None But the Brave Page #4

take your orders from the Lieutenant.

I'll handle the fly-boy.

You dumb slob! You're lucky

you don't work for a Jap C.O.,

he'd put you in that grave!

I'd make sukiyaki out of him.

And that goes for you, too.

Anybody else?

Last call for gripers, and I mean last!

Captain,

I consider it my duty to apologize, sir,

and request a deck court for that man.

Forget it, Lieutenant.

We're gonna need every big baboon

we can housebreak.

Now let's see if we can't work together

and figure out a way to get off

this worthless scab on the ocean.

I could easily kill him now

at the cost of my own life.

I have been taught that death is purity,

and sometimes the call to die

is a stronger wine than life.

He still lives today

because in the loneliness of command,

we are brothers.

That's all today.

Damn!

Must've made that one at Lockheed.

Yeah, well, I tell you, I take 'em as

a good sign we're getting close to water.

Now we'll wait here for Craddock,

then we'll go on to the spring.

Hey, Hoxie,

I'll make book with you on who drinks first.

All right, slicker, you're on.

Double what I owe you or nothing

that I beat you to the water.

All right, we'll advance, but slow.

Wish to hell I'd brought more canteens.

Oh, man, it's a beauty!

Yeah, this is as close as we'll get.

What? Sir.

I plan to grab the Japanese boat.

Our action here is just a feint

to draw them away from it.

But, sir, we gotta have some water!

We were ready...

That spring will be there anytime,

the boat won't.

Figure they built it to contact

their main force, it's our best bet, too.

Watch the action, gents.

No, you idiot!

- It don't make sense, skipper.

- Yes, it does.

Come on, you guys.

The Searcy luck's protecting you. Come on.

No! Damn it, come back here!

I'm sorry I jumped the command, sir.

Get back to Maloney.

You're no good to me.

Yes, sir.

- Craddock!

- Yes, sir.

I want you to make like a platoon.

Spread 'em thin and encircle Indian style.

Make the enemy C.O. Think

there's so many of you

he'll send reinforcements.

When you get the merry-go-round going,

leave Roth in charge.

You and Bleeker join me

at Rendezvous Tidewater.

Yes, sir.

Fujimoto.

You will re-enforce the spring immediately.

Yes, sir.

But return at once if you hear firing

from this quarter.

Yes, sir.

I suspect a decoy maneuver

to get at our camp.

Commander, will the boat be all right?

She is like a wife to me, sir.

Don't worry.

We will defend your wife's honor.

Yes, sir.

Corporal Fujimoto will take three men

to re-enforce the spring, sir.

Left face, forward on the double.

- Don't waste ammunition.

- I saw something moving there.

You are impossible.

No Yankee boat thieves can be here

until the full tide covers the reef.

But I am only telling you what I saw.

You fool! Don't be a chicken!

You are the worst soldier

in the whole Imperial Army.

I believe I share the distinction, Sergeant.

I try to make allowances

for a prayer reader.

If anything happens to me,

read me a prayer, will you?

Oh, leave it up to me, Sergeant.

Stop it! Not time yet.

Who goes there?

Operation Idiot.

Ain't nothing holding that boat

but two little old pieces of rope.

They can cast her off on the run.

Fine. Now get this.

We can't float her over the reef

before the dawn tide.

When the moon goes down,

you'll wade out and board her.

Keep your powder high and dry.

And remember,

your destination is Santa Isabel.

- You got the chart?

- Yes, sir.

- Any questions?

- No, sir.

Good luck.

- Stay on your feet!

- Why?

Get up, you too!

The boat is drifting!

Commander! Commander!

- Hold fire!

- The fore cable has been cut.

The cable's been cut off. Take the

boat on the other side of the pier.

Tamura! Cover them with fire.

Go!

There's enemy on the boat, too!

Bastards!

Behind us!

Move up!

Man on the dock!

Get him! Get him!

She's drifting our way!

Keep them pinned down!

Hand grenade.

Tamura, cover me.

Hey, get that man!

The boat! It's burning!

You took my boat. You took my boat.

My boat! My boat.

My boat! My boat.

The dream of hope is ashes,

but the fury that destroyed it

is still aflame.

However, even hatred has its rituals.

We and the enemy have paused

to honor the dead, and gird for more.

Here sleeps Ando, the carpenter

who, like Adam,

built his love out of nothing.

Out of his rib, as the story goes.

Ando and his boat.

He loved her like a wife and died with her.

And here lies Arikawa,

who so boldly charged the boat.

And here is the Marine

who traded his life for a drink of water.

How foolish that anyone must die

for want of water

on a planet mostly composed of water.

Port arms.

- Tokumaru.

- Yes, sir.

You read the prayer for them.

Yes, sir. I will bring my rosary.

Lance Corporal! Lance Corporal!

Please, somebody, come!

Please, somebody, come! Commander!

Lance Corporal is trying to

commit suicide. Please come! Hurry!

If I had been a step later

we would have had another grave.

You make light of your life!

Hirano, why do you hurry to death?

Because I cannot do anything when

my comrades die fighting.

Don't be silly. The

fighting is not all of life.

We have only a few of us left

and we want to hear your songs.

Now let's see your leg.

Three crosses, three cremations.

Nobody can ever say

we're not good to our boys.

We should fire a salute over 'em.

It's time we got stingy with the ammo.

It's not a salute you'll be needing,

it's a lesson in the ways of love.

Take heed, you fornicators!

And bridle your lust

for your neighbor's geisha.

'Tis the item of the boat I'm speaking of,

my stupid friends.

She was a lover to the Japanese.

Men are strongest

when they're protecting their darlings.

Look, what we don't need here

is a drunken Irish poet.

I ordered you to lay off the whiskey.

Okay, Captain Bourke.

I'm sober enough to say I'm sorry,

and I'm sorry for you, too.

So you bums didn't like my heads enough

to stick around.

You won't find no better in hell.

If they could hear me,

I'd promise each of them a dead Jap.

KUROKl:
Captain!

I wish to speak to the American captain.

Can you hear me?

I hear you! Who are you?

Lieutenant Kuroki.

I wish to negotiate with you. Privately.

- I'll take care of the creep.

- Now you stay put, shavetail.

- You alone?

- KUROKl:
Yes. Of course.

- Where?

- KUROKl:
50 meters east will do.

Now you try barging in, Lieutenant,

and I'll kill you.

Damn maniac would, too.

Very trusting of you to come unarmed.

My apologies.

You the commanding officer?

Only the Acting C.O.

As a result of casualties

in our battalion command.

Battalion?

You must have them well dispersed.

You'd need air reconnaissance

to spot all the units.

Yeah, well, I'm fresh out of airplanes.

And we are both

out of communicational equipment.

Well, no matter.

My transport was carrying

double troop capacity.

All seasoned veterans.

Most of them deployed in the hills.

So many and so thirsty, eh?

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