hatch. Ready?

Come on.

Face down!

- No.

- Goddamn!

If I'd just been a couple of minutes

earlier, he'd be breathin'now!

You did your best,

Chief Sunday. Lieutenant Hanks.

Sir.

- Complete the diving operation.

- Yes, sir.

The copilot is still in the water.

Caughlin, it's your turn over the side.

Bring that man home. Hat him.

Take Chief Sunday to the chamber

for decompression.

Lay back on him.

On the side!

Diver comin'up

and over!

- Chief?

- Drop the goddamn weight!

Drop the weight!

- Man overboard!

- Stand by divers, you're in!

What the hell's going on?

Master Chief,

we just lost Caughlin, sir.

- We got a standby diver going--

- He can't wait that long.

Tellme what you're doing?

I got a man on.

Gonna bounce dive, put him on

a rescue line and yank him out.

- Bounce dive?

- Bounce back before

the nitrogen builds in my system.

He's too deep already,

and you will call me "sir."

Goddamn it, I got a man dyin'

down there, sir!

Give mea wrench! Give me

that spare life line and air hose!

I've lost two men

on my watch.

I've got another drowning, and I'm not

about to let you commit suicide.

- You will stand fast!

- He'll be dead before you get to him!

- The air hose!

- Stand off! I will take you

to the captain's mast,

and you will lose if you touch

that water, do you hear me?

Yes, sir!

Goddamn it!

Master Chief Sunday,

you've sustained a serious embolism.

- Embolism?

- Both lobes of the lungs

were severely scarred.

Can't cheat the laws of nature

forever, can you, Doc?

I'm afraid the condition's

totally inoperable.

Ain't that a b*tch?

So what happens next time I go diving?

I start taking on bottom pressure?

Any increased pressure at all

will kill you, instantly.

Kill me. Goddamn, for a minute there

I thought this was serious.

- If you could keep your voice down.

- Hell, no.

Goddamn,

I feel like singin', man.

- Ah, f***!

- Where are you going?

Get me a drink. Celebrate.

You had me going.

I thought I couldn't go diving no more.

- Chief Sunday,

you're scaring the patients.

- How about me?

Goddamn. Hey, I got an idea.

Maybe you can use me around here.

Hell, I'm lookin'

to make a career move.

Maybe, maybe you can get

someone to change the bed pans!

- Change the f***in' bed pans!

- Chief!

- Change the f***in' bed pans!

Hey! Hey!

- Hey!

Master Chief Sunday, given

your current physical condition...

and the far graver issue...

of your recent acts of misconduct,

you will be medically

disqualified from diving,

fined one-half month's pay

for three months...

and reassigned

toa training position,

where it is

my greatest wish...

that you will embrace

a new found respect for authority.

This hearing is concluded.

- That's what I want to be, sir.

- A Navy Master Diver?

- Yes, sir.

- Last week, you were a cook.

- Well, the man I just saw--

- The man you saw is a Master Chief.

That's the highest rank an enlisted man

can achieve in the Navy.

A lot of good men spend a career

trying to get there and fail.

Besides,

they are not gonna take

a colored at diving school.

- It's as simple as that.

- What if you were to give me

a personal recommendation, sir?

I just made you

a deck seaman three days ago.

What else do I owe you?

The way I see it,

I owe you, sir.

I'll endorse your request,

but it ain't gonna work.

Wait outside.

- Mr. Pappy, Boats wain's Mate

Bras hear is reporting for duty.

- Don't let him in, sailor.

I'll be waiting on the hilltop

Where the wild

red roses grow

Yeah. Well, look at Mr. Navy.

Bell-bottoms bleached.

Shoes all shined up.

Now alls we need

is an organ grinder.

Welcome to Bayonne, New Jersey.

Pimple on God's ass.

Chief Sunday, we never met,

but I served with you on the Hoist.

U.S.S. Hoist.

I 'spect I 'member you now.

So what's for chow, cookie?

I wouldn't know, Chief.

I'm reporting for diving school.

Oh, yeah, that's right.

They say you wrote over 100 letters

requesting admission to this school.

You got you

some grit in you, huh?

- Yes, sir.

- Well, it's gonna be a hot one today.

Sure hope you're better

than the last cook.

That man's food could kill your dog.

Chief.

- Thank you.

- All righteous.

There you go.

Had yourself

anything to drink today?

No, sir, Chief.

What say we go on into town

and get us a nice cold one?

I can't do that, Chief.

I haven't reported for duty.

I tell you what.

I'll buy you a tall one over there.

A bus ticket too, so you can go back

to whatever burg you sprang from.

What do you say?

Sir, I am a Navy man.

Where I come from,

there are no oceans.

Only dirt farms

and ornery mules.

And no self-respecting Navy man

makes a living driving mules.

Sir.

You know what the Chinese say,

cookie?

Beware what you wish for.

I stole a pie! I stole a pie!

- Let him in.

I stole a pie! I stole a pie!

I stole a pie!

I stole a pie!

I stole a pie!

I stole a pie!

Get in there.

Go on. Hoist away.

Do-Do-Do-Don't stare at him.

- Who is he?

- The commanding officer,

b-b-but everyone calls him

M-M-Mr. Pappy.

- He's a war hero.

- Here.

They, they were gonna make him

an admiral up in D. C....

'f-f-fore they,

they found out he's got more,

more screws loose than a Studebaker.

So they sent him here.

Better salute him or you'll be

spending your first night in the brig.

I stole a pie!

Come on. I'll show you the barracks.

Attention on deck!

Gentlemen, in 1948,

President Harry S. Truman

had the courage and forward-thinking

and enlightenment...

to desegregate

the United States military.

Now I want y'all to welcome the Bayonne

Diving School's first colored trainee,

Bosun's Mate

Second Class Carl Brashear.

I don't hear anyone welcomin'

Bosun's Mate Brashear.

Master Chief,

no disrespect to the president,

but I don't bunk with n*ggers.

- Aren't you gonna go too?

- N-N-N-No.

I-I-I-I'm from Wisconsin.

Never been there.

Haily gets a fast ball

low and inside for strike three,

and Jackie Robinson strikes out.

And the score as we had it

Brooklyn, one, Milwaukee, one.

Rise and shine, cookie.

Time for trainin'.

- Are you familiar with

the principle of Boyle's Law?

The what?

I didn't hear your answer.

Come on, cookie.

Get up.

- Boyle's Law states that,

at a constant temperature,

the volume of a confined ideal gas

varies inversely with its pressure!

- Now why is this law

important in divin'?

- I don't know, Chief!

You ain't never gonna know,

'cause you're just some dumb

dirt n*gger from Podunk!

I know you.

Your sweet smell hung in every bunk

and goddamn shack I ever lived in.

Your n*gger face stared at me

every time we had to leave...

'cause your daddy

could farm it cheaper than mine.

Mine drank himself into a $7 casket,

but that ain't gonna happen to me...

because I'm a Master Diver!

Maybe you'll remember that next time

you imply we got anything in common!

You read me, cookie?

- What?

- Get your goddamn Wisconsin ass...

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