The Purple Heart Page #6

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If he feels he must talk, only God

and his own conscience should stop him.

(speaks Japanese)

Mitsubi.

(speaks Japanese)

Lieutenant Bayforth... (speaks Japanese)

Sergeant Clinton... (speaks Japanese)

Lieutenant Kenneth Bayforth.

Are you aware, Lieutenant Bayforth,

of the information desired from you?

- Yes, I am.

- Are you willing to reveal this information?

No, I'm not.

Thank you, Lieutenant Bayforth.

You may step down.

Sergeant Howard Clinton, take the stand.

Sergeant Clinton,

do you have a statement to make?

I wish to apologise to the court

for this defendant's inability to answer.

He became ill during the night

and suffered the loss of his voice.

In that case, we will provide the prisoner

with other means of communication.

(speaks Japanese)

Write your statement.

The defendant points out

that since he is unable to talk,

he has appointed

a brother officer to speak for him.

- Proceed.

- Lieutenant Greenbaum, take the stand.

You may step down.

Read to the court the information

Sergeant Clinton wishes to reveal.

Gladly.

Thanks to your Dictaphone, you heard

me say that if Bayforth was tortured,

Sergeant Clinton would speak.

Well, there sits Lieutenant Bayforth,

and Sergeant Clinton keeps his word.

He speaks gratefully

of the pain you inflicted upon him,

pain which cleared the mist from his eyes

and showed, with the sharpness of torture,

exactly why you must know

where our bombers came from.

He speaks of the strength with which

you must patrol the Russian frontier,

if that is where we came from.

He speaks of the forces with which

you guard against attack from China,

in case we came from there.

He speaks of your naval power

forced onto the defensive,

because we might have come from a carrier.

He speaks of eight soldiers,

unknown, imprisoned and without hope.

Eight insignificant men that have your whole

army, navy and air force tied up in a knot.

These are the things of which he speaks,

in this moment of pain and agony and pride.

And now I'll speak for myself.

On the day you give Skvoznik

back his mind and Vincent his senses,

on the day you restore the use

of Canelli's arms and Bayforth's hands,

on the day you give Clinton back his voice,

on that day,

I'll tell you what you want to know,

and not one second sooner.

Order! Order!

General Mitsubi,

have you any further evidence?

Yes, Excellency.

Step down.

- Proceed, General Mitsubi.

- Thank you, Excellency.

I have been authorised by a power so high

I dare not mention his honourable name

to request the court

to dismiss the charges against you.

After all, you are fighting for your country -

a situation every Japanese can understand.

When you bombed schools and hospitals,

you were only acting under orders.

It is your commanding officers

who are guilty.

It is they who should be on trial.

I therefore request the court

that the trial be ended,

and the charges

against these prisoners be dismissed.

The court is disposed

to show every leniency toward these flyers...

provided that they inform this court

of the identities of their commanding officers,

so that they may be punished

when Japan has won the war,

and that they further inform this court

as to the exact location

of the base from which they came,

so that immediate steps may be taken

to prevent a recurrence

of the monstrous murder of civilians.

What happens to us

if the charges against us are dismissed?

If you accept, you will be

removed to a military prison camp,

and shown the consideration to which

all legitimate prisoners of war are entitled.

And if we refuse to accept?

You will be found guilty as charged

and you will be executed.

I beg of you, do not answer hastily.

Realise what this means to you.

We have thousands

of British and American prisoners of war,

and although Japan never signed

the Geneva Treaty, we respect its provisions.

You will live in a camp with fellow soldiers.

You will be well-fed and well-clothed.

You will be contacted by the Red Cross.

You will be able to send letters

to your loved ones.

Think, Captain Ross,

Lieutenant Bayforth, you other men,

we are offering you your lives.

You have only to accept.

How do we know you'll do what you say?

You can promise us anything.

The members of the international press

are present. They are your witnesses.

The imperial court's decision

will be handed down in writing,

and certified copies

deposited with the Swiss legation.

After what my men have been through,

that's a tempting offer,

and we know that the Swiss can be trusted,

but I'd like some time.

I request that the defendants be granted

a few minutes to discuss their decision.

(Toyama) The request is granted.

Remove the prisoners to my chambers.

Well, men, for one moment

this undemocratic hole

has given us

the democratic privilege of majority rule.

It seems we're ajury which must decide

whether its own members live or die.

I suggest we discuss it thoroughly

before taking a vote.

A man who is half-dead is half-decided.

I am not qualified to vote.

Canelli is right.

The choice belongs to those of you

who have something to live for.

No. You've been tortured,

you've given your blood, you faced death,

and you remained silent.

As long as I too faced only death,

I believed that my courage could equal yours.

But now I'm not facing death.

I'm facing life.

I feel that only those who have known torture

can weigh its value, and are entitled to vote.

- The captain speaks for me.

- And for me.

"Mine eyes have seen the glory

of the coming of the Lord."

- "He is trampling out the vintage..."

- "...where the grapes of wrath are stored."

- "He's loosed the fateful..."

- "...lightning..."

"...of his terrible, swift sword."

"His truth..."

"...is marching..."

"His truth is marching on."

"Glo... Glory..."

# Glory, glory, hallelujah

- # Glory...

- # Glory, hallelujah

# Glory, glory, hallelujah

# His truth is marching on

# Glory, glory, hallelujah

# Glory, glory, hallelujah

# Glory, glory...

I guess it needed a wisdom

much more profound than ours.

It's not majority rule.

It's one for all and all for one.

Each of us must bear on his own conscience

the responsibility for Vincent...

and Skvoznik.

This will be a secret ballot. Here. Take these.

Of course. This is how we'll do it.

The man who thinks we ought to talk

will drop his wings in here - broken.

The man who wants to remain silent

will drop in his wings - unbroken.

If there is one pair of broken wings in this

vase, we'll tell them what they want to know.

- Is that agreed?

- (all) Agreed.

This way, none of us will ever know

which one decided to talk.

Time is up.

We're ready.

- Have you reached a decision?

- It's in here.

If you find one pair of broken wings

in this vase, we'll speak.

That's our decision.

Thanks, fellas.

Captain Ross, is this your final word?

No, Excellency.

It's true we Americans don't know very much

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