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written permission of the author.

"THE CALL OF DUTY"

Written By: Adam Gates

Copyright © 2000 Adam Gates

FIRST DRAFT
May 27, 2000



FADE-IN:

CREDITS: White lettering on black at the beginning.  
The title does not appear yet.  Occasionally World 
War Two films fade in, and then fade out again.  The 
sound of a trumpet playing slowly fades in.  It's a 
familiar song.  The tone of it is sad.  Just like the 
sad and horrible days of war.

FADE-OUT TO BLACK:

TRUMPET PLAYING SLOWLY FADES OUT

FADE-IN:

Old films of Hitler and the Nazis (with the sounds 
from the films).

NARRATOR
In late 1943, early 1944, the Axis offensive was at 
it's peak.  The Germans had driven all the way 
through France to the English Channel and had 
occupied most of Europe.  The Nazis awaited an Allied 
invasion on the Western Coast.

FADE-OUT TO BLACK

FADE-IN:

Old films of Erwin Rommel and the Nazi's building the 
Atlantic Wall (with sound).

NARRATOR
In 1942 Field Marshal Erwin Rommel was assigned the 
task of making and operating a massive defensive 
blockade on the coast of France.  He took the 
objective to it's limits.  The "Atlantic Wall," a 
huge, cement fortification that was put on the whole 
coastline of France, was created.

BEAT

NARRATOR
It consisted of 75mm guns, 88mm guns, 105mm guns and 
many other big armaments.  There were mines, barbed 
wire, and obstacles on the beaches.  Machinegun 
bunkers, fire trenches, foot soldier trenches, and 
many other things were positioned in the cement 
blockades and around it.  Hitler thought it would be 
invincible.

FADE-OUT TO BLACK

FADE-IN:

Old films of the D-Day landings (with sound).

NARRATOR 
On June 6th, 1944 the Allies proved Hitler wrong in an 
amphibious attack called Operation Overlord.  This 
operation was part of the famous D-Day invasion.  On 
the beaches of Juno, Sword, Gold, Utah, and Omaha, in 
Normandy, France, the Allied soldiers landed in 
L.C.V.P.'s, or Higgins Boats, and charged up the 
beaches victoriously.

BEAT

NARRATOR
On Utah and Omaha the charge up the beach was a 
little less graceful.  The naval and air bombing had 
missed some of Utah beach and had completely missed 
Omaha.  The soldiers had no protection at all, making 
them vulnerable to machinegun fire, small arms fire, 
88mm guns, and all the other noxious objects on the 
beach.  Half of the men that ran up the beach on 
Omaha died.  But the men who made it broke through 
and kept on fighting their way through Normandy.

FADE-OUT TO BLACK

FADE-IN:

Old films of World War Two combat (with sound).

NARRATOR
Now the overall objective for the Allies was to 
liberate Europe and capture Nazi Germany.  But there 
was another very tough defensive blockade on the 
border of Germany.  It was called the Siegfried Line.

BEAT

NARRATOR
These extremely deadly defensive ploys would require 
a different kind of soldier.  An extraordinary 
soldier.  A courageous soldier.  A soldier not afraid 
to risk his life for his fellow soldiers or his 
country.

BEAT

FADE-OUT TO BLACK

NARRATOR
A soldier not afraid to go above and beyond "The Call 
of Duty."

"THE CALL OF DUTY" APPEARS ON THE BLACK BACKGROUND 
JUST AS THE WORDS, "The Call of Duty" ARE SPOKEN.

We hear the sound of far-off artillery fire.  It 
slowly gets louder, like the crescendo of a great 
orchestra.

MAN (V.O.  It has a slight reverb to it.)
If there were one thing that I wish I accomplished, 
it would be that I made a difference.  Did I do that?  
Did I?

FADE-IN:

EXT. FOREST – FORT DRIANT - NEAR METZ, FRANCE – MID 
DAY

FEET OF A SOLDIER
are shown running through twigs and sticks, jumping 
over fallen trees.  They are going very quick, like 
they are in a hurry to get somewhere.

CAMERA SWITCHES
to the ground next to a tree.  Several soldiers run 
past the camera.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO
a young soldier with anxiety on his face.  Though 
there is nervousness, he has cold, grim eyes that 
show he's killed before.  He's not new to the 
murdering lifestyle that war often brings.  

This young soldier is SERGEANT ANDREW BALLARD, a 
twenty-one year old kid from Missouri that came into 
the hellish brutality of the second world war in 
1943.  He also landed on D-day, the most infamous 
invasion of all time.

SERGEANT BALLARD creeps through the trees and 
underbrush, careful not to move the leaves to much as 
that would easily give away his position to enemy 
snipers.  

He walks straight ahead out of a SMALL FOREST.  A 
clear field meets him.  FAR OFF EXPLOSIONS get louder 
and the terrifying sound of whizzing bullets starts 
to occur.  BALLARD is almost not affected by the 
sound.  It has become an everyday noise to him.

A PLATOON with 55 men rushes into the open field.

THE VAST FORT DRIANT
comes in view.  It has a clear line of fire across 
the field making it almost impossible to get across.  
The huge concrete structure ominously awaits the 
approaching GI's.

SUPERIMPOSITION:
FORT DRIANT.  NEAR METZ, FRANCE.
11th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Army
September 27, 1944
1415 Hours

THE CAMERA SWITCHES
to inside a GERMAN MACHINEGUN BUNKER.  Two Germans 
are shooting at oncoming U.S. Soldiers.

THE CAMERA SWITCHES
back to the PLATOON, which is running as fast as it 
can towards the FORT.

THE CAMERA MOVES
in front of young SERGEANT BALLARD.  He is running in 
the open field.  A BOMB EXPLODES and he jumps to the 
ground and stays there.  The rest of the platoon 
jumps down too, except for the men who were killed by 
the explosion, or shot.
CAPTAIN DANIELS runs up to where his men are.  
DANIELS: Let's go! Come on! We have to take this 
fort!

HE IS SUDDENLY HIT by the deadly MACHINEGUN crossfire 
in the shoulder.  His arm is torn open and blood 
flies in all directions along with flesh and bone.  
The arm drops to the ground.

HE SCREAMS and then crumples to the ground.  He is 
not dead though. Not yet.

A SOLDIER
Captain Daniels!

He gets off the ground and runs to the Captain's 
side.  He too is shot, by the deadly cross fire, in 
the throat and back. Blood is sprayed on anyone who 
is near.  He falls to the ground lifelessly.

PRIVATE JONES
Da-- it!  Those b-----ds!  What are we going to do?!  
We have no commander?!  We don't know what to do!

LIEUTENANT JOHNS is a battle-hardened lieutenant.  
He, like BALLARD, has seen the viciousness that war 
can bring.  JOHNS:
Calm down Jones!  Don't start that on us! We'll 
figure something out!  You know what we're supposed 
to do!  You all know what the mission is!  Don't give 
me that sh-- that we don't know what to do!  We have 
to take Fort Driant!  You see those men running 
towards it?

HE POINTS to another platoon wholly trying to attack 
the fort.

JOHNS
They're brave!  They know what they are here to do!  
Now get your lazy a--es up and go fight like real 
men!

THE MEN, which are astonished and scared by what the 
lieutenant has said, start to get up, not wanting to 
let the officer down.

CAPTAIN DANIELS Groans, and makes an attempt to roll 
over.

PRIVATE LEWIS is SERGEANT BALLARD'S best friend.  
They've gone through everything together.  They make 
each other stronger each day they're in with each 
other.  LEWIS: Captain!  He's alive!  Medic!  Medic!  
Where the h--l is Collins!

CORPORAL COLLINS
Right here!

He runs to where DANIELS is laying and instantly 
slams some morphine on to the captain's leg.  COLLINS 
looks at the wound.

COLLINS
Oh my...

He turns and vomits all over LEWIS, appalled by the 
grotesqueness of the wound.



JOHNS
D--n it COLLINS!  What the f--- is wrong with you!  
Do your job, or this man's life will've ended 'cause 
you! You son of a b----!

CAMRERA PANS the PLATOON.  There is a spoken silence.  
The sound of machineguns, 88's, bombs, and small arms 
fire rages on though, not aware of what's going on 
with at the platoon.

COLLINS
All right!  I'm going to need some bandages! And some 
sulfa! Some one give him more morphine!

THE MEN around him start working: getting bandage, 
sprinkling sulfa on the wound, getting morphine and 
applying it to the Captain's leg, anything they can 
do to help save their commander's life.  The other 
soldiers that don't help start firing on the bunkers 
and machinegun nests.

JOHNS
All right, we need some people to go up and take out 
that machinegun emplacement!  It's a dangerous 
mission!  But if someone doesn't do it, we're all 
going to get shot up!   Who wants to do it?!

THERE IS SILENCE.
None of the of the men volunteer.  They all just look 
at each other.

JOHNS
I didn't want to do this, but if somebody doesn't 
volunteer, I'm going to order someone to do this 
mission!  I know it's dangerous!  It's going to take 
a lot of bravery to do this!  Help your country!  
Save your fellow soldiers!

ONE SOLDIER is suddenly blown up by a bomb.  His body 
parts fly everywhere.  Blood splatters all over the 
place along with flesh.

BALLARD
I'll go.

He loads his machine gun with a new magazine.  He 
gets ready to jump up off the ground and charge.  He 
takes one of his grenades off his belt.  He then 
looks back at the platoon, hoping somebody will have 
the same courage he has.

JOHNS smiles at BALLARD.  JOHNS: Who else wants to 
go?!"

LEWIS
I will also!  If I'm going to be in a war, I'm not 
going sit and watch everyone else while other men die 
for their country!  I'm gonna f---ing fight!

He crawls by BALLARD and loads his gun and also takes 
one of his grenades off his belt, nervous of what's 
going to happen to him in the very near future.

JOHNS
We got two brave men here!  Who else wants to fight 
for their country!?

PRIVATE JONES, SERGEANT DELANE AND TWO OTHER MEN 
crawl up to where BALLARD and LEWIS are.  They do the 
same thing BALLARD and LEWIS do: load their guns, get 
out a grenade, and get ready to jump up and charge.

JOHNS
You guys spread out!  If you're all together you'll 
attract every f---ing krout in the whole d--n fort!  
Ballard!  You're the leader!  You're in charge!

BALLARD
Yes sir!

HE CRAWLS AHEAD OF EVERYONE.

BALLARD
Okay guys!  We're going to run up and try and knock 
out the machinegun!  Delane and Jones!  You guys go 
to the right!  Mack, Lewis and Kellar!  You guys take 
the left!  I'll take the middle!  Everyone cover me!

LEWIS
You can't go down the middle by yourself!  It's the 
most dangerous!  You need someone else to go with 
you!  I'll go with you!

He rolls nearer to where BALLARD is lying.

BALLARD
Ok, is everyone ready?"

THEY ALL NOD.

BALLARD
Ok...GO! GO! GO!

THE SIX MEN jump up from the ground and run towards 
the machinegun nest.  Immediately the machine gun 
directs it's fire towards the six men running 
straight at it.

KELLAR IS SHOT IN THE FACE, almost immediately.  It 
blows his face out, practically blowing his head up.  
His unaffected body drops to the ground.

JONES IS SHOT IN THE LEG.  It hits his upper thigh, 
near the very side.  It almost doesn't hit him.  Not 
a very serious wound.  He falls and attempts crawling 
to the right side of the machinegun, but decides to 
get medical help.

COLLINS runs up to where the wounded JONES is lying.  
His helmet gets shot off.  Luckily, COLLINS is not 
hurt.  He continues to work on JONES like nothing has 
even happened.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO LEWIS AND BALLARD.  They are 
running towards the nest shooting, not aware of the 
misery around them.

TWO BOMBS EXPLODE ALMOST AT THE SAME TIME NEAR LEWIS 
AND BALLARD.

LEWIS AND BALLARD are both thrown to the ground by 
the impact.  They're also both wounded by the 
explosions.  LEWIS' back is burned at the top, almost 
at the head.  BALLARD is, unfortunately, hurt worse.  
His whole back is burned, and he has a burn on his 
left leg.

LEWIS tries to get up, but BALLARD pulls him down.

BALLARD runs up towards the machinegun nest.  The 
gunner directs his fire towards BALLARD.  He dodges 
the fire until he's about 25 feet away from the nest.  
At 25 feet BALLARD is hit in the stomach, near the 
side.  He falls down right where he's hit.

LEWIS
No!  Those f---ing bas---ds!  I'm gonna shoot the sh-
- out of those a-- holes!

BALLARD very vigilantly motions with his hand to 
LEWIS to stay there.  He then takes his grenade and 
takes off the clip with the same vigilance.

With a petrifying yell, BALLARD jumps up and runs 
straight forward shooting his machinegun.  He throws 
the grenade and jumps back on to the ground.  He 
keeps shooting from his position.

THE GRENADE EXPLODES.

An arm flies from the German machinegun nest, along 
with a nazi helmet.

BALLARD
Yes!  I killed the f---ing son of b----!

HE WAVES OVER to the remaining men.  In return, they 
wave to the rest of the PLATOON to come up.

THE PLATOON comes running up the field.  Another 
machinegun bunker shoots at the oncoming men.  
Everyone ducks and jumps to the ground again.  The 
fire is coming from a bunker left of the men.

BALLARD
D--n it! (HE LOOKS BACK to LEWIS) Lewis!  We have to 
take that bunker out!  Come up here!

LEWIS crawls up to BALLARD.  LEWIS: What are we going 
to do?!

BALLARD just stares at LEWIS.  He doesn't know what 
to do.

LEWIS
Ballard!  What do we do?!

Still no answer from BALLARD.

LEWIS
D--n it Ballard!  What the h--l do we f---ing do!?

BALLARD
UHHH...all right, I think I have an idea!  But it's 
pretty dangerous!  Practically a suicide mission!  
Where is Jones at?!  (He LOOKS BACK to where DELANE 
and the other man, MACK, are.)

LEWIS looks back also.  

LEWIS 
He got shot!  So did Kellar!  Mack is left!  So is 
Delane!  They're both back there!

BALLARD
All right!  Get them up here!  We're going to need 
another man too!  Go get some one else from the 
Platoon!

