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Man Behind The Gun 43-11-06 (58) Company Aid Man
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Man Behind The Gun 43-11-06 (58) Company Aid Man
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A company aid man. Somewhere on the road to Rome, the makers of Elgin Watches presents the man behind the Gun. Dedicated to the fighting men of the United States and the United Nations. In broadcasting these authentic accounts of men of war, Elgin hopes to bring to all of us a better understanding and deeper appreciation of the job being done by our fighting forces everywhere in the world and the job we have to do to keep them fighting. Headquarters Night reconnaissance, Major Stanley. Right away for you, sir. Thanks. Night reconnaissance, Major Stanley. Colonel Bailey, Battalion headquarters. Yes, sir. You are familiar with operation plan R? Yes, sir. Very well. Our advance patrol will enter Village 17 at 400 hours. At precisely 403, one of your planes will drop a parachute flare over the village. Yes, sir. What time have you now? Exact time? I am 209. 50. 55. 210. Good. Our watch is synchronized perfectly. Not just the time, but the exact time. Men must have it. In this, the fastest war in history, there can be no uncertainty, no guesswork when lives depend upon time and timing. And that is why every branch of our armed services looks to the Elgin Watch Company for many precision instruments vitally necessary to accurate timing. At Elgin are craftsmen of rare skills and the finest laboratories and scientific equipment in the watchmaking world. Yes, and that intangible something sometimes called pride in workmanship, handed down for over four generations at Elgin today, every facility, every bit of that Elgin skill is devoted to the business of war. The timing of action on all fronts. Service watches, 10 second timers, tank and aviation clocks. Special devices for army, navy and aviation youth. And those mechanical time fuses for anti aircraft projectiles which recently won for Elgin plant number two the coveted Army Navy E award. And what of the peacetime product of Elgin skill, those superb lord and lady Elgin watches. Well, some of them may still be available at your jewelers and you should see what Elgins he has. But if you have to wait a bit for the joy and pride of Elgin ownership, remember that Elgin genius for smart design. The tradition of accuracy are still in daily practice. They will produce even more beautiful, even more precise Elgin watches for you when the victory we are now all working for is won. Tonight, the man behind the gun is a company aid man. The first man to reach a fallen soldier on the battlefield. Your name is Jim Peterson. On your tin helmet you wear that red Geneva cross that all nations agreed to honor but some don't. It means you're a company aid man. Just that you don't carry the wounded. You don't drive an ambulance. You're not a doctor or a nurse. You're the guy who goes right into the middle of the shooting with your platoon armed only with a first aid kit. And you stick right with them, no matter where they go or what they do like them. You've got to take it, but you can't dish it out. All you've got is bandages, medicine, water, cigarettes and a trench side manner. That's why you're the rear man as your platoon walks through the night along this shell scarred road toward a little Italian village people used to call quaint. What a life. Bill Harrison sounds like that since I got in. Tommy is walk. I walked at Camp Fremont. I walked Africa, I walked all over Sicily. And now I walk clean to the top of Italy. What are you beefing about? Keeps you thin. Listen, Florence Nightingale. GI rations do that without no walking thrown in. You should talk. You don't tote one of these machine guns. You gotta talk, huh? I got my troubles. Yeah, yeah, I know. Florence. Them pills of yours must drag you down. Florence Nightingale. Bill caught you. That's his idea of a gag. To you it is definitely unfunny. Okay, fallout, take a break. You flop into the ditch beside the road, your GI shoes weighing a ton apiece. Your butt hardly hits the dirt. When the lieutenant barks, noncomms up spot on the double. Non comes. That means you too. So you drag your tired carcass up to the head of the line where Kelly is briefing. Now, boys, our job is this a serious in between is a small village. A colonel wants to know what's there, so we're going to find out. Kelly looks around at the Sergeant Kelly's your platoon leader. He's a lieutenant, but in action, he takes off his insignia and he's just Kelly without bars. The Nazis are looking for officers we don't occupy unless it's a pushover. Our job is to find out what strength is there. Yeah, like a tasser on pass, we draw fire act. Right, Bill? Just a bunch of clay pigeons. Well, maybe there's nothing there. We don't know. That's a chance. What do you want me to do? Wire the colonel and tell him we'd rather not. Check your time. 325 hours. We'll advance in 10 minutes. 