Objective, Burma! Page #4

Habeda, scout.

- Hicks, you and Smithy look up that way.

- Yes, sir.

All right, dish out the Atabrine tablets.

Everybody okay?

Okay? Easiest war I ever been in.

What is it today, Hogan?

Chicken dinner with dumplings.

These are the dumplings.

What time are those planes

due to pick us up?

Ten minutes.

- Get a story, Mr. Williams?

- I got more than that.

I don't mind telling you gentlemen,

there were some moments there...

when I wished I was somewhere else.

Almost anywhere else would have done.

If you could be someplace else right now,

Charlie, where would it be?

I don't know. A football game.

How about you?

If I had my choice

I'd be sitting on a nice, soft stool...

in the National Press Club

in Washington, D. C...

surrounding a tall, cold bourbon and soda.

What? I didn't know newspapermen drank.

How about you?

A place you probably never heard of.

Cannonball Island in Central Park.

- Really? New York?

- Yeah, Schenectady, New York.

They have a central park, too,

with this island in the middle.

Sort of take your girl there

if you're real friendly.

Sounds all right.

- I have a lot of friends in Schenectady.

- No kidding.

Yeah. My column is syndicated there,

The Gazette. Your folks live there?

My father has a grocery store

on Crane Street, by the locomotive works.

- Really? Where'd you go to school?

- Union College.

I'm supposed to be a school teacher.

After the war I have an appointment.

History teacher

in Pleasant Valley High School.

That's fine. Your folks will get

quite a kick out of reading about you.

You mean all that stuff

will be in the Schenectady paper?

- Sure. You don't mind, do you?

- Heck, no.

What do you know?

It's a small world, isn't it?

Yes, and it's getting smaller.

If only more folks back home

would realize...

Crane Street, Schenectady

runs all the way to Burma...

- this would be the last war.

- Amen.

All right, boys,

here's the pill that kills the chill.

That's a nice bunch of tombstones

you got in your mouth.

Sarge, come on.

- Sergeant!

- Hey, look. Atabrine.

A pill a day keeps the old doc away.

Wake up.

Throw some water on him.

What's the matter?

I thought I heard something.

Maybe they're not ours. Cover.

Army 27805. Army 27805 from Red Leader.

Calling Army 27805 from Red Leader.

Acknowledge.

Calling Army 27805 from Red Leader.

Acknowledge.

Hello, Red Leader.

This is Army 27805 saying go ahead.

Over to you.

Everything clear and ready to land.

Wind direction east to west.

East to west. Over.

Okay, Red Leader, we're coming in.

What kind of a job did you do? Over.

Perfect score. No casualties.

Got the radar station

and about 60 of the garrison. Over.

It was a picnic, eh?

All we do is fly around

in this broken-down birdcage.

Those guys have all the fun.

Any bad spots in the field? Over.

No, it's like a billiard table.

Even you could make a landing here.

Come on in.

Over.

Japanese. About 100 men

coming this way.

Ready to move, on the double.

Let me see your map.

Calling Army 27805.

Grab your stuff!

We're moving out on the double.

Don't come in. They're waiting for you.

We're getting out of here.

Gain altitude and leave.

There's about 200 Japs waiting for you.

We're moving out.

Look for us in two days

at map reference G-285906.

You get it? Map reference G-285906.

We'll be there in two days. Over.

G-285906 in two days.

Okay, Red Leader, got it. Over.

Some picnic.

Tell the other plane

we're hightailing it out of here.

Put out a three-man recon.

Come on, snap it.

- Take me to Col. Carter.

- Yes, sir.

- And I came back as soon as I could, sir.

- All right, thank you, Barker.

- Make your report to Intelligence.

- Yes, sir.

Let's see. The action took place here,

and he was going this way to...

G-285906.

I hope he can make it.

- I'm sure he will.

- Yeah. I wish I were sure.

I just mean knowing Nelson,

I'm certain, that's all.

I'm sure he can make it

to G-285906 all right.

It's the rest of it I'm worried about.

The closer he gets to home

the thicker the Japs will be.

The Chindwin river

is lined with them like fleas.

- You sound as if he's going to walk out.

- How else do I get him out?

Why do you think I'm sweating it out?

There isn't another airfield between us

and Nelson that isn't swarming with Japs.

I can't get him out by plane.

He's got to walk out.

That's 150 miles.

Yeah, 150 miles with Japs

lining the whole way, waiting for him.

Oh, brother. This is a wonderful war.

Couldn't they cut an airstrip in the jungle?

With 36 men? It could take weeks.

The Japs

wouldn't leave them alone that long.

- They can't walk out. It can't be done.

- Maybe not.

That remains to be seen.

Let's get a cup of coffee.

Ten-minute break, guys. No smoking.

Salt tablets, everyone.

- Take it easy on the water.

- Yes, sir.

Ten-minute break. No smoking.

Easy on the water.

Me, I crave action.

You can't expect to find a Jap

behind every tree.

- Personally, I like them in front of trees.

- Better take your salt tablets, men.

Come on, Pop. Snap out of it.

Open up your mouth.

This salt's like a shot in the arm.

Worst is yet to come.

I find that hard to believe.

Hard to believe, he says.

You should have been with us

at New Guinea.

That was a war.

- This isn't exactly a clambake.

- I don't go for this. No, sir.

Who does? You guys ain't alone

in this muck and mire.

- Hello, muck.

- Hiya, mire.

The way I figure it is this:

Military science

is a different kind of science...

consisting of tactics.

Maybe you can figure out

how we'll get back to the base.

There is the question that interests me.

- We'll get back, all right. Don't worry.

- Don't make sense to me.

Swamps, jungle, rivers, flies, fleas,

beetles, bugs, snakes. It's monotonous.

What'd you expect to find in a jungle,

booze and babes?

- That ain't a bad idea.

- Look at Williams.

You don't hear him beefing,

and he's an old man.

Where'd you get that "old" stuff?

Can't judge terrain from a map, anyway.

It'll be tough both ways.

What do you think?

- Sounds good to me.

- I think it's best.

Okay.

That's it.

Close in, fellas. Close in.

Here's the situation.

Somebody switch that motor off.

That guy can go to sleep on a clothesline.

I don't have to tell you that we're behind

that well-known eight ball.

The Japs are cagey.

Plenty cagey, and they're looking for us.

Unless we can outsmart them,

they're gonna find us.

The last contact I made with the planes...

I told them to meet us day after tomorrow

at map reference G-285906.

That's about 30 miles from here.

But I don't know how many miles

that we can travel in a day.

There's no way of telling

through this kind of stuff.

There's two practical ways we can go.

But again, I don't know which is the best

and which is the fastest.

We're going to split up into two groups.

Lt. Jacobs will take one group.

I'll take the other.

That way, if one group hits trouble,

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