LEWIS
Yes sergeant!  Who should I get though?!

A POTATO MASHER GRENADE LANDS BY LEWIS

BALLARD jumps up and runs to LEWIS.  He kicks the 
PATATO MASHER away and jumps on LEWIS.

THE PATATO MASHER EXPLODES ABOUT FIFTEEN FEET AWAY

BALLARD gets off LEWIS and looks around.

BALLARD
Where did that come from?! (HE CONTINUES TO LOOK 
AROUND)
Who the f--- threw that?!

LEWIS
I don't know!

BULLETS START KICKING UP THE DIRT AROUND THEM.  It's 
coming from a man next to the machinegun nest.  He's 
using a rifle.

BALLARD and LEWIS return fire.  A bullet to the head, 
which causes a big mess, finally kills the German.  
He crumples to the ground.

BALLARD and LEWIS run to the machinegun nest.  They 
jump in to it and look around to make sure nobody 
else is hiding anywhere.

LEWIS
Hey!  Look!  There's barbed wire fence!

They both run to the fence.  Behind it is some open 
land (about 50 feet), and after that, there's a moat 
twenty-meters-wide and ten-meters-deep.  Behind the 
moat is the humongous FORT DRIANT.

BALLARD
This is where we have to go!  We have to go in that 
fort!  But first we have to go and take out that 
machinegun bunker so the rest of the Platoon can 
attack too!

They both run and jump out of the machinegun nest.

A BOMB EXPLODES ABOUT TEN FEET FROM BALLARD AND LEWIS

They jump to the ground about twenty feet from the 
nest.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE PLATOON

JOHNS
Where in the f---ing h--l are they!?  We need to get 
into the fort!  And we can't with this d--ned machine 
gun shooting us up!

COLLINS
Hey!  The Captain is about to go!

JOHNS
What!

He crawls over to COLLINS AND DANIELS.  He shakes 
DANIELS.

JOHNS
Captain!  Captain!  Come on Captain!  You can pull 
through!  D--n it Captain!  Come on!

DANIELS moves a little, and then groans.  He turns to 
the side and vomits.

DANIELS
(Mumbles) Where is the fort?  Where?


JOHNS
What?  What do you mean, "where's the fort"?

DANIELS
The fort!  We have to take it!  We have to!  We have 
to take the fort (mumbling still)!

JOHNS
We know Captain.  We know.  We're working on it.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO LEWIS.
He's running to MACK and DELANE.  He dives to where 
they are.

LEWIS
Hey!  You guys have to help take out that bunker over 
there!

He points to a huge black pillbox.

LEWIS
Go over to where Sergeant Ballard is, he'll tell you 
what the plan is!  I have to go and get another man!  
I'll be right back!

He jumps up and runs towards the PLATOON.  When he 
gets near to where they are lying he jumps to the 
ground and crawls to them.

JONES
What do you want Lewis!?

A BOMB EXPLODES NEAR THE PLATOON COVERING THE MEN 
WITH DIRT

LEWIS crawls next to JOHNS.

LEWIS
I need one or two men to help take out the bunker!

JOHNS looks around.  He says: Okay, who wants to do 
it?!

TWO MEN CRAWL OVER TO LEWIS
One is CORPORAL JOHN MYERS, a rugged 23 year-old who 
came into the war in July.  So, he's experienced.  
The other is a new replacement.  Nameless.

LEWIS
Okay, let's go!

He jumps up and runs towards BALLARD, who is about 
100 feet away.

BULLETS are flying all around the three men.

The nameless soldier is shot by machinegun fire and 
cut in half, from crossfire of bullets.

LEWIS AND MYERS GET NEARER TO BALLARD

TWO BOMBS EXPLODE, NEAR THE RUNNING MEN, ONE AFTER 
THE OTHER.


BALLARD
Come on!  Hurry!

He's waiting with MACK and DELANE.

MACK
What do we do now sergeant?!

BALLARD
Ok, we're going to sneak along the barbed wire fence, 
and we're going to come up behind it and try to throw 
grenades in!  Some one needs to draw the fire!  That 
means that someone needs to go out in front and try 
to get the gunners to direct their fire at you so 
they're just concentrated on you!  You can try 
shooting at them to while you're at it!  Now, who 
wants to take the job?!

They all look at each other.  No one wants to risk 
his life.  They all lay quietly.

BALLARD
Come on, who's gonna do it!

STILL, NO VOLUNTEERS.

BALLARD
D--n it!  Who's gonna draw the fire!  If I have to, 
I'll order some one to do it!

AGAIN, NO VOLUNTEERS.

BALLARD
Fine!  I'll do it!  I'm the leader!  I'll take the 
responsibility!  Now!  You guys crawl along the 
fence!  Be careful though!  The krouts could pop out 
anytime!

He runs out in the middle of the field and runs 
straight across the bunkers line fire.  Drawing the 
fire from the PLATOON to the stupid American sergeant 
running across the open field.  He jumps behind a 
destroyed Sherman Tank.  He crawls underneath the 
tank and up through the door on the bottom of the 
tank.  He uses the machinegun on the tank to shoot at 
the bunker.

88 SHELLS AND 100MM AND 105MM GUNS START SHOOTING AT 
THE TANK

CAMERA SWITCHES TO LEWIS AND THE OTHER MEN.

MACK
I'll go on this side.  Who wants the other side?

He walks up to the bunker door ON THE LEFT.

MYERS
I will.  I'll take the other side.

He walks to the other door ON THE RIGHT.

DELANE ALSO GOES TO THE RIGHT.  MACK AND LEWIS GO TO 
THE LEFT.

LEWIS
On my count, we'll kick them open.  1...2...3!

THEY ALL KICK at the doors, but they don't move.

MACK
Sh--!

MYERS AND LEWIS RUN AROUND TO THE FRONT, right beside 
the opening of the bunker.  They get their grenades 
out and pull the clips.  They both toss them in and 
duck.

THE TWO GRENADES EXPLODE

The MACHINEGUN FIRE stops from the bunker.

LEWIS jumps in front of it and looks in.  WE SEE WHAT 
HE SEES.  Both the machine gunners are dead.  Blood 
is in pools on the bunker floor.

MACK
What next?

CUT TO REVERSE:

BALLARD jumps out of the tank and runs towards the 
bunker.  The 88's and 100mm and 105mm guns keep 
firing.

BALLARD
Come on!  We have to hurry!

HE WAVES over to the PLATOON.  They all start running 
towards the bunker, except for COLLINS, CAPTAIN 
DANIELS, and JONES.  They go back in the forest, back 
to the field hospital and HQ for 11th regiment.

JOHNS
That was the bravest thing I've ever seen in this 
whole f---ing war Ballard!  And everyone else too!  
That's not going to go without reward.  But for now, 
we have to attack the fort and get in.  Let's get 
under the barbed wire.

THE PLATOON runs to the barbed wire, near the edge of 
the moat.

MACK
Hey!  What the h--l is that!?

HE POINTS to a black thing emerging from the ground 
about 50-60 feet away.  Another black thing about 25 
feet from the other one, and another one even farther 
over also emerge from the ground.

MACK
What in the f---ing h--l!

THE BLACK THINGS ARE BUNKERS, HIDDEN IN THE GROUND.

DELANE
Those are bunkers!  Sh--!  Sh--! Sh--!

BULLETS ARE SUDDENLY FLYING EVERYWHERE.  THE PLATOON 
jumps to the ground.  Luckily there was a slope right 
before the barbed wire, so the soldiers could duck 
there for a while.

MACK
We should split up and go to the machine gun nests 
and bunkers that have been knocked out already and 
fire on those bunkers!

JOHNS
That's a good idea Mack!  Split up!  Ballard, you 
take a group over there to that bunker!  Delane!  
Take a group to that machinegun nest over on the 
right!  Lewis! You take a group to that machinegun 
nest!  And Myers!  Take a group to that bunker!  Some 
people stay with me!  I'll call in some Sherman's 
from the radio in this machine gun emplacement over 
here!  Okay!  Go!

DELANE
Wait!  Maybe we can go under the barbed wire fence 
from here!  The bunkers are only on that side of the 
barbed wire fence!  We can sneak under and keep 
going!

JOHNS
That might work, but we still have to figure out how 
to get across that moat!  We need boats or something.

Behind the barbed wire fence, just near the moat, 
another BUNKER EMERGES FROM THE GROUND.  And then 
another one about 30 feet to the right, and another 
one 30 feet to the left.

MACK
Oh man!

JOHNS
Everyone to their positions a told you!  Quick!

BALLARD, MACK, and six other men run to the bunker 
that was just taken out.

DELANE and seven other men go to the machinegun nest 
that BALLARD took out.

LEWIS and seven men run to a machine gun nest to the 
right a little bit.
MYERS and seven men go to a bunker to the left.

JOHNS and the men that are left (which is about 4-5) 
go to the nearest machinegun nest, which is ten feet 
away.

ONE OF THE SOLDIERS takes hold of the gun, another 
handles the ammunition.  JOHNS takes the radio in the 
nest.  He calls up a few tank crews.

JOHNS
Let me talk to the commander!

BEAT.

JOHNS
Captain!  I need a few tanks to come reinforce us!  
There's a whole bunch of bunkers holding us up from 
taking FORT DRIANT! Get some tanks quick!

BEAT.

JOHNS
Okay!  Thanks Captain!
He turns to the men with him.
They're coming!

CUT TO:

EXT. BEGINNING OF FOREST – DAY

The FAR OFF SOUND OF ARTILLERY is heard in the 
background.

A TANK SQUAD COMMANDER jumps into his tank (which is 
a tank dozer), but not all the way down.  He looks 
down to the crew inside his tank.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO INSIDE THE TANK, LOOKING UP THE 
ENTRANCE AT CAPTAIN

THE CAPTAIN
Okay, get it started you guys!

CREWMAN #1
Yes!  We're finally fighting!

CREWMAN #2
And you're happy?  Usually, going into battle is a 
bad thing.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE CAPTAIN – OUTSIDE


CAPTAIN
Okay, we're going out!  Start up you're engines!  
We'll be leaving in two minutes!

The men jump in their tanks.  The tank commanders 
come up the tank entrances half way, to see where 
they are going, and so they can hear orders.

THE ROAR OF A TANK BEGINS.  IT GETS LOUDER AS MORE 
TANKS START THEIR ENGINES.

THE CAPTAIN
Okay!  Let's move out!

His tank moves forward into the woods plowing down 
trees.  The other tanks follow behind the lead tank.

CUT TO:

EXT. FORT DRIANT – NEAR THE BARBED WIRE – 1900 HOURS

The CLATTERING OF MACHINE GUNS is deafening.  It 
drowns out most of what the men are saying or 
screaming.

JOHNS
Where are the tanks at!  Da-- it!

A SOLDIER
What!

JOHNS
I said, where the h--l are the tanks at!

THE SOLDIER
Say it again!

JOHNS
Never mind!

He waves him off, meaning for him to forget it.

SEVEN TANKS come plowing out of the forest.  The 
sound of TANKS is barely heard over the MACHINE GUN 
FIRE.

MACK comes running over to the MACHINE GUN NEST that 
JOHNS is.


MACK
Lieutenant!  There are the tanks!  We'll be able to 
continue!

JOHNS
What!

He holds his hand around his ear.

MACK points to the tanks coming out of the forest.  
MACK:  The tanks!

CAMERA SWITCHES
to right in front of the lead tank in the TANK SQUAD.  
It's moving forward, then it stops.

CAMERA SWITCHES
to inside the lead tank.  The camera's focused on the 
captain.

THE CAPTAIN
Is the cannon loaded?

CREWMAN #1
Yes sir!

CAPTAIN
Okay, good.  Aim the cannon!

CAMERA SWITCHES
to on the tanks cannon.  It moves around until it's 
focused on the middle machine gun bunker.

CAMERA SWITCHES
back to the captain.

CAPTAIN
Fire!

The cannon is fired from the tank.  The shell hits 
the bunker, but barely makes a scratch.  After the 
lead tanks shot the other tanks start firing too.

CREWMAN #2
It didn't leave a mark sir.

CAPTAIN
Fire again.

The cannon aims and fires.  Still nothing.

CAPTAIN
Keep firing.  It has to make a mark sometime.

CREWMAN #2
Yes sir.

CUT TO where LIEUTENANT JOHNS and his squad are.

JOHNS
Why aren't the bunkers being destroyed?!  We won't be 
able to anything just sitting here!

He turns to the machine gunner.  JOHNS:  How much 
ammo do you have left?!

THE GUNNER
What!?

JOHNS
I said, how much ammo do we have left?!

THE GUNNER
We got one more ammo box left!  There's nothing else!

JOHNS
D--n it (UNDER HIS BREATH)!  Okay!  Thanks!

He taps a soldier facing the other way.  The soldier 
turns around.

JOHNS
Run over to them over to that bunker that Ballard is 
at, and ask him how much ammo he has left!

THE SOLDIER
Yes sir!

He jumps out of the machine gun nest and runs to the 
bunker.  He attracts every bunker's attention and 
they aim their fire at the soldier.

The man jumps in the bunker.

CUT TO:

INT. BUNKER – DAY

BALLARD and his squad are all sitting in the bunker.  
One soldier is at the gun, another is helping the 
gunner with ammunition.
The soldier JOHNS sent over opens the door, comes in, 
and falls to the floor of the bunker.  He looks 
around.  His eyes finally land on BALLARD.

THE SOLDIER
The Lieutenant wants to know how much ammo you got 
left!

BALLARD
Corporal!  How much ammunition's left?!


THE CORPORAL FIRING THE GUN
We got about two and a half boxes sergeant!

BALLARD
Thank you Corporal!

THE SOLDIER
Thank you Sergeant Ballard!

He then runs out of the door.  CAMERA FOLLOWS HIM.

When he gets to the nest, he jumps in it.  He says:  
Sergeant Ballard says he's got about two and a half 
ammo boxes left sir!

JOHNS
Thank you private!

Another soldier jumps in the nest.  He says:  Private 
Lewis says they got one box left!

Two more men jump into the nest.  The first one says:  
Delane's group has a box and a half left!

The other soldier says:  Myers and his men have two 
boxes left!