400 hours, we'll be in the village. They're dropping a parachute plan over the place at 403 to light us up like Christmas trees. Cute, huh? Doc, you better take along a lot of pills. There's going to be some sick boys in this platoon. Yeah, I got them. We'll clear out on whistle and come back here. All right. Get back to your squad. So you're dragged back to the end of the pile and throw yourself down at the foot of a tree. Eight minutes to go. Your eyes are cold. Check the supplies in the kit. As your fingers touch them, you name them with your lips. Mustn't sleep. Iodine. Just relax, Turner. Sulfathiazole pills. Sulfa powders, cigarettes, Morphine, pencil. Emergency medical tags. I'll bet those mortars are in that orchard over there. That you're right. Yeah. Just been waiting for them to open up. Why do we start moving then? You'll know, Doc, if you get a chance. Maybe you could talk to Johnny Anderson. Huh? Huh? He kind of broke up about Tony McGill's getting up this morning. They were friends, you know. Well, why don't you talk to him, Red? That ain't my business. You're the duck. Funny about Red. And all the time he's been with your outfit, he's kept to himself. It's even funny he mentioned Johnny. Hard as nails, but he handles a garand like a magician. Maybe if Johnny sort of felt there was another friend. Friend. See why. Not that. I don't cry over no one they can knock off the whole bunch. And it's jake with me. Nobody's hurting me. Okay, Rand. I'll talk to him when we get back from the patrol. But just let me lie here a minute, will ya? Right now I just want a little sleep. Oh, give me just five minutes. Five minutes out of my whole life. Hey, thanks, baby. I was right. They wasn't. I'm Coming, coming. You forget sleep now. Those mortar bursts have shaken you back to life. You work fast in the dark. Boys you laughed with yesterday are sobbing in the mud with pain in the dark. You fill out the EMTs, the emergency medical tags. Joe French, Private First Class, Company D, gunshot wound. Only you're right it in GI shorthand. Alvin Weinstock, P1. GSW, R Foot, Abd Punch. Johnny Anderson, P1. You won't have to talk to Johnny now. No one will. Johnny Anderson, K I, A. K I A. Killed in action. That's the one you hate to make out. Just get back in line. When the signal comes, a low, cautious whistle. The men get up stiffly. They start down the road, double file. They don't talk. Now this is the real stuff. No one thinks about anything except that light that's going to burst at 403 hours. You see the white houses of the village ahead. Fingers touch fingers. They want to hit the dirt. They want to crawl on their bellies up to that village. But they can't. And you can't. You're a clay pigeon. Colonel's orders. It's 359 hours. There's the plane. Men keep going. You jump across door openings. You duck under window like you up in the blackness. A parachute flare is falling. Every man freezes in this plane. A player bursts. You found out what the general wanted to know. The village is occupied and defensive. Willow. Get out of here. Throw something into the window ahead of you and falls to the ground. Immediately, the house. Chicks and chunks of plants will fall on you. Kelly is up and running into the doorway. Two men follow him. You follow them. Inside there's a bitter snake of burnt powder. Two Jerrys are dead by their machine gun at the window. Any of you guys hurt? I'm okay. Yeah, me too. Kelly. Let's get out of here. Red, see if there's a back way. That street out front there is murder. Here's the door on it. Take a look. Okay. All right, let's go. You see them go out one by one. Quickly. Crouch double. You start after them and then you stop. Somebody's head out front in the street. Kelly said that street was murder. Wouldn't risk his men there. But that doesn't apply to you. Nobody ever tells a medic where he can't go. All out to that body. Out into the middle of murder. It's brighter now. It's almost dawn. Okay, power. Where are your heads? Could turn the body over. It's not a Yank. It's a Nazi. Just a kid. He's looking up at you with the scaredest eyes you've ever seen. Do not. Do not kill me. Do I kill you? I'm not gonna kill you. See Geneva Cross. Killing me. And button your blouse. Please do not kill me. Is that what they tell you we do? Look, Fritzi, I'm not gonna kill you. I'm gonna help you. See? Geneva Cross. Genfa coit. Let's see your wound. All right, I'm gonna pour in some of this. It's sulfa powder. Hold still. Sprinkle the powder onto the shattered chest. The boy's face turns green. You shoot two pills into his mouth and give him some water. All right, now, take a big drink now. Come on, now. What's your name, bud? Name? Fred. Heinrich. Friedrich. Yeah, Friedrich Offer. All right, now, look. I write it on this tag so they'll know who you are. If we pick you up, they send a letter to your folks and tell them you're okay. Friedrich. You look up. You're closer than you thought to the building across the street. They're in the door facing you. One of them holds a submachine gun. You can see it moving from left to right in your direction. You hear them say geneva Cross. That means you. They're going to kill you in cold blood. Oh, you keep on talking because you can't wait for a thing like that inside of you. I'll get the Spanish on and I'll drag you over to the wall. But right now, this comes first. Say, you've got folks, haven't you? What folks? Yeah, yeah. Muta. Yeah. Yeah. Wait a minute. There you are, kid. That'll hold until somebody gets to you. A couple of months in a hospital and you're okay. Why don't they shoot? What are they waiting for? You don't dare look up. Why don't they shoot? There's nothing to stop them all right. Now, look, Friedrich, I'm fastening on a tank. Now, don't lose it. Those what treatment you cut now. I'm gonna drag you over to the side feet. Allison, take it easy. It's gotta be murder out there. You want half a chance Anyway, you place the kid next to the wall. Then you can't stand it. You look around for the nut. You clench your teeth for the bullets that are going to rip into you. But they're gone. The doorway is empty. Either they didn't see you at all, or they saw your Geneva Cross. In the growing dawn, you don't stop to puzzle it out. You get away from there as fast as your Tired leg a quarter mile away. You find your platoon and you throw yourself down in the mud beside them. They're racking lunch, pawing for breath. Well, well. Florence Nightingale has returned to the fold. This time you grin. There's Bill grinning right back at you. Those are the warmest words you've ever heard. Are you okay, Doc? I'm okay, Bill. Now you're really. They can fight the war without you for all you care. You're going to sleep right here. And you do, and it's a hundred years later when somebody shakes you back to life. Doc. Doc. Oh, hi, Ryan. Good sleep? Yeah, I guess so. What time is it? Late afternoon. A runner just brought up some stuff for you. Here he is, Chip. Hey, aren't we going back? Back? We're moving up as soon as they give us a Red Star show. Well, at least I got some sleep. Here are a couple of plasma cylinders for you. They're kind of heavy. Yeah, you're telling me. You want to have a St. Bernard dog carry them for you? No, thanks. I read a book. Finding great candidates to hire can be like, well, trying to find a needle in a haystack. Sure, you can post your job to some job board, but then all you can do is hope the right person comes along. Which is why you should try ZipRecruiter for free at ZipRecruiter.com Zip ZipRecruiter doesn't depend on candidates finding you. It finds them for you. Its powerful technology identifies people with the right experience and actively invites them to apply to your job. You get qualified candidates fast. So while other companies might deliver a lot of hay, ZipRecruiter finds you what you're looking for. The needle in the Haystack. See why 4 out of 5 employers who post a job on ZipRecruiter get a quality candidate within the first day. ZipRecruiter, the smartest way to hire. And right now, you can try ZipRecruiter for free. That's right. Free at ZipRecruiter.com Zip. That's ZipRecruiter.com Zip ZipRecruiter.com Zip points about dogs in wartime. Their masters get killed, and there's no one to remember their names. You ever have a dog? Yeah, once. Yeah, it was run over. I never liked dogs after that. You must have been crazy about him. Yeah, I guess I was. I was just a kid. You know how kids are. They don't have any sense about liking things. They go nuts over something, and when it's gone Maybe. Maybe that's why. Maybe that's why I don't make friends. Yeah, maybe it is. I saw the way it hit Johnny when Tony McGill got it. Nobody's gonna hurt me like that. Nobody. I don't even write to. No one. No. You got a fountain pen on you? What's that for? Somebody gave it to me at the uso. I never used it yet. I'm never gonna. Here. There goes the star shell. And it's right that. Follow me. This is the advance. It's no picket's charge. It's an unpattered moving of detachments in all directions. Your platoon moves out ahead of you, but this time they're not clay pigeons. This time the object is not to get killed. Kelly's up ahead. He's a good guy. That lieutenant always goes first, leading his men. You can get to love a guy like Kelly. You're flanking the village this time, crossing a field toward a low wall. Behind the wall is an orchard lousy with Nazis mortars. Behind every tree. They wait until the platoon is close enough and then let loose. Spank. Spank. I'm coming. I'm coming. Okay, fellow, where are you headed? I'm right here. Doc. Doc, it hurts. It hurts. Yeah, I know, kid. You look for his wound. The mud is so thick that it's covered