JOHNS
All right!  Thanks!

BEAT

JOHNS
We're running out of ammo!

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON LIEUTENANT JOHNS' EYES.

CUT TO:

INT. LEAD TANK – TANK SQUAD - DAY

CREWMAN #2
We're not getting anywhere shooting at something that 
can't be destroyed.  We're just wasting our 
ammunition.

The captain looks at CREWMAN #2 for a while.  THE 
CAPTAIN:  You're right.  Let's call Lieutenant Johns 
and tell him we're moving out.

CREWMAN #1
With what?  How are we going to call him if we don't 
have a radio?

CAPTAIN
I don't know.  I guess we'll just have to leave.

A HUGE EXPLOSION IS HEARD

The explosion was one of the tanks in the TANK SQUAD.

THE CAPTAIN
What the h--l was that?
He opens the hatch and peers out, being careful not 
to stick too much of his head out.

A TANK IS IN FLAMES.  THE MEN FROM THE TANK ARE 
RUNNING AROUND ON FIRE.

The captain drops back into the tank.

CAPTAIN
We're moving out.  Turn around.  The other tanks will 
follow us when we leave.

CREWMAN #2
Yes sir

The tank turns around and goes back into the forest.  
The other tanks turn around when they see their 
leader leave.

CAMERA SWITCHES to JOHNS and his men.  Johns is 
looking at the retreating tanks.  JOHNS:  D--n it!  
Why are the tanks leaving!

He turns to his men and looks around at each man's 
eyes.  JOHNS:  If they're going to leave, we're going 
to leave!

CUT TO:

EXT. FORT DRIANT – BARBED WIRE FENCE - NIGHT

The platoon crawls on the ground in the darkness, 
trying as hard as they can to not be detected by the 
German machine gunners.

SUPERIMPOSITION:
September 28, 1944
100 HOURS

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON SERGEANT BALLARD. He has anxiety 
on his face.  He looks at the bunkers with fear.  
Occasionally, a burst of machinegun fire is sent out, 
just to keep the Americans down.

AN AMERICAN SOLDIER SNEEZES, causing the German's to 
start firing non-stop.  The dirt kicks up around the 
U.S. Soldiers.

JOHNS
Run!

All the men jump up and run behind the bunkers as 
fast as they can.  BALLARD is shot in the head, but 
his helmet just flies off.  He's knocked down, but 
gets back up and keeps running without his helmet.

LEWIS PICKS UP BALLARD'S HELMET.

The men continue to run to the edge of the forest.  
They finally reach the forest and run into it.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. 3rd ARMY M.A.S.H. UNIT – DAY

THE CAMERA IS ABOVE THE M.A.S.H UNIT.  It looks down 
at the men and women running around.

THE CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON A SHORT, YOUNG SOLDIER WALKING 
TOWARDS THE MESS TENT.  He has papers in his hand.

INT. MESS TENT – DAY

The young, short man walks into the mess tent.  He 
says:  I need the soldiers in the 4th Platoon, 11th 
regiment, 3rd Army to report to the Main Tent.

The members of CAPTAIN DANIELS Platoon all stand up.  
Not all of them are there.  LIEUTENANT JOHNS is the 
first to walk out of the tent.

CAMERA FOLLOWS THEM.

They all reach the Main Tent, which is in the middle 
of the M.A.S.H Unit.  They walk in a straight line, 
after JOHNS, into the tent.

A tall, built man about 50 years old is standing in 
front of a filing cabinet.  He turns when he here's 
the creak of the door.  He says:  Hello men, my name 
is Lieutenant Colonel Steven Waters.  I am the C.O. 
of this M.A.S.H. Unit.  Is everyone here?

JOHNS
Uh, no, not really sir.  We're missing a few men.  
Some of them are in sick bay.

WATERS
I know what you mean Lieutenant.  I'm sorry.  Well, 
we have to get down to business.  Some of the 11th 
Regiment is being moved to the Siegfried Line.  It's 
around Germany's border.  12th Army Group's G Company 
needs more men.  They're holding out on a ridge 
astride the Siegfried Line North of Luxemburg, at 
Eilendorf, which is just outside Aachen.  Kind of 
confusing, huh?  Well anyway, they're running out of 
supplies and men.  General Patton decided he would 
help them out and send some men from the 11th 
regiment.  He told me himself that he thought you did 
a marvelous job yesterday, even though you weren't 
able to get in.

JOHNS
(KIND OF TO HIMSELF) We could have gotten in if we 
didn't know that there were underground bunkers out 
there.

WATERS
Is there someone in here named Sergeant Andrew 
Ballard?

LEWIS
He's in sickbay getting his leg, back, and stomach 
fixed.

WATERS
Oh, okay.  I just had to tell him something.  
Lieutenant Johns, you know that promotion that you 
suggested for Sergeant Ballard.  Well, the 11th 
regiment CO said that it was okay for you to promote 
him to second lieutenant.  You know, Lieutenant, you 
didn't have to get permission to promote a soldier.  
You're an officer son.

JOHNS
I know, but I thought that since I'm only a first 
lieutenant, I might not have been to promote him to 
an officer.

WATERS
That is pretty amazing that he skipped six ranks.

JOHNS
Well, this kid is a pretty amazing kid.  I wouldn't 
be surprised if, by the end of the war, that he was a 
captain, or even a major.

WATERS
Really...well, I don't want to hold you guys up from 
your lunch.  Good luck on The Line.  You are 
dismissed!

The men all shuffle out of the room, except for 
LIEUTENANT JOHNS.  He stands still.

JOHNS
Um, colonel, I have something else I have to tell you 
about Sergeant Ballard.

WATERS
Okay, come into my office, let's talk.

THEY WALK TO WATER'S OFFICE AND WALK IN.  CAMERA 
FOLLOWS THEM.

WATERS
Close the door.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO IN FRONT OF THE DOOR.  JOHNS WALKS 
UP AND CLOSES IT.

CUT TO:

INT.  SICK BAY – DAY

THE CAMERA IS FOCUSED ON SERGEANT, or rather, 
LIEUTENANT BALLARD, who is lying in bed, asleep.

A nurse walks up to the bed.  PRIVATE LEWIS is 
following her.

LEWIS
Can I talk to him?

NURSE
Of course.

She walks away.

LEWIS shakes BALLARD awake.  BALLARD looks around, 
then sees LEWIS.  BALLARD:  Hey Mark (groggily).

LEWIS
How are you Andy?

BALLARD
My back hurts a little.  So does my side.

LEWIS
We're getting moved to the Siegfried Line, to help 
out G Company.  It's going to be pretty hard.  They 
got something called The Dragon's Teeth.  It's this 
long line of pointy things that stick out of the 
ground.  They got mines and things in the middle of 
them, so tanks can't go across them.  There's bunkers 
everywhere, and there's 88's all over the place too.  
I don't know if you'll be going or not, though.  
You're pretty bad.  You might be lucky enough to get 
sent home.

BALLARD
What?  I'm going wherever the platoon goes.  I don't 
want to be left behind with some little wound.

LEWIS
Well, I don't know...Oh!  I forgot!  You've been 
promoted to second lieutenant.  Lieutenant Johns 
promoted you.

BALLARD
But I'm not even Master Sergeant yet.  How could I be 
promoted to lieutenant?

LEWIS
I guess the lieutenant was impressed about what you 
did.

BALLARD frowns.  He says:  I did what any other man 
would do.  I don't need special awards because I did 
something that any soldier would do.

LEWIS
No, Andy, not every man does that kind of thing.  You 
did something extraordinary.  I would have never done 
something like that.

BALLARD
I hope I get out of this place before you guys leave.  
Maybe I'll get to come with you.  I don't know anyone 
here.  I only know you guys.

LEWIS
Yeah, I know

BALLARD
How's Captain Daniels doing?

LEWIS
I don't know.  I haven't heard any word about him 
yet, I'm going to see him after I see you.

BALLARD
What about Jones?  How's he?

LEWIS
I think he'll be fine.  Collins said that the bullet 
barely grazed him.

LEWIS is messing around with his helmet.  He looks 
down at the helmet.  Then looks back up at BALLARD.

BALLARD
What's wrong?  You seem nervous about something.  
What's going on?

LEWIS
Andy, I don't think I'm going to make it through the 
next fight.  My luck's held out to long.  I can't go 
this long without a big wound.  It's impossible.

HIS EYES START TO WATER.  He quickly wipes away the 
salty water so nobody will see.

LEWIS
Right before I left to go into the war, I asked Mary 
Hawthens to marry me.  She said yes as the ship was 
going out.  I'm afraid that I won't get to marry her, 
and have children.  Have a family.  I won't be 
sitting on the porch at night, looking at the stars 
with her...I sound kind of silly saying all this.  
Usually I'm not the serious one.  I'm the one making 
jokes.

BALLARD
It's normal to feel that way.  I feel like that all 
the time.  War really f---s you up.  It's worse when 
you get wounded.  When I was shot in the stomach, I 
saw my life pass in front of me.  I saw my ma and pa 
sitting on a chair in the back yard, watching me play 
around when I was little.  I saw all the kids from 
high school.  I thought my life was going to end 
right there, lying on the ground a few yards from a 
German machinegun nest.

LEWIS
You waved me back, though.  It was like you weren't 
really hurt.  You kept going.

BALLARD
It all happened really fast.  I thought that if I 
didn't take out the nest, then the whole platoon 
would've been killed.  So I came over the pain and 
ran at the nest yelling and screaming.  I didn't 
think that I might have gotten shot.  Something came 
over me.  I felt like I was invincible.  Nothing 
could take me down.

THE INTERCOM BOOMS WITH A MAN SAYING: Would all 
doctors report to the Operating Tent.  We have 
incoming wounded.

Immediately there's chaos in the sick bay.  Nurses 
and doctors run out of the tent.  A nurse in the 
middle of the tent is trying to calm everyone down, 
saying:  Everyone calm down!  There's no need to 
panic!

A NURSE WALKS OVER TO LEWIS.  SHE SAYS:  Private, 
you're going to have to leave.  We might have to 
bring some of the wounded here.  You can come back 
some other time.

LEWIS
Okay.  (HE TURNS TO BALLARD) I'll be back later to 
see you, okay?

BALLARD
All right.

LEWIS STANDS UP AND WALKS OUT OF THE SICK BAY.

CUT TO:

INT. MAIN TENT – NIGHT

THE PLATOON IS GATHERED MAIN TENT, NEAR WATERS' 
OFFICE.

SUPERIMPOSTION:
October 1ST, 1944.
2200 HOURS

WATERS WALKS IN.  WATERS:  You guys are going to be 
moving out at 0800 Hours tomorrow to go to the 
Siegfried Line.  There will be replacements for the 
men that didn't make it through the last battle.  Any 
questions?

LEWIS
Is Lieutenant Ballard going with us?

WATERS
I don't know, you'll have to ask my clerk son.

LEWIS
Okay, thanks Colonel.

WATERS
Does anyone else have a question?

THE MEN ALL LOOK AROUND AT EACH OTHER.  No one has 
any questions.

WATERS
All right then.  Dismissed!

LEWIS HURRIES OUT THE DOOR.  He looks around, for the 
Commander's clerk.  He sees him at his desk near the 
front door of the Main Tent.  He walks to the desk.

LEWIS
Excuse me Corporal, I'm with 4th Platoon, 11th 
regiment.  I was wondering if Lieutenant Andrew 
Ballard is going to be moving out with us when we go 
to the Siegfried line.

THE SHORT, THIN MAN WITH GLASSES LOOKS ANNOYED.  He 
opens a drawer in his desk and shuffles through some 
papers.  He finds what he's looking for.  He skims 
the paper, then looks up at LEWIS and says:  No, he's 
going home later this week.

LEWIS is dismayed.  LEWIS:  Thank you.
HE WALKS OUT OF THE DOOR SADLY.  He shivers from the 
cold air.

DELANE WALKS BY LEWIS.  He stops and goes up to 
LEWIS.

DELANE
Hey, is Ballard coming with us?  You asked the clerk 
didn't you?

LEWIS
He's not coming with us.  The clerk said he was going 
home later this week.

DELANE
Oh, that's to bad.  I mean, it's good for him though.  
He was a good soldier.  Well, I'll see you later 
Mark, I'm going to the mess hall.  Tonight there 
havin' a party.  There's going to be food, 
drinks...women (he smiles, nudging LEWIS).  You wanna 
come?

LEWIS
Nah, not now.  I'm going to see Captain Daniels and 
Lieutenant Ballard.  I might stop by later though.

DELANE
All right.  See ya.

LEWIS
Bye.

THEY BOTH WALK IN DIFFERENT DIRECTIONS.

CUT TO:

INT. SICK BAY – NIGHT

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON BALLARD'S CLOSED EYES.  SUDDENLY 
HIS EYES QUICKLY OPEN WIDE. He looks around.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE SICK BAY DOOR.  LEWIS WALKS IN 
AND WALKS OVER TO BALLARDS BED.

LEWIS
What's wrong Andy?

BALLARD just looks at him.

BALLARD
I had nightmare Mark.  It was terrible.  (HE'S 
BREATHING HEAVY) 

As he's telling the dream we see it happening, just 
like he saw it.

BALLARD
I was in Fort Driant and I was running around.  No 
weapon or anything.  And I was in my pajamas.  My 
parents were sitting on the floor in a room.  I went 
in the room.  They said that I had a good funeral.  
They said it was a beautiful ceremony, and they also 
said that they were very proud for what I'd done.  I 
said thank you, then I turned around and walked out 
of the door.  I saw a Nazi walking down the hall.  He 
pointed at me and started laughing.  He waved over to 
some friends and they came over.  They started 
laughing too.  Then they all stopped laughing and 
they raised their guns and I heard shots, but I woke 
up before I was hit.  It was terrible Mark, it was 
terrible.

THE DREAM STOPS, now we're back at the sick bay.

LEWIS
Well, it doesn't mean anything.  Besides, you're 
leaving at the end of the week.

BALLARD
Yeah, I know.  But it scared the he-- out of me.

LEWIS
It probably did.  Well, how are you doing?

BALLARD
I feel fine.  No pain at all, actually.  They must 
have numbed it or something.  I wish I could go with 
you guys.  In fact...(HE WAVES FOR LEWIS TO COME 
CLOSER) I've been planning a way to get out of here 
and go with you guys.

LEWIS
What! (HE LOWERS HIS VOICE AND LEANS CLOSER TO 
BALLARD) What do you mean you're going to go with us?  
You're going home!  Why do you wanna keep fighting?  
You got a million dollar wound!  You're lucky!

BALLARD
I belong in battle.

LEWIS
No one belongs in battle Andy!

BALLARD
But I don't think I'm going to live through this 
wound Mark!  I'd rather die honorably than sitting on 
my lazy a-- at home.  I want to die fighting for my 
country!

LEWIS
What do you mean you do don't think you're going to 
get through this wound!  You just told me that you 
felt no pain!

BALLARD
Just...forget it.  I'm going to come with you guys 
whether you like it or not.  If you don't want to 
help, then that's fine.  I'm going to do it anyway.

LEWIS doesn't know what to say.  He just stares at 
BALLARD.  After a few moments he says:  Fine...what's 
you're plan?

CUT TO:

INT.  OPERATING TENT – NIGHT

CAMERA PANS ALL THE DOCTERS WORKING ON THE SICK 
PATIENTS.  One doctor screams out:  I need a nurse 
over here, stat!  (A young nurse runs over to the 
screaming doctor.)

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON TWO DOCTORS WORKING OVER A 
PATIENT.  One doctor says:  I need the syringe, 
please.

A NURSE HANDS HIM THE SYRINGE.  The doctor:  Thank 
you.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE PATIENT THE DOCTORS ARE 
WORKING ON.  It's JONES.

SUDDENLY THE LIGHTS GO OUT.  There are screams and 
swearing all over the tent.  Someone turns on a 
flashlight.  Then another is turned on.  There's a 
flood of lights all around the tent.

The doctor working on JONES says:  It must be the 
Krauts cutting the electrical lines...This is not 
good...Not good at all.

CUT TO:

INT.  SICK BAY – NIGHT

THE CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON BALLARD AND LEWIS.

BALLARD
Hey Mark, this is the perfect time to get outta here.  
It'll be difficult though.



LEWIS
Yeah, you're right.  This would be the perfect time, 
if you're going to do it.

BALLARD
I'm going to do it.  Follow me.

LEWIS
Wait!  This is kind of risky.  Are you sure you want 
to do this?  You could get court marshaled.

BALLARD
You're not going to quit on me now are you?  I need 
you're help.

LEWIS pauses.  He says:  All right.  I'm behind you.

BALLARD creeps off his bed and crawls along the floor 
under the beds.  There are barely any flashlights in 
the Sick Bay.  Almost all the flashlights are in the 
Operating Tent, where they are most needed.  The lack 
of lights makes the escape easier.

LEWIS is right behind BALLARD.  They are crawling 
underneath beds.  BALLARD almost crawls into a nurse.  
He stops suddenly, right before he's about to hit the 
nurse.  LEWIS crawls into BALLARD.  He's about to say 
something, but BALLARD "shhhh's" him and he keeps his 
mouth shut.

THE NURSE WALKS AWAY.  BALLARD continues his journey 
to the door of the tent.

THEY GET TO THE DOOR.  BALLARD looks around, then 
crawls out the door, trying not to open it too much.  
LEWIS follows him out of the tent.

CUT TO:

INT. OPERATING TENT – NIGHT

Nurses are walking around the tent.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE TWO DOCTORS WORKING ON JONES.

DOCTER
Why in the h--l aren't these lights on yet?  They 
usually have them on by now.

NURSE
What if there are Germans in the M.A.S.H. Doctor 
Calbert?

DOCTOR CALBERT
Well, I don't know.  There might be.  I don't know 
how though.  It's pretty hard to get past our 
defense.  If there are, the MPs will get 'em.

NURSE
Are you sure Doctor?

DOCTOR CALBERT
No.

CUT TO:

EXT. OUTSIDE M.A.S.H. UNIT – NEAR FRONT ENTRANCE – 
NIGHT

We see a road leading up to the M.A.S.H. unit.  Three 
MP's are standing outside the entrance holding sub-
machineguns.  They're all laughing, telling dirty 
jokes, eating, etc.

FIVE FIGURES CROSS THE CAMERA.  THE CAMERA FOLLOWS 
THE LAST FIGURE CROSS THE ROAD.  It's five German 
soldiers.  They are spies -- infiltrators

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE AMERICAN MP'S.  One of them 
stops laughing and his expression is fading to 
frightened.  He thinks he's seen something.

THE MP
Hey guys, I think somethin' just crossed the road.

The two other MP's just laugh at him.



THE MP
No, I'm serious (he turns to the road, then back to 
the men).  (IN A LOW WHISPER) I'll call out the 
password.  (HE TURNS TO THE ROAD) Night horse!

THERE IS SILENCE

THE MP
Night horse!

STILL, SILENCE.  The MP's put up their guns and 
crouch down.  They crawl to their dug in spots.

THE MP
If there's any body out there, surrender!  Come out 
with your hands up!  (HE THEN SAYS IT IN GERMAN)

The MP starts to go to his dug in spots, but before 
he even gets half way, a barrage of bullets is 
sprayed near the MP's.  None of the MP's are shot 
though.  The bullets weren't meant to hit the men.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO ON THE GROUND, NEXT TO ONE OF THE 
MP'S.

Another German crawls out of the bushes and crawls 
towards the MP.  When he gets close enough he sticks 
up his gun and yells out in a whisper:  Surrender (IN 
ENGLISH)!

THE GERMAN'S ENGLISH IS EXELLENT.

THE MP LOOKS OVER AT THE GERMAN, EXTREMELY 
FRIGHTENED.  Two other German's are behind the first 
German.  One has a .50 caliber machinegun.

THE MP RAISES HIS HANDS SLIGHTLY AND DROPS HIS GUN.  
The first German crawls forward to the MP.  He hits 
the MP in the head with the butt of his gun.  The MP 
falls to the ground.  The German starts taking off 
his clothes.  He then takes off the MP's clothes.  He 
puts on the MP's clothes, puts the German clothes on 
the MP, and shoots him in the head.  He picks up the 
American's gun and puts his gun by the dead American.

CAMERA TURNS AROUND AND IS FOCUSED ON THE OTHER TWO 
MP'S IN THEIR DUGOUTS.  The same thing happens with 
them.  When they are all dressed, they go to the 
gate.

ONE OF THE GERMANS THAT IS DISGUISED SAYS IN GERMAN:  
(There are subtitles on the bottom of the screen 
translating the words) Those who aren't in disguise, 
go around on the entrance and try to do the same 
thing.  We will meet in the middle at the Main Tent.

THE UNDISGUISED SOLDIERS RUN OFF.  The disguised 
Germans open up the gate and walk in.

CUT TO:

INT. MESS TENT – NIGHT

THE THREE GERMANS WALK IN THE TENT, which is dimly 
lit.  They sit at a table.

THREE OTHER GERMANS, DISGUISED AS MP'S WALK IN.  They 
sit at the same table as the other German's.

THE LEADER
5...4...3...2...1 (quietly).

THE LIGHTS ALL GO ON.

CHEERS ARE HEARD ALL AROUND THE M.A.S.H. UNIT.

The Mess Tent door creaks open.  AN MP WALKS IN.  
He's a Major, built, tall, and mean looking.  He's in 
his fifties.

HE LOOKS AROUD THE MESS TENT.  When his eyes land on 
the Germans, he walks over to the table they're 
sitting at.  He taps the LEADER on his shoulder.  The 
LEADER turns around and looks up at the captain.

MP MAJOR
Hey, what are your guys' jobs 'round here?

LEADER
We're the guards at the entrance.

The Major looks at the Germans with anger.

MAJOR
Then why the h--l are you guys sitting here!

LEADER
We got some replacements to take over while we got a 
cup a coffee and a little bite to eat.

MAJOR
In the dark?

LEADER
We went before the blackout sir.

The Major looks at them suspiciously.  Then, he walks 
out of the Mess Tent.

ALL THE GERMANS LOOK AT EACH OTHER.

CUT TO:

EXT. FRONT ENTRANCE – M.A.S.H. UNIT - NIGHT

THREE GERMANS IN AMERICAN MP UNIFORMS RUN UP TO THE 
GATE FROM THE FOREST.  They're yelling in German to 
each other.  They reach the gate and get in the pits.  
They pick up the dead American MP's and throw them in 
the road, far away from the pits.  The Germans shoot 
the bodies in the face, and take off the dog tags.  
Then they run back to the pits.

THE GATE SWINGS OPEN.  THE MP MAJOR WALKS THROUGH.  
He looks around at the three Germans.  Then he closes 
the gate.

MAJOR
Who sent you here?

ONE GERMAN
An MP sergeant.  He and the other fellas went to get 
a cup a joe.  They said they'd be back in a little 
bit.

MAJOR
Did any Germans try to come in, or did you see 
anything?

THE GERMAN
Well, we had a few that wanted to surrender, but I 
couldn't understand what they was saying, so I shot 
'em while they was runnin' up the road.

MAJOR
If you shot them, how did you know they were trying 
to surrender?

THE GERMAN
Well, we got a guy that speaks a little German, and 
he says that they was trying to give up to us.  I 
didn't hear him till after I had shot the poor b-----
ds.

MAJOR
All right, well I'm going to go now.  If I hear that 
you guys shot someone else trying to surrender, I'll 
have you court marshaled.


THE GERMAN
All right.  See ya sir.

MAJOR
No, not, "All right.  See ya sir."  It's, "Yes sir, 
Major."

THE GERMAN
Okay.  Yes sir, Major.

THE MAJOR turns and heads for the door, but before he 
opens it, he looks back at the dead bodies.  He 
stares at them carefully.  Then he gets a suspicious 
look in his eyes.  

MAJOR
Wait a minute.  Somethin's kooky.  All those men are 
shot in the face.

THE GERMAN
I got good aim sir.

THE MAJOR doesn't believe him.

MAJOR
Something's wrong here.

The Germans look at each other.  Then the German 
jumps up and grabs the Major and puts a knife to his 
neck.

MAJOR
What the h--l are you doing!

THE GERMAN
Surrender Major.

MAJOR
What!?

THE GERMAN
I said to surrender, or I'll kill you.

MAJOR
What are you talking about!?  Let go of me Corporal!

THE GERMAN
No, I'm not a corporal.

MAJOR
What!?

THE GERMAN
My name is Lieutenant Heinrich Kessler of the 4th 
German Army Group.

MAJOR
You're a krout!?  You f---ing b-----d!

KESSLER
You know...we really (HE DRAGS OUT THE "e") don't 
like it when people call us that. 

The Major kicks the German in the groan, then punches 
him in the stomach, then hits him in the face.

ANOTHER GERMAN RUNS OVER AND HITS THE MAJOR IN THE 
HEAD WITH HIS GUN.  The Major falls to the ground, 
but gets back up.  He reaches behind his back and 
pulls out a pistol from his pants.  He holds it up, 
pointing it at the Germans.

MAJOR
Surrender now, you a-- holes!

THE GERMANS DROP THEIR GUNS AND PUT THEIR HANDS UP, 
EXCEPT KESSLER.

KESSLER
What are you doing?!  Pick them back up!  It's only 
one man!

THEY PICK THE GUNS BACK UP AND POINT THEM AT THE 
MAJOR.

MAJOR
Put those back down!  Or I'll shoot you all!

THEY START TO PUT THEM DOWN.

KESSLER
No!  Don't out them down!  What are you doing!  
There's four of us and one of him!  Pick them up!

THEY BRING THEM BACK UP.

THE MAJOR LOOKS AT THE GERMANS.  The closest one is 
only a FEW FEET AWAY.

THE MAJOR QUICKLY RUNS OVER TO THE NEAREST GERMAN.  
KESSLER shoots at him, but misses.  The Major is very 
fast.  He puts his pistol at the German's head.

MAJOR
Give me your gun, boy.

THE YOUNG GERMAN HANDS HIS SUB-MACHINEGUN TO THE 
MAJOR.

The Major takes the gun and backs up.  He points the 
sub-machinegun at the rest of the Germans.

MAJOR
Surrender!

Two of them do, but not KESSLER.

KESSLER
Keep them up men!  We outnumber him!  You shouldn't 
even think about surrendering! Don't put those guns 
down unless I tell you to!

THEY SLOWLY PICK THEM UP.

MAJOR
Put 'em down!  Now!

KESSLER DOESN'T MOVE.

The Major turns and shoots one of the other Germans.  
He falls to the ground.

THE MAJOR turns the gun back to KESSLER and the other 
man.

MAJOR
Put 'em down!  Or I'll shoot you both!

KESSLER doesn't move at first.  Then he finally puts 
it down.  So does the other man.  They raise their 
hands.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON LIEUTENANT KESSLER.  He's looking 
at the Major with a smile.  An evil smile.

CAMERA TURNS AROUND TO THE MAJOR.

MAJOR
What are smiling at b-----d?

The German laughs.  HE SAYS:  You'll find out.

MAJOR
What does that mean?

THE GERMAN LAUGHS AGAIN.

MAJOR
Stop laughing.

Kessler stops laughing.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE GERMAN'S FACE FOR A FEW 
SECONDS.  THEN IT SLOWLY GLIDES UP HIS ARM, THEN TO 
HIS RAISED HAND.

His hand slowly and barely waves forward.  He's 
signaling for some Germans in the forest to fire.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE MP MAJOR.

He saw what Kessler did.  He looks to the forest with 
fear, then looks back at the German.

KESSLER LAUGHS.  The MAJOR shoots Kessler, then jumps 
into one of the dug in spots (for the guards) just as 
machinegun fire is sprayed at him.  The German he was 
holding at gunpoint is blasted with the barrage of 
bullets and falls to the ground filled with hot 
metal.

Kessler drops to the ground, not dead.  The other 
German that's alive runs backwards into the forest 
shooting.

A man yells out something in German from the bushes.  
A German runs out from the bushes to the MP Major's 
right side.  He's not close enough to get hit by the 
other Germans' machinegun fire.

The Germans points a machinegun at the Major.  He 
says:  Surrender.

THE MAJOR SHOOTS THE GERMAN IN THE FACE.  Suddenly 
the Major is shot in the stomach.  He falls forward 
hurt, but not dead.

ANOTHER GERMAN CRAWLS OUT OF THE BUSHES.  HE'S AN 
OFFICER.  He screams something out in German and 
everybody stops shooting.  The German stands up and 
walks to the MP Major.  He picks up his guns.  Then 
he waves over to the forest.  Two Nazis comes running 
out of the forest.

THE GERMAN OFFICER
(IN GERMAN, WITH SUBTITLES) Pick him up and carry him 
back to the forest.  Call in a medical truck from the 
Fort and put him and Kessler on there.  Don't let the 
American die.  We need some information from him.

THE GERMANS PICK UP THE MAJOR AND TAKE HIM INTO THE 
FOREST.

CUT TO:

INT. MAIN TENT – MORNING

COLONEL WATERS' CLERK IS IN THE MIDDLE OF CALLING OFF 
THE NAMES OF THE MEN IN THE 4th PLATOON, 11th REGIMENT 
AND THE REPLACEMENTS.  He's near the end of the list.

CAMERA PANS THE PLATOON.  IT ZOOMS IN ON LEWIS.  HE'S 
STANDING AT ATTENTION.

CAMERA MOVES TO THE NEXT PERSON, WHICH IS DELANE.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO BEHIND COLONEL WATERS' CLERK.  He 
ends the roll call.

COLONEL WATERS WALKS UP TO THE CLERK, and stands next 
to him.

WATERS
Thank you Corporal.

THE CLERK WALKS AWAY.

WATERS
You will be leaving in ten minutes.  You are supposed 
to be packed and ready to go. (A PUASE WHILE WATERS' 
CLERK TELLS HIM SOMETHING) Okay, thank you corporal 
(Quietly and to the clerk.  Then he turns to the 
PLATOON).  The Siegfried Line is a tough place.  It 
has many obstacles.  I wish you good luck.  I will 
give a few minutes to say goodbye to some of your 
fellow soldiers meet back here at 0800 
Hours...Dismissed!

THE MEN SPLIT UP.

BALLARD IS WALKING DOWN THE ROAD AS LEWIS WALKS OUT.  
HE WALKS OVER TO LEWIS

BALLARD
Hey Mark.  Where are you going now, before we leave?

LEWIS
I'm going to see Captain Daniels.  You can come if 
you want.  How are you going to sneak on the truck 
again?

BALLARD
I'm just going to get on with everyone else.  They 
won't notice me.  I've been studying some of the 
trucks shipping out men.  They don't really check.  
They just take a head count.

LEWIS
But then, that means there will be too many people.

BALLARD
Not if I give someone a little prize to stay at a 
safe field hospital.

LEWIS
Oh, I see.  Bribery.

LEWIS AND BALLARD WALK TO THE SICK BAY AND GOE IN.  
They walk to the middle of the tent.  They stop near 
a bed.

IT'S CAPTAIN DANIEL'S BED.  CAPTAIN DANIELS is 
sleeping.

LEWIS AND BALLARD SIT DOWN ON CHAIRS NEAR THE BED.  
They look at the CAPTAIN.

LEWIS
Captain Daniels...Captain Daniels.

CAPTAIN DANIELS SLOWLY WAKES UP.  He looks around, 
then sees PRIVATE LEWIS AND LIEUTENANT BALLARD.  He 
smiles.

DANIELS
Hey Lewis, hey Ballard.  I hear you're a Lieutenant 
now.  Wow.  How are you guys doing?

LEWIS
We're doing okay Captain.  How are you?

DANIELS
I could be better...I could be better.

LEWIS
Yeah.

DANIELS
I hear you guys are leaving today, to go to the 
Siegfried Line.

LEWIS
Yeah.  We are.  I'm kind of anxious about it.  I've 
heard so much about it.  And I hear that the 
casualties are extremely high.

BALLARD
That's what I hear too.

DANIELS
You guys will do fine.  You're both great soldiers.

LEWIS
No sir, I'm a normal man.  Ballard is for sure.  But 
I'm no good at anything.  I'm just a farm boy from 
Nebraska.

DANIELS
You are.  You are a good soldier.  You're a great 
soldier.  You're also a great man.

LEWIS
Thank you sir.  Thank you very much.

THERE IS SILENCE FOR A FEW MOMENTS.

DANIELS smiles.  He's staring straight ahead.  His 
eyes slowly turn to look at LEWIS.

DANIELS
I can't wait to get home.  I can't wait to see my 
wife and family.  I miss them so much (HE STARTS TO 
GET TEARS IN HIS EYES).  I can hardly remember what 
my children look like.  They've probably grown too.  
I can barely remember anything from back home 
anymore.  When I first got shipped over here, I could 
remember everything.  My memories kept fading away 
more and more through the years though.  All my 
memories will be restored when I go home.  I'll be 
able to create new memories.  Those memories will be 
better too.  Since I'll cherish them more.  I really 
didn't cherish my memories when they were happening.  
They were just things that happened.  I'll look at 
everything differently from now on.  Little things 
can make a big difference.
I remember one time when my wife and I were sitting 
on the porch watching our children play.  They were 
real little then.  They were just playing around in 
the grass.  Then it started to rain.  The kids looked 
up at the sky and they stuck their tongues out, 
trying to catch the drops.  Then they started messing 
around in the mud.  It was so funny (HE STARTS TO 
CHUCLKLE A LITTLE).  Me and Margaret, my wife, 
couldn't help but laugh.  I didn't really ever think 
about that ever again until I got sent into combat 
(HIS SMILE FADES AWAY).  War really makes you think 
about the little things that we take for granted 
every day.

LEWIS and BALLARD both look at DANIELS sincerely.  
They are both shocked by what he has says.  It really 
touches their hearts.

BALLARD
I wish I had good memories like you sir.  I have 
nothing to go home to.  My parents died in a car 
accident when I was a 17.
That's why I joined the army.

DANIELS
Everybody has good memories.  You have to have 
memories.  Before your parents died, you must have 
had some good memories.

BALLARD
I don't think so.  Not that can I remember.

DANIELS
You do have some memories.  You just have to think.  
If you sit down and think about your parents for a 
while in silence, you can see them.  You can see 
them.

COLONEL WATERS WALKS IN THE DOOR.

WATERS
4th Platoon!  Let's go!

BALLARD and LEWIS look at CAPTAIN LEWIS.

DANIELS
Well, I guess you guys have to go.

BALLARD
Yeah.  We do.

DANIELS
Well, I guess I'll see you guys at the reunion in 25 
years, when all the 3rd Army gathers together and 
remembers the old war days.

BALLARD AND LEWIS CHUCKLE.

BALLARD
Yeah, if there is a reunion.


DANIELS
There will be, because I'm going to host it (HE 
SMILES).

BALLARD AND LEWIS CHUCKLE AGAIN.

BALLARD
Goodbye Captain Daniels.

HE HOLDS OUT HIS HAND FOR A HANDSHAKE.  They shake 
hands.  The shake turns into a hug.

DANIELS
Goodbye Ballard.

LEWIS HUGS DANIELS

LEWIS
Goodbye Captain Daniels.

DANIELS
Goodbye Lewis.

BALLARD AND LEWIS WALK OUT OF THE TENT.  The sky is 
gray.  It looks like rain is coming.

LEWIS
Where's the guy you're going to bribe?

BALLARD
He's waiting by the showers.  The shower tent is near 
the Main Tent.

LEWIS
Oh.

THEY GET CLOSER TO THE MAIN TENT.

LEWIS WALKS TO THE TENT.  BALLARD WALKS TO THE 
SHOWERS.  THE CAMERA FOLLOWS BALLARD.

A short, young man is waiting by the shower door.  He 
has glasses and looks kind of nervous.

BALLARD WALKS UP TO HIM.

BALLARD
Here's the money (HE PULLS SOME MONEY OUT OF HIS 
POCKET).

The man takes the money and puts it back in his 
pocket.

THE MAN
Thank you Lieutenant.

THE MAN WALKS AWAY.

BALLARD watches the man walk away.  Then he walks 
over to the trucks.  There is also a tank by the 
trucks.

4th Platoon is just walking out of the Main Tent.  They 
all line up.  BALLARD walks up and stands in line 
next to LEWIS and DELANE.  JONES is on the other side 
of DELANE.


DELANE
Hey, what are you do..."

BALLARD CUTS HIM OFF:
Shhh.

DELANE LOOKS FORWARD.

THE CLERK WALKS BEHIND THE MEN, COUNTING THEM.  When 
he's done, he says:  Okay!  Everyone on the trucks.

Half of the platoon gets into the closest tank.  The 
other half gets into the other one.

All the familiar characters get into the first truck.

When everyone is in, the clerk shuts the door.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO INSIDE THE TRUCK.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON BALLARD.  He looks nervous.  Very 
nervous.

CUT TO:

EXT. THE SIEGFRIED LINE – OUTSIDE A SMALL FOREST – 
DAY

SUPERIMPOSTION:
The Siegfried Line
May 4, 1944
G Company, 12th Army Group

THE TRUCKS AND TANK ARE DRIVING DOWN A MUDDY ROAD.  
THEY STOP IN THE GRASS.  The truck drivers get out 
and open the back doors.  The men pour out of the 
trucks.

A DRIVER
Okay, this is as far as I can take you.  You're on 
your own for now.  Who are the Officers?

JOHNS
Just me.

BALLARD WALKS UP NEXT TO JOHNS

BALLARD
And me.

JOHNS LOOKS AT BALLARD

JOHNS
What the... (HE DOESN'T FINISH).

THE DRIVER
All right.  Good luck you guys.

BOTH THE DRIVERS GET INTO THE TRUCKS AND DRIVE AWAY 
ALONG WITH THE TANK.

JOHNS LOOKS AT BALLARD CONFUSED.

JOHNS
What the h--l are you doing here?

BALLARD smiles at LIEUTENANT JOHNS.

BALLARD
I couldn't stand it any longer Johns.  I have to tell 
you something...I love you (HE BREAKS OUT LAUGHING).

EVERYONE STARTS LAUGHING.  Ballard hugs JOHNS 
jokingly.

JOHNS
Stop that (HE PUSHES HIM AWAY)!  I'm serious!  I 
thought you were going home!

BALLARD
There was a slight change of plans.  I decided to 
come.

JOHNS
They just let you come?

BALLARD
Uh...not really, but that's beside the point.  We 
gotta get to the Siegfried Line

JOHNS
We are at the Siegfried Line Ballard.  We're just not 
at the right part of the Siegfried line.

BALLARD
Oh.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. THE SIEGFRIED LINE – MINEFIELDS – DAY

THE PLATOON IS WALKING ON THE SIDE OF THE ROAD.  
BALLARD and JOHNS are at the front.  They come to a 
wide grassy area.  There are dead, bloody men 
everywhere.  Or at least parts of dead, bloody men.

BALLARD
What the...

JOHNS LOOKS AROUND.  His eyes get real big.  He 
screams out:  Everybody down!

The PLATOON drops to the ground.


JOHNS
Don't move!

BALLARD
(TO JOHNS) This is a minefield isn't it?

JOHNS LOOKS AT HIM.  HE SAYS:  Yep.

BALLARD
(UNDER HIS BREATH) Sh--.  Okay!  Everybody take out 
your bayonets!  We're in a minefield!  For you 
recruits!  Try to dig under the mines!  When you find 
one, put a stick or something next to it!

THEY ALL START DIGGING WITH THEIR BAYONETS.  They 
slowly move forward in through the minefield.

AN EXPLOSION NEAR THE REAR OF THE FIELD GOES OFF.

BALLARD LOOKS BACK.

BALLARD
Did anybody get hurt!?

A SOLDIER
I did!  It's only a wound on my arm!  It's not that 
bad I don't think!  I'll be fine!

BALLARD
Collins!  Get back there and wrap his arm up!

COLLINS
Yes sir!

COLLINS CAREFULLY CRAWLS ALONG A PATH THAT HAD 
ALREADY BEEN TRACED.  When he's to the wounded 
soldier, he tears off part of his sleeve.  The wound 
shocks COLLINS.

COLLINS
Oh man.  This isn't good.  This is worse than you 
think Gary.

He starts wrapping his arm up.  THE SOLDIER SCREAMS.  
He also slaps on some morphine in his leg.

BALLARD and JOHNS reach the end of the field.  A 
forest stops the field.

JOHNS
(TO BALLARD)  What kind of mines you think these are?  
You've seen just as many as I have.  I didn't see it 
explode.

BALLARD
I saw it explode.  It looked kind of like an S-mine.

JOHNS
A Bouncing Betty?  Are you sure?


BALLARD
Pretty sure.

JOHNS
We got a problem then.

JOHNS
Everyone be really careful!

MACK is near JOHNS and BALLARD as they are talking.

MACK
What's a Bouncing Betty?  Is it bad?

BALLARD
Of course it's bad.  When you step on it, these 
canisters shoot about 350 or 360 steel balls or scrap 
steel about a meter into the air before exploding.  
Except, it's not right when you step on it.  They 
shoot forward.  If you're walking or running, they 
could blow your whole leg off.

MACK is very scared.  He looks like he is going to 
throw up.  He continues on the same path as BALLARD 
and JOHNS until he gets to the forest.

MACK
What if there are mines in the forest?

JOHNS
There can't be.  They'd just hit the trees and they 
wouldn't do any damage.

MACK
Oh, good.

MACK still looks very nervous.

JOHNS, BALLARD, and MACK wait for the rest of the 
PLATOON.  MACK takes out some of his K-Rations and is 
about to eat them.

BALLARD
No!  Don't eat those yet.  Wait until you're in 
combat.  Don't waste them now.

MACK PUTS AWAY THE RATIONS.

The rest of the PLATOON gets to the forest.

BALLARD
(TO THE WOUNDED SOLDIER)
Are you okay?

THE SOLDIER
I don't know.  It hurts a lot more than it did 
before.



BALLARD
(TO COLLINS) How is he?  Will he be able to fight?