up his legs. You look again. There are no legs. It's a bad doctor. Tell me the truth. Is it bad? It's all right, kid. It's all right. Just take it easy. Now, here's a hypo for you till the stretcher bearers get here. You got a cigarette? Sure, sure. Sorry I'm making such a fuss, but it hurts. So give him a double injection of morphine. And for the last five minutes of his life, you give him a butt. It won't last long. Neither will he. So you give him the best smile you've got on hand and move on after your platoo. The platoon is hard to find in the dust. All you know is they were headed for a wall, and that's where you go. There are soldiers all around you, but none you recognize until you see that tall guy starting to go over the wall and then falling crazily back into the mud. It's red. You run to his side. Where are you hit? Right leg. Which one? This one. It took my foot off. No, it didn't. That's Kelly. He got it. I'll get him next time. Here, let me get your shoe off. Take it easy, doc. I'll genuine. There you are. Yeah. Went right through the back of your leg. Ah. You get hurt that bad in a football game? You ever play football? All right, blow it. I don't need any of your bedside manners. Save it for Kelly. You're a funny guy, Red. Yeah, ain't we all right. Did you take yourself the pills? Yeah. I don't need pills. I can get along all right. You're gonna take him if you want me to ram him down your throat. All right, all right. Give me yourself a potter. Here. Now, listen. Don't try to crawl back, Red. They're raking the field. Lie close to the wall on this side. You're okay. All right. Wait a minute. There. That bandit will hold. Forget about me, will you? No, you crawl through that mud and you won't have a leg. You do as I tell you. Now you stay here. I'm coming, Kelly. You slither over the wall and lie at the bottom for a moment. You're on the bad side now, right in the enemy's fire, you locate Kelly. He's crunched in the heap under an olive tree. You start up. Machine gun bullets hit the wall over your head. After a moment, you crawl toward Kelly. He sprawled out like a discarded doll. When you're close to him, you speak into his ear. Where are you at, Kelly? He's clutching his side. The shell fragment has torn a hole in him. But he's alive. You know he wants water. That kind of a wound drives a man right up. Right up. Drink a lot, Kelly. When he's done drinking, you fix him up. It takes a long time. Minutes are like hours. When there's hell all around you, his face turns a bad color. He's got to have plasma. Then there might be a chance. But first you've got to get him over the wall and out of the line of fire. Can you crawl, Kelly? Even a little? I'll try. I'll try, Doc. All right. Come on up. I'll drag you so you'll both inch along. There's blood in Kelly's mouth, and that's not good. Even so, there's a chance. You're almost to the wall when he shakes his head. Let me rest just a minute. Just a minute. You lie beside him while he sees you. Hey, we better get going, Kelly. Dropping shells. Right close now. Come on, fellow. Try again, Kelly. But Kelly doesn't move. He just lies, heavy and still. You shake him. Then you roll him over. One side of his face is wet with red mud. A chunk of shrapnel is ripped off his jaw. You pull out an emt, and you slowly fill it in. It's difficult to make out the words you're putting down. Joseph Kelly, Second Lieutenant, Company B, K I. Hey, now. You've got to leave Kelly like you left Red and Johnny and the Kid. You've got to go to your platoon till you rise to a crouch, ready to spring for a ditch. Ton of bricks hits the side of you, thrown against the wall. For a moment, you feel nothing but surprise. And then, like a slow fire, the pain comes. Your leg throbs like someone was beating it with a sledgehammer. Then you remember. It's up to you now. You've got to take care of yourself. So you take your pills, shoving them into your mouth like you've shoved them into a dozen other mouths. You cut away your trouser leg. You're dripping sweat that's like ice water. You pour in the powder and you slowly wind the bandage around a wound as it reaches from your calf clean up to your hip. You've got to get to the other side of that wall where it's safe. It takes everything you've got inside of you to do it. Slowly you pull yourself up. You've got to get over that wall. You throw your balance and land on a heap right on the leg. Then you pass out. When you open your eyes, Red's looking down at you. Drink this, Doc. Did you take your pills? Yeah. We're getting out of here. And even safe on this side of the wall now with those shells. Where's the battalion aid station? The village where we were last night. Hey, you're turning gray. More water, Doc? Honey operates as plasma cells. No water. Plasma takes a long time. I didn't ask you that. You're getting some right here. Bottles. Take them out of cylinders. Yeah, they're what? The