COLLINS
I don't think so.  In fact, he might...(HE LEANS 
CLOSER TO BALLARD AND WHISPERS) he might have to have 
his arm amputated.

BALLARD AND JOHNS LOOK AT EACH OTHER.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – SIEGFRIED LINE – DAY

THE PLATOON IS WALKING THROUGH THE FOREST CAUTIOUSLY.  
They're guns are up, ready to shoot at the slightest 
motion.  The men are hunched over a little while they 
walk.  BALLARD and JOHNS are at the front.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON BALLARD.  He's looking around.  
His eyes then stop and are focused on something 
straight ahead.  HE PUTS UP HIS FIST, motioning for 
the PLATOON to halt. Then he gets down on the ground.

CAMERA ZOOMS OUT.

THE WHOLE PLATOON STOPS AND GETS ON THE GROUND.

BALLARD is looking straight ahead at something in the 
distance.  He can't tell if there's something there 
or not.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – SIEGFRIED LINE – DAY

A GERMAN SQUAD OF EIGHT IS IN A MACHINEGUN NEST.  
They're looking at the Americans.

The nest is half way in the ground and half way out.  
It's a big nest with a broken tree as the ceiling and 
sticks and things like that all over it to disguise 
it.  There are three machineguns in all.

GERMAN OFFICER
(IN GERMAN, WITH SUBTITLES) Hold your fire.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – SIEGFIRED LINE – DAY

THE PLATOON IS STILL DOWN ON THE GROUND.  BALLARD is 
still not sure if there's anything there yet.

HE TURNS AROUND AND LOOKS AT THE PLATOON.

BALLARD
(IN A LOW WHISPER) Stay here.

HE THEN STARTS CRAWLING TO THE RIGHT.  He continues 
on his path until he's out of range of the machinegun 
nest.  Then he changes direction and goes forward.

HE'S ABOUT TWENTY FEET AWAY FROM THE NEST NOW.  He 
takes one of his grenades off his belt.  He pulls the 
clip out, waits three or four seconds, then tosses 
the grenade in the nest.

THERE'S A LOUD EXPLOSION.

The nest is destroyed.

BALLARD GETS UP AND WALKS TOWARDS THE NEST WITH HIS 
GUN AT HIS SHOULDER.  He gets to the nest and hops in 
and looks around, then gets out when he is positive 
that the squad is completely destroyed.

HE WAVES TO THE PLATOON TO COME FORWARD.  They all 
get up and walk to BALLARD.

JOHNS
You know BALLARD, usually I do that.  I'm the 
highest-ranking officer here.

BALLARD
By only one rank.  We're both Lieutenants.

JOHNS
You're not even supposed to be here.

BALLARD
Well, you didn't see the nest.  It would have been 
risky for you do it when you didn't know where it 
was.

BALLARD WALKS AHEAD.

JOHNS JUST STARES, AND THEN FINALLY GETS ON HIS WAY.

CUT TO:

EXT. END OF FOREST – SIEGFRIED LINE – DAY

THE PLATOON WALKS OUT OF THE FOREST.  There is 
another big field.

JOHNS
Everybody down!

THE PLATOON DROPS TO THE GROUND.

JOHNS
Get out your bayonets!  And start digging!

EVERYBODY GETS OUT THEIR BAYONETS.  They start 
digging for mines.

MACK
Oh man!  I found won!
BALLARD
Well, shut the f--- up and mark it!

MACK PICKS UP A STICK.  He puts it in the ground and 
moves on.

THE SOUND OF ARTILLERY IS HEARD IN THE DISTANCE.

Everyone looks up.

MACHINEGUN FIRE IS HEARD.  It isn't very loud, but it 
can be heard.

BALLARD
Okay!  Everyone keep digging!

They all go back to work.

DELANE WORKS HIS WAY UP TO BALLARD AND JOHNS.

DELANE
Hey BALLARD, how do you think the new recruits will 
do?

BALLARD LOOKS BACK AT THE YOUNG SOLDIERS.  They are 
nervous, and you can tell.

BALLARD
They're dead in the water.  In combat, they'll bunch 
up in fear and the machineguns will shoot them to 
pieces.  That's why people like you and me and LEWIS 
and JOHNS, experienced ones, have to take charge.  We 
gotta hold the PLATOON together.  And if by chance, 
one of those new recruits does survive, they'll be 
like us, and they will also hold the PLATOON 
together.  If one out of every five people dies, then 
the survivors have to set an example and teach the 
new recruits, and the one man out of those five does 
the same.

DELANE smiles, then keeps digging.

THE PLATOON GETS TO ANOTHER FOREST.

When everyone gets in the forest, they lean against 
trees.

A NEW RECRUIT
Lieutenant Ballard, how far away is it?  I'm getting 
tired.

BALLARD looks at the recruit.

BALLARD
What's your name?

THE RECRUIT
Private Gregory Thomas Owens.

BALLARD
Well Private Owens, the more you think about, the 
more tired you get.  So don't think about it.

OWENS
Yes sir.

JOHNS
Are you the new sniper Private Owens?


OWENS
Yes sir, I am.

JOHNS
Okay, good. (A BEAT) Well, let's head out.

THE PLATOON GETS UP AND STARTS WALKING.

CUT TO:

EXT. CORNFIELD – SIEGFRIED LINE – EVENING

ARTILLERY FIRE IS VERY LOUD.  88MM GUNS ARE BOOMING.  
MACHINEGUN FIRE IS CHATTERING.

The PLATOON is running in the middle of the field.  
They're running towards a hill held by some American 
soldiers.

The PLATOON gets to the end of the cornfield and runs 
up the hill to help the Company of U.S. soldiers.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE TOP OF THE HILL.  A Captain is 
lying on the ground shooting.

BALLARD JUMPS NEXT TO THE CAPTAIN.  He looks over at 
him.  The Captain looks back at him.

CAPTAIN
Are you Lieutenant Johns?!

BALLARD
No!  I'm Lieutenant Ballard!  I'm with Lieutenant 
Johns!  With the 4th Platoon!

DAWSON
I didn't hear anything about a Lieutenant Ballard! 

THE CAPTAIN SHOOTS HIS GUN A FEW TIMES THEN LOOKS 
BACK AT BALLARD.

BALLARD
I was supposed to go home, but I decided to come 
along!

JOHNS JUMPS NEXT TO BALLARD.

JOHNS
I'm Lieutenant Johns!  This is Lieutenant Ballard!

CAPTAIN
I know!  We've met!  I'm Captain Dawson!  You've come 
to our rescue finally!  We've been waiting for a 
while!

A SHELL EXPLODES NEAR THE BOTTOM OF THE OTHER SIDE OF 
THE HILL.

BALLARD
How many are there?!


DAWSON
Of what!?

BALLARD
The enemy!

DAWSON
Oh!  About 80!

BALLARD
Okay!  Where's the closest machinegun nest!?

DAWSON
Machinegun nest?!

BALLARD
Yeah!

DAWSON
Well, there's one over there to the left (HE POINTS 
TO AN EMPLACEMENT TO THE LEFT OF THE HILL ABOUT 100 
YARDS AWAY)!

THE MACHINEGUN IS FIRING at the hill with fury.

DAWSON
Why?!

BALLARD
Do you need it taken out?!

DAWSON
Well, yeah!  But how are you going to do it?!  You'd 
have to run down the hill at it!

BALLARD
I know!

BALLARD STARTS TO GET UP.  JOHNS pulls him down.

JOHNS
No Ballard!  Not again!  Let's get Owens to sniper 
him!  We can't afford to lose you!  You're too 
important!

BALLARD is angry.

JOHNS
Owens!  Get over here!

OWENS CRAWLS OVER TO JOHNS.  He stops between DAWSON 
and BALLARD

OWENS
Yes sir!  What do you want?!

JOHNS
Take out that emplacement over there!

OWENS LOOKS AT THE NEST.

OWENS
Yes sir!  No problem!

OWENS sets up his gun.  He loads a round into the 
gun.  Then he looks in the scope.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE VIEW OF THE SCOPE.  There are 
lines, marking where the bullet will go.

THE CENTER MARK IS FOCUSED ON A GERMAN SOLDIER FIRING 
A MACHINEGUN.  CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE GERMAN.

CUT TO:

EXT. MACHINEGUN NEST – SIEGFRIED LINE – EVENING

CAMERA IS FOCUSED ON A GERMAN MACHINE GUNNER'S FACE 
that is firing on the hill occupied by Dawson's G 
Company.  He turns the gun to the right a little.

CUT TO:

EXT. HILL – SIEGFRIED LINE – EVENING

OWENS is still on the hill getting ready to shoot.

OWENS
Ready, set, go...

He fires.

CUT TO:

EXT. MACHINEGUN NEST – SIEGFRIED LINE – EVENING

CAMERA IS ON THE GERMAN MACHINE GUNNER.

He is suddenly shot in the mouth.  Blood squirts out 
the back of his head. He falls over on to the gun.

CUT TO:

EXT. HILL – SIEGFRIED LINE – EVENING

Everyone is cheering on the hill.

DAWSON
Not so fast!  The assistant gunner is still down 
there!  He can still shoot at us!

BALLARD
I can take care of that!

BALLARD jumps up and runs down the hill firing his 
Browning Automatic Rifle at the machinegun 
emplacement.

JOHNS
D--n it!

DAWSON
What the h--l is he doing, he's going to get himself 
killed!

JOHNS
He always does this!

BALLARD IS STILL RUNNING TOWARDS THE EMPLACEMENT.  
Bullets are kicking up around his feet, but he keeps 
going.

BALLARD is 20 yards from the nest before he finally 
kills the German.  He continues running until he gets 
to the emplacement.  He jumps in when he gets there.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO JOHNS AND DAWSON.

DAWSON
Why did he do that?!  He could have killed himself!  
Did you say he always does this?!

JOHNS
Yep!  It's like he doesn't care!  I guess he just 
can't help himself!

CAMERA SWITCHES TO BALLARD.  He's still in the 
machinegun nest.  He takes the gun, turns it around, 
and points it towards another machinegun emplacement 
about 500 yards away.

THE MACHINEGUN NOTICES BALLARD AND DIRECTS IT'S FIRE 
TOWARDS HIM.  It's a machinegun battle.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO THE HILL.  Some of the men 
(including MACK, DELANE, JONES, and some of the 
recruits, plus some of the people from G Company) are 
inspired by what BALLARD did and they jump up WITH 
BAYONETS FIXED and run down the hill shooting at the 
different machinegun nests.  When everyone else sees 
what the men are doing, they also jump up and run 
down the hill shooting.

Several of the nests are taken out by the battle 
crazed Americans.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO BALLARD.  He's still shooting at 
the other machinegun emplacement.  Finally, the gun 
is hit and explodes, killing the two-man crew.

BALLARD jumps out of the nest and runs towards the 
88mm gun shooting at G Company.  His BAR is flaring 
away at the crew operating the gun.

THE 88MM GUN OPERATERS SEE BALLARD and try to point 
the gun at him, but it's too late, he's already too 
close.  He shoots the six Germans at the 88mm with a 
burst of fire from his Automatic Rifle.  They all 
fall to the ground, dead and bleeding.  Then he runs 
back to the PLATOON.

The rest of the PLATOON continues with their rampage 
(CAMERA IS AT VARIOUS SHOTS).  They're taking out 
machinegun nests and small arms fire.  They keep 
going until what's left of the German group has 
surrendered.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO BALLARD.  He is looking around at 
all the Germans surrendering.  LEWIS WALKS UP TO HIM.

LEWIS
That was something wasn't it Andy?  I can't believe I 
did that.  You know, you inspired all those guys to 
do that.  To charge like you did.  Then the rest 
followed them.

BALLARD
I didn't inspire them.  They did that on their own.

LEWIS
No they didn't.  If it hadn't been for you, we might 
not have killed all those men.  We might not have 
gotten all those prisoners.

BALLARD
I didn't do anything special.  I did what any other 
man would do.

LEWIS
No, you didn't.

THEY WALK OFF.

CUT TO:

EXT. NEAR THE HILL – SIEGFIRED LINE – NIGHT

SUPERIMPOSITION:
May 5th, 1944.
0350 Hours.

CAMERA GOES TO DAWSON AND JOHNS, who are talking 
about BALLARD.

DAWSON
I can't believe what Lieutenant Ballard did.  It was 
like he didn't know what was happening.

JOHNS
Like I said before, he does that stuff all the time.  
It scares me to death.  He's really important to this 
platoon.  The men look up to him.  All of them.  
Sometimes, even I do a little even though I'm up a 
rank.

DAWSON
He looks young.  How old is he?

JOHNS
He's only 25 or 26.  He came over on D-Day at Omaha 
Beach.  He was one of the heroes.  He carried wounded 
men up the beach to safety a few times while he was 
under fire.  He's been doing that ever since.  He's 
invincible, almost.  He was shot in the stomach when 
our regiment tried to break into Fort Driant.  He was 
also burned in the back and leg by an 88 shell.  He 
wasn't even supposed to come here.

DAWSON
What do you mean he wasn't supposed to come?

JOHNS
He snuck on to the truck when we loaded up.  He was 
going home too, in a week.  I don't know why he 
wanted to come.

DAWSON
He sounds pretty amazing to me.

JOHNS
He is.  He skipped 6 ranks.  From a plain Sergeant to 
a Second Lieutenant.

DAWSON
Wow.

JOHNS
I know.  He's only one rank away from me.  I'm scared 
he's going to pass me.  And if he keeps doing that 
stuff...he'll probably be a general by the time this 
war's over.

THEY BOTH CHUCKLE.

THERE'S A LOUD NOISE COMING FROM THE WOODS.  It 
sounds like somebody falling down on twigs.

JOHNS AND DAWSON JUMP TO THEIR FEET.  They run over 
to a machinegun emplacement ten yards away.  BALLARD 
and LEWIS are already in it.  They are staring at the 
woods.

DAWSON
Did you hear that two?

BALLARD
Yeah.  What do you think it was?

DAWSON
I don't know.

BALLARD
We should have someone check it out.

HE JUMPS OUT OF THE EMPLACEMENT AND RUNS OVER TO THE 
NEXT ONE AND JUMPS IN.  There are about seven people 
in it.  JONES, DELANE, MACK, OWENS, and three other 
men from G Company.