bottle in the kit. All right, I got it. Go ahead. Hang up the two bottles so that the powder of that one and the water from the other one, run into the empty one. Then attach the syringe tube. All right, I'll set. Doc, why do I stick it in? Give it to me. I'll jab it into my vein. What do I do after that? Takes a long time. Maybe you ought to get back. I said, what do I do? There's nothing to do but wait till it's all gone. All right, so we wait. From here on, it's all a jumble of odd things to remember. You remember hobbling along with Red, each helping to take the load off the other's leg? You remember a Nazi Tank that didn't pay any attention to you. You remember that, Red? Words came out slowly and formed themselves into printed sentences in front of you. There's a bunch of our half tricks parked by the aid station. The dopes, they ought to know better clothes tonight, Jim. We'll be there soon. You remember that Red never called you Jim before. You remember that? An airplane came down at you, dropped a lot of stuff. The half track went all to pieces. The aid station crumbled. You and Red tried to run, but you didn't get far. Red. Red, are you all right? Red, where are you? Well, so you've decided to talk, have you? Is he all right? How you feeling, soldier? What? You've been asleep a long time. Pearson, please. Where am I? Base hospital in Africa. Africa? Africa Base hospital. That means you've got from a battalion aid station to the clearing station farther back, then on to the evac hospital, then to the base here. And all the while you are out cold. Excuse me, sir. How long since? Three weeks. Almost four. Now then, you remember. Your hand steals toward your leg. Here. Here. Now, keep your hands where they belong. Sorry, Peterson. You've still got your leg. You're lucky. They told me that aid station was blown off the map and Red was. I wish I could tell you more about it, but. Well, that's all I know. You'll give me his name. I'll try to look at him for you. If he's alive. Oh, here's a package that came for you a couple of days ago. You open a small package accountant then rolls out and folds across the COVID of your bed. You open the folded letter and you read. Hiya, Doc. It's me, Red. I'm in one of those parking stations waiting to go home. Lake's doing fine. Bill's here too. He says. Hello, Barn. Nightingale. I was thinking. Maybe I was wrong about not wanting a friend. Anyway, here's my pen in case you don't have one. If you don't want to write me a letter, just. Just toss it in a basket. But if you do. Right. Well, I'd like to hear from you. All the incidents in this broadcast are based upon fact. The names used, however, are wholly fictitious. And any similarity to those of actual individuals in the armed forces is coincidental. In just a moment, we will tell you about next week's man behind the Gun. But first, a word from the makers of Elgin Watches. Heavy tanks weigh more than 10 tons. Heavy cruisers more than 10,000 tons. Yet all this massive weight, all this brute strength is controlled and put into action with the aid of delicate precision instruments. This is a war of precise timing as well as of great weights of arms. Since first given the task of producing many of these vital instruments, the Elgin Watch Company has devoted itself to this work. It is an assignment of great responsibility, and it is the reason why your jeweler may show you only a limited selection of Elgin watches. The remembrance of these fine American watches is left in your trust against the day when peace will bring them back again. Meanwhile, care for the watch you now own. Wind it carefully each morning. Protect it from jolts and jars. At least once a year, have it inspected by your Elgin jeweler. Remember, time is a munition of war. The time on your wrist is vital to victory. Tonight, the man behind the Gun joins a grateful nation in congratulating the United States Marine corps on its 168th birthday. Mindful of the undimmed glory of the leathernecks. From the halls of Montezuma and the shores of Tripoli to the jungles of Guadalcanal and Bougainville, we wish this boldest branch of America's armed forces many, many happy returns of the day. Next week, the man behind the Gun is a brass hat at the invasion of Rendova. A brass hat who chalked up a landing record that may not be broken for a long time and then had his ship shot out from under him. Don't miss it. Next week at the same time, the man behind the Gun is produced and directed by William Enroll. Tonight's broadcast was written by Forest Fire. Jackson Beck is the narrator, and the original musical score is composed and conducted by Van Cleek. The Elgin National Watch Company presents the man behind the Gun each week at the same time. Elgin, as you know, is making precision instruments for the armed forces of the United Nations. This is the Columbia Broadcasting System, WPBM Air Theater rigged building, Chicago.