BALLARD
You guys go and see if there's anything in those 
woods over there (HE POINTS TO THE WOODS).  Except 
for Owens.  You stay here Owens.

HE LOOKS AT THE OTHER MEN FROM G COMPANY.

BALLARD
What are your names?

ONE OF THE MEN
I'm Corporal James Cole.  This is Private Craig Green 
(HE POINTS TO THE MAN TO HIS RIGHT).  And this is 
Private Ben Logan (HE POINTS TO THE MAN ON HIS LEFT).

BALLARD
Okay.  Delane.  Since you're the highest ranking, 
you're in charge.  (HE TURNS TO COLE) If Delane gets 
killed, you're the next in line.

COLE
Yes sir.

BALLARD
Okay, get going.  Good luck.

THE MEN JUMP UP AND RUN TOWARDS THE WOODS.  BALLARD 
jumps out and goes to his machinegun emplacement.  
The squad runs passed him and goes into the forest.

JOHNS
Lewis, you man the machinegun if there's a firefight.

LEWIS
Yes sir.

HE GOES TO THE GUN AND GETS READY.

DAWSON
Lieutenant Ballard, you help with the ammo.

BALLARD
Yes sir, Captain Dawson.  I'd be happy to.

He walks over to the ammo boxes (There are about ten 
FULL boxes) and opens one of them.  He hooks up one 
of the strings of ammo to the gun.

BALLARD
Man. There are a lot of ammo boxes around here.  
These guys were loaded.

There is a gun shot in the forest.  Then there are a 
many more                                                           
gunshots.

THE SQUAD COMES RUNNING OUT OF THE WOODS.  They jump 
into the closest gun emplacement.  That machinegun 
emplacement is shooting at something in the forest.

DELANE JUMPS OUT OF HIS EMPLACEMENT AND RUNS OVER TO 
THE EMPLACEMENT WHERE BALLARD, LEWIS, DAWSON, AND 
JOHNS ARE.  He jumps in.

JOHNS
What do you want Delane?

DELANE
There's a Platoon of Germans in that forest.

JOHNS
A Platoon?  Are you sure?

DELANE
Yeah.

DAWSON
I'll take care of this.  Sergeant Delane, go over to 
that emplacement over there (HE POINTS TO THE 
EMPLACEMENT AFTER DELANE'S EMPLACEMENT) and get 
Private Warrens.  He has a radio.

DELANE
Yes sir.

HE JUMPS OUT OF THE EMPLACEMENT AND RUNS TO WARRENS' 
EMPLACEMNT.  He comes back to BALLARD'S emplacement 
with a tall, skinny soldier with a radio in his 
hands.  DELANE and WARRENS hop into BALLARD'S 
emplacement.

WARRENS
Yes Captain Dawson?

DAWSON
Give me that radio.  I gotta call a friend.

WARRENS passes DAWSON the radio.  DAWSON GETS ON IT.

DAWSON
Get Captain Reynolds. (A BEAT) Hello?  Is this 
Captain Reynolds? (A BEAT) How's it going Captain? (A 
BEAT) That's good.  Uh, we got a little problem here.  
There's a Platoon of Krouts trying to take us out.  
And we're a little exhausted from a fight earlier, 
and we kinda don't wanna mess with the b-----ds, so 
could you come help us out? (A BEAT) Okay, thanks a 
lot Captain Reynolds.  We're at 24, 56 on the grids. 
(A BEAT) All right.  Bye now.

JOHNS
What was that all about?

DAWSON
You'll see.

MYERS COMES RUNNING TOWARDS THE EMPLACEMENT.  He 
jumps in.

BALLARD
I haven't seen you in a while Myers.  Where ya been?

MYERS
I've been around.  The Germans are setting up their 
artillery way over there by that town (HE POINTS TO A 
TOWN FAR AWAY FROM THEIR POSITION).

DAWSON
Okay, thank you Corporal.  We'll get right on it.

MYERS
Okay.  Goodbye sirs.

HE JUMPS OUT AND RUNS OFF INTO THE DISTANCE.

BALLARD TURNS TO DAWSON.

BALLARD
What do you mean, "We'll get right on it"?  What are 
we going to do?

DAWSON
You'll see.

JOHNS
You keep saying that.  When are we going to see?  
Those artillery units are about to blow us to bits, 
and we're just sitting here.

DAWSON
Calm down.  They're going to be here any minute.

BALLARD
What's going to be here any minute?

THE SOUNDS OF TANKS IS HEARD IN THE DISTANCE.  The 
sound gets louder and louder.

We finally see the tanks now, coming over the hill.

DAWSON
That's what.

JOHNS
Oh, good.

DAWSON
Private Lewis, go direct the tanks.

LEWIS
Yes sir.

LEWIS jumps out of the emplacement and runs to the 
tanks.

CAMERA FOLLOWS HIM.

He gets behind one of them and takes the phone.

LEWIS
Hello. (A BEAT) My name is Private Lewis.  I'm going 
to be directing you.  Move forward.

THE TANK MOVES FORWARD.  THE OTHER TANKS FOLLOW.  
LEWIS walks with the tank.  The tanks reach the 
forest.

LEWIS
(STILL ON THE PHONE) Stop.  Now, turn to 30 degrees 
right. (THE TANK TURNS TO THE RIGHT A LITTLE) Fire.

THE TANK FIRES INTO THE FOREST.   THERE'S A HUGE FIRE 
BURST IN THE FOREST.  THE OTHER TANKS START FIRING IN 
THE FOREST TOO.

LEWIS
(ON THE PHONE) Okay, turn to 30 degrees left.

THE TANK TURNS LEFT.


LEWIS
(ON THE PHONE) Fire.

THE TANK SHOOTS INTO THE FOREST.  It hits some trees.

CUT TO:

EXT. MACHINEGUN EMPLACEMENT – DAY

BALLARD
We should send the tanks into the forest.  That would 
be more affective.

DAWSON
You're probably right, but I don't know if they got a 
tank dozer or not.

BALLARD is looking at the group of tanks.  He turns 
to DAWSON

BALLARD
They got one.  It's right over there by the lead tank 
(HE POINTS TO THE TANK DOZER).

DAWSON AND JOHNS LOOK.

DAWSON
Yeah, they do (HE TURNS TO JOHNS).  You think we 
should?
JOHNS
Yeah.  I think we should.

DAWSON
All right (HE CUPS HIS AROUND HIS MOUTH TO YELL).  
Lewis!

CUT TO REVERSE.

LEWIS LOOKS OVER TO THE EMPLACEMENT.

DAWSON
Tell the dozer to move into the forest!

LEWIS NODS.  He turns and hangs up the phone.  He 
grabs the phone on the back of the tank dozer.  We 
see him say something into the phone, and then he 
hangs up.  The tank dozer starts forward into the 
forest.

LEWIS LOOKS OVER TO DAWSON.

CUT TO REVERSE.

DAWSON WAVES HIM OVER.  LEWIS runs to the emplacement 
and jumps in it.  He looks at JOHNS, BALLARD, and 
DAWSON.

CUT TO:

INT. TANK DOZER – DAY

A Lieutenant is sitting in the driver's seat.  There 
are two privates in the tank too.  One is the cannon 
loader; the other is the fireman (the man who fires 
the cannon and .50 caliber machinegun).

LIEUTENANT
Okay, we're going.

HE STARTS DRIVING.

CUT TO:

EXT.  FOCUSED ON TANK DOZER – FOREST - DAY

The tank dozer goes forward into the forest.  It 
fires a round into the forest to clear some of the 
bigger trees.

CUT TO:

INT. TANK DOZER – DAY

LIEUTENANT
Fire another Private.

FIREMAN
Yes sir.  Load another!

THE LOADER loads a cannon.  HE SAYS:  Loaded!

THE FIREMAN FIRES.

LIEUTENANT
We got some infantry!  Fire the machine gun!

FIREMAN
Yes sir.

The fireman looks out the little window and shoots 
the .50 caliber machinegun at the oncoming Germans.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – DAY

Nazis are running at the tank.  They're trying to 
jump on it, but the machinegun fire mows them all 
down.  One Nazi jumps to the ground and waits for the 
tank dozer to come.  When it reaches the German, he 
jumps up on the tank.

CUT TO:

INT. TANK DOZER – DAY

LIEUTENANT
One got on!

HE PULLS OUT A PISTOL.  He opens up the hatch and 
carefully puts his head up.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – DAY

The German is at the back of the tank, trying to hide 
from the American Lieutenant.  THE TANK IS NOT 
MOVING.  The American sees the German and sticks up 
his pistol at him.  The German also points his gun at 
the American.

They both start screaming at each other.  The 
American climbs out of the tank screaming, 
"Surrender" in both German and American.  The German 
is also screaming, "surrender" in German and 
American.  The American gets closer to the German.  
He has his pistol pointed at the German's head.

LIEUTENANT
(IN GERMAN, WITH SUBTITLES) Surrender now, or I'll 
shoot your f---ing brains out.

GERMAN SOLDIER
(IN GERMAN, WITH SUBTITLES) I'll do the same, if you 
don't surrender now.

They both just look at each other for a while with 
their guns pointed at each other.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON AMERICAN'S FACE.  There are beads 
of sweat on his forehead.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE AMERICAN'S EYES.  They have a 
look of fear in them.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN EVEN CLOSER TO ONE EYE.  You can see 
the reflection in his eyes of the German pointing the 
gun at him.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE TWO HANDS, HOLDING THE GUNS.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE TWO HANDS.  Both of the hands 
are shaking.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE AMERICAN'S HANDS.  His hand is 
terribly sweaty.  His finger slowly starts to pull 
the trigger.

CAMERA IS IN SLOW MOTION.

The sound of a beating heart is heard.  Quiet at 
first, then it gets louder.  It gets really loud, and 
fast too.

CAMERA SWITHCES TO THE GERMAN'S EYES.  They see that 
the trigger is about to be pulled.

CAMERA GOES TO REGULAR SPEED.  The German's eyes 
flinch.

BEATING HEART STOPS.

CAMERA PULLS BACK.  The German starts to put up his 
hands, but it is too late.  The German is knocked 
backwards, off the tank, by the gunshot.

THE AMERICAN DROPS TO HIS KNEES.  HE SAYS: Thank God.

HE STARTS TO CRY.  He puts his head in his hands.

THE FIREMAN STICKS HIS HEAD OUT THE HATCH HOLE.  HE 
SAYS:  Lieutenant!  There's more infantry!  Get 
inside!

THE LIEUTENANT QUICKLY WIPES AWAY HIS TEARS.  HE GETS 
UP AND GOES DOWN THE HATCH HOLE.

CUT TO:

INT. TANK DOZER – DAY

The Lieutenant gets in his seat.

FIREMAN
Sir, what's the matter?

LIEUTENANT
Nothing private, it's nothing.  I'm fine.  Let's get 
moving.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOCUSED ON TANK DOZER – FOREST – DAY

The tank moves forward.  It shoots a round at a huge 
tree, so that it can plow through it easier.

MORE GERMAN SOLDIERS ARE RUNNING AT THE TANK.  They 
too get mowed down by the machinegun fire.

The tank approaches a machinegun emplacement.  It 
fires at it, but misses.

THE MEN IN THE EMPLACEMENT PICK UP THE GUN AND RUN 
AWAY.

THE CANNON FOLLOWS THE MEN RUNNING.  It stops and 
fires at the men.  Two men are blown up.  The other 
two keep running.  They jump down to the ground 
behind a huge fallen tree.

CUT TO:

INT. TANK DOZER – DAY

LIEUTENANT
Load up!  We're going at 'em!

FIREMAN
Where did they go, sir?



LIEUTENANT
What do you mean, "Where did they go?"  They're 
right...(he looks out the window) Where did they go? 
(A BEAT) We're going to keep going forward anyway.  
They gotta be somewhere.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – FOCUSED ON TANK – DAY

THE TANK MOVES FORWARD.  It approaches the huge 
fallen tree.  When it reaches it, it goes around it.

WE SEE THREE TIGER TANKS WAITING FOR THE AMERICAN 
TANK.

CUT TO:

INT. TANK DOZER – DAY

LIEUTENANT
Oh sh--!  F---, f---, f---!

FIREMAN
Back up!  Back up!

The Lieutenant moves some gears and stuff, putting it 
in to reverse.  He backs the tank up.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE VIEW FROM THE LITTLE WINDOW.  
The three Tiger tanks move their cannons slowly 
towards the Tank Dozer.  All the Tigers finally focus 
on the tank dozer.

THE TIGERS FIRE.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – DAY

THE TANK DOZER IS STILL BACKING UP.  It gets back 
behind the tree just as the Tigers' shots fire pass.  
The shots hit trees, making them blow up.

THE TANK CONTINUES MOVING BACKWARD.  The other tanks 
behind the tank dozer are moving forward in a line.

The tank dozer and another tank almost collide, but 
the tank dozer stops right before it was about to hit 
another tank.

THE HATCH ON THE TANK DOZER POPS OPEN.  The 
LIEUTENANT sticks his head out.  HE SCREAMS:  Tigers!  
Three Tigers!  Get ready!

THE TANKS SPREAD OUT.  They point all their guns at 
the huge fallen tree.  THE SOUND OF MOVING TANKS GETS 
LOUDER.

The three TIGER TANKS COME OUT FROM THE FALLEN TREE.  
The Americans all fire at the tanks.  The tanks with 
fire throwers shoot their fire at the tanks.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON A TIGER TANK.

THE TIGER TANKS BLOWS UP.

CUT TO REVERSE:

Four Americans are operating two bazookas.  Two on 
one; two on the other.

AMERICAN #1
Yes!  I hit the window!

AMERICAN #2
Bet you won't do that again.

CUT TO REVERSE:

Another Tiger tank turns it's cannon to the four 
Americans.

CUT TO REVERSE:

THE AMERICANS LOOK AT THE TANK.

AMERICAN #1
D--n it!

The all run to the right side.  They know that the 
Tiger's cannons move slowly.  They suddenly cut left, 
then.  There is a cannon fire.  A tree explodes near 
the fleeing men.

CUT TO REVERSE:

THE TIGER TANK TURNS IT'S CANNON AT THE AMERICAN 
TANKS, but before it fires, an American tank shoots 
the cannon (near the base), making it unusable.  The 
Tiger starts shooting it's machinegun at the tanks, 
but that doesn't do any good.

The other Tiger Tank's cannon is stuck between two 
trees.  It moves back and forth, but can't get it 
out.  It tries to back up, but the other tank is in 
the way.  The tank commander of the tank opens the 
hatch and sticks half of his body out, so he can tell 
the other tank to move, but he is shot by machinegun 
fire from about every tank.

A WHITE CLOTH STICKS OUT OF THE TANK WITH A DAMAGED 
CANNON.  The other tank (the one with the cannon 
stuck between two trees) also sticks out a white 
cloth.  THE AMERICANS STOP FIRING.

Germans come out of each tank with their hands raised 
high.  Three out of the one with the damaged cannon.  
Two out of the other one.  They are screaming 
something in German.  We don't know what.

The commanders of all the American tanks pop half 
their bodies out of the tanks.  They all have pistols 
pointed at the Germans.  The all scream the same 
thing (IN GERMAN) at the Americans and stick their 
hands up even higher.

A CAPTAIN JUMPS OUT OF HIS TANK AND WALKS TO THE 
GERMANS.  HE SCREAMS:  Graves!  Wakes!  Get out here 
and help me take these prisoners back to G Company!

Two men jump out of the same tank the captain came 
out of.  They start taking the Germans away, back to 
the beginning of the forest.

THE CAPTAIN  LOOKS AROUND, then grabs two Germans and 
walks away with them.

CUT TO:

EXT. MACHINEGUN EMPLACEMENT – OUTSIDE THE FOREST - 
DAY

BALLARD, LEWIS, DAWSON, and JOHNS are all sitting in 
the machinegun emplacement looking at the forest.

CAMERA PANS THE MEN, THEN STOPS ON THE FOREST.  IT 
ZOOMS IN ON THE FOREST.

The tank captain and two privates (Wakes and Graves) 
come walking out of the forest with the Germans that 
surrendered.  Wakes has one, Graves has two, and the 
Captain has two.  They walk over to the machinegun 
emplacement with the prisoners.

CAPTAIN
What do you guys want to do with these Krauts?

DAWSON
Just take them over the hill.  There'll be a group of 
15 or so men.  They'll know exactly what to do with 
'em.

CAPTAIN
All right Captain Dawson. (HE TURNS TO WAKES AND 
GRAVES) You heard what the Captain said!

CAMERA FOLLOWS THE CAPTAIN AND TWO PRIVATES.

They all walk in the direction of the hill.  They 
walk over it and disappear.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE EMPLACEMENT.  DAWSON is 
looking at a man running to the emplacement from 
another emplacement.

THE MAN GETS TO THE EMPLACEMENT.  He says:  Captain 
Dawson, this is a message from headquarters (HE HANDS 
HIM A PIECE OF PAPER).

DAWSON
Thank you corporal.

THE MAN RUNS AWAY.

DAWSON
(under his breath) Finally.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO BALLARD.  He's staring straight 
ahead.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON BALLARD'S FACE.  He looks nervous.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON BALLARD'S EYES.  They are anxious 
looking.

VOICE OVER:

A man screaming, "Ballard!" Over and over again fades 
in.

FLASHBACK:

EXT. OMAHA BEACH – NORMANDY – DAWN

CAMERA (hand-held camera) IS ON THE MAN SCREAMING, 
who is hiding behind one of the beach obstacles on 
Omaha Beach.

The sound of machinegun fire slowly fades in.  
Artillery is also fading in, along with mines 
exploding and other war sounds.

We can hardly hear the man now.

THE MAN
Ballard!  I'm going to try and run up the...

THE MAN IS SHOT IN THE FACE.

CAMERA TURNS AROUND FRANTICALLY (in the view of 
Ballard), then stops on a bunker up the beach, from 
where a machinegun is firing.  A gun appears below 
the camera with a hand on the barrel (like a person 
is aiming at something).  The gun fires, making the 
camera jolt.  THE CAMERA LOOKS BACK AT THE BUNKER.  
The machinegun fire has stopped.  The gunner has been 
killed.

WAR SOUNDS SLOWLY FADE OUT, while there's a...

VOICE OVER:

JOHNS
Ballard!  What the h--l are you doing?!  Pay 
attention!

CUT BACK TO:

EXT. MACHINEGUN EMPLACEMENT – NEAR FOREST – DAY

CAMERA IS ON BALLARD.  He shakes awake from his 
flashback.  He looks at JOHNS.  Everyone is staring 
at BALLARD.

JOHNS
What were you doing Ballard?

BALLARD
I suddenly just remembered something from a long time 
ago.

JOHNS is confused.

JOHNS
What do you mean?

BALLARD
Nothing.  It was just something back when I first 
came in the war.

JOHNS
You mean Omaha, don't you?

BALLARD
How did you know?

JOHNS
That happens to me too...(A BEAT) but we got 
something important to talk about now.

BALLARD
Okay, sorry.  Let's talk.

Everyone looks at DAWSON.

DAWSON
Up until now our orders have been to hold out here 
till we get further instructions.  I have just gotten 
orders from General Patton.  We are to try and break 
all the way through the Siegfried Line...including 
the Dragon's Teeth and the bunkers and every other 
deadly defensive blockades and distractions that lay 
out there in front of us.  I'm not sure what all is 
out there, but I do know that it's going to be like 
hell.  After we have completed that objective, we 
hold out a position until F Company catches up to us. 
(A BEAT.  ALL THE MEN NOD) Third Army and everyone 
else is counting on us to break through "The Line" 
and set the boundary.  And it's not going to be easy.  
If we break through, we'll be in Germany, or close to 
it.  And the German's know that.  They're going to be 
fighting their hardest.  And we've got to fight our 
hardest too.  And that should be better than what 
those f---ing Germans can do.

JOHNS
We can definitely fight better than the d--n Krouts 
can.  They already know they've lost the war.  
They've got no hope.

BALLARD
That's not necessarily true.  They do probably have 
the thought in their minds that they will lose, 
except for maybe the S.S. and the Hitler Youth.  But 
they all have hope.  They have hope that they will 
protect their homeland.  Their families.  Everyone 
has that hope. (A BEAT) But one thing is for 
sure...(HE SMILES) we can fight a h--l of lot better 
than the Jerries!

THEY ALL LAUGH.

DAWSON
(AFTER THE LAUGHTER) Well, I better tell the rest of 
the men what the orders are.  We need to gather them 
up and tell them.  Then we need to go through the 
forest and try to find some more prisoners.  We'll 
head out tomorrow at 0800 hours for the Dragon's 
Teeth.

THE MEN JUMP OUT OF THE MACHINEGUN NEST.


DAWSON
Hey Lewis, grab the machinegun.

LEWIS
Yes sir.

He picks up the machinegun and runs up to BALLARD.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – DAY

G Company and 4th Platoon are gathered together.  
DAWSON, BALLARD, and JOHNS are in at the front.

DAWSON
All right, we've finally gotten the orders from good 
old Blood n' Guts boys.  As we expected, we are going 
to advance through the rest of the Siegfried Line. 
(HE PICKS UP A STICK) We're going to go through this 
way (DRAWING IN THE DIRT – he draws forward.  Then 
goes diagonal left) then up left like this.  There's 
going to be a lot of obstacles in the way though.  We 
gotta go through the Dragon's Teeth (IN THE DIRT – he 
draws X's in the dirt) and a few lines a of bunkers 
(IN THE DIRT – he draws four circles in a row – three 
rows).  There may be more that reconnaissance didn't 
pick up.  It's going to be pretty tough.  But we're 
tough men.  We're one of the best outfits in the 
European Theater.  The newspapers may not say it, but 
those d--n newspaper reporters are too scared to come 
up all the way to the front line (THE MEN LAUGH – 
THEN A BEAT).  We're going to be the front line of 
the front line gentlemen.  The whole war is in our 
hands.  It's kind of hard to believe that what we're 
doing here is make history.  We're going to be in 
history books boys.  We're changing the world.

CAMERA PANS THE MEN.  Camera stops on MACK.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO DAWSON.  He looks up.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE MEN.  They're all looking up.

DAWSON
Take cover!

THE SILENCE IS BROKEN by the sound of a screaming 
missile.  It gets louder – it's getting closer.

Everyone runs – as far away as possible.  They where 
it's going to land – in the forest.

THE SOUND OF THE MISSILE IS GETTING LOUDER AND 
LOUDER.

It's deafening now

FINALLY, IT HITS THE GROUND.  The sound is ear 
shattering.  The explosion is massive.  There's a 
fire, now, in the forest.

A FEW MORE SCEAMING MISSILES ARE HEARD.

THEY ALL HIT THE GROUND.

It's almost like a dream.  It's surreal.

THERE'S MORE MISSILES – THEY KEEP COMING.

Men are getting killed everywhere.  They're all 
panicking.  Except for BALLARD.  He's getting the 
wounded and bringing them to a machinegun bunker – 
the only bunker in the area.

CAMERA IS FOLLOWING BALLARD.  It's a hand-held 
camera, making it look unreal, and dream-like.

BALLARD gets LEWIS, DELANE, MYERS, and some other men 
to help him.  Pretty soon all the men that aren't 
casualties are helping.  Of course, some of them do 
become casualties while they are working.

The bombing seems like it's going on forever.

CAMERA GOES TO SLOW MOTION.

BALLARD is running with a man on his back.  He sets 
him down somewhere safe, then runs back.

CAMERA GOES BACK TO NORMAL SPEED.  It is focused on 
BALLARD still.

A shell lands near BALLARD.  He flies off the ground 
and lands about ten feet away.

LEWIS runs to BALLARD.  He bends down.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO VERY NEAR LEWIS AND BALLARD.

LEWIS
Ballard!

He shakes him.

BALLARD
I'm fine!  Just a little shaken up!

He gets up and runs to another wounded man.  He picks 
him up, runs back to the place he has put everyone 
else, and sets him down.

THE BOMBING ENDS.

Everyone looks around.  They are happy that the 
bombing is finally over.

BALLARD
Everyone get ready!  There's probably going to be an 
attack soon!  Delane!  Come here!

DELANE comes running over to BALLARD.

DELANE
Yes sir.

BALLARD
Gather some men and take a head count.  Don't forget 
to count yourselves.  When you're done with the head 
count, tell Captain Dawson, not me.  And do it 
quickly.

DELANE
Yes sir.

He runs off.

Everyone runs to a place and sets up their guns.

BALLARD
Spread out!  Machine gunners love picking of a big 
group of soldiers!

BALLARD runs to a machinegun nest and jumps in.  
LEWIS also jumps in the same nest.

BALLARD
I'll work the gun.  You take care of the ammo.

LEWIS
Yes sir.

BALLARD
That sounds so strange.  My best friend calling me 
sir.  It just doesn't sound right.

BEAT

LEWIS
This d--n war has messed everything up.  Nothin's 
gonna be the same after we go home.

BALLARD
If we go home.

LEWIS
What does that mean?

BALLARD
Nothing.  Nothing.

BALLARD looks like he's going into a trance or 
something.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO BALLARD.  He's staring straight 
ahead.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON BALLARD'S FACE.  He looks nervous.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON BALLARD'S EYES.  They are anxious 
looking.

VOICE OVER:

A man screaming, "Ballard!" Over and over again fades 
in.

FLASHBACK:

EXT. OMAHA BEACH – NORMANDY – DAWN

CAMERA (hand-held camera) IS ON THE MAN SCREAMING, 
who is hiding behind one of the beach obstacles on 
Omaha Beach.

The sound of machinegun fire slowly fades in.  
Artillery is also fading in, along with mines 
exploding and other war sounds.

We can hardly hear the man now.

THE MAN
Ballard!  I'm going to try and run up the...

THE MAN IS SHOT IN THE FACE.

CAMERA TURNS AROUND FRANTICALLY (in the view of 
BALLARD), then stops on a bunker up the beach, from 
where a machinegun is firing.  A gun appears below 
the camera with a hand on the barrel (like a person 
is aiming at something).  The gun fires, making the 
camera jolt.  THE CAMERA LOOKS BACK AT THE BUNKER.  
The machinegun fire has stopped.  The gunner has been 
killed.

This occurred before to BALLARD.  But this time 
there's something added:

CAMERA IS STILL IN HAND HELD POSITION (in the view of 
BALLARD).  The CAMERA runs up the beach.  There are 
bullets coming straight at the CAMERA.  Finally the 
CAMERA reaches a big lump of dirt.  There are a whole 
lot of people gathered there this time.

THE CAMERA TURNS TO THE LEFT.  A very young man 
(about 17) is huddled up.

THE MAN
Hey Ballard!  I'm so happy to see...

He is shot in the chest three times.  His eyes open 
wide, then he falls to the ground.  There are three 
holes in the man's back.  It's very gory.

WAR SOUNDS SLOWLY FADE OUT, while there's a...

VOICE OVER:

LEWIS
They're coming!  They're coming!

CUT BACK TO MACHINEGUN NEST.

CAMERA IS ON BALLARD.  He shakes awake and looks 
around.

LEWIS
D--n it!  They're coming!

He grabs the gun and is about to shoot, but BALLARD 
pushes him out of the way.

BALLARD
We can't shoot yet.  Wait.

He looks to the machinegun nest to his left.  They 
are looking at BALLARD.  BALLARD does some hand signs 
telling to wait until he shoots.  He does the same to 
his right.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO JOHNS and DAWSON, who are crawling 
to BALLARD'S nest from behind.  They reach the nest 
and get in.

DAWSON
You got everything under control Lieutenant Ballard?

BALLARD
Yes I do Sir.

BEAT.

BALLARD
All right everybody be quiet.  They're getting pretty 
close.

CAMERA PANS THE FIELD IN FRONT OF THEM.  There are 
Germans walking towards the nests carefully.  One of 
them looks at a machinegun nest over to the right of 
BALLARD'S.  His eyes get real big then he drops to 
the ground and yells something in German.

ALL THE GERMANS DROP TO THE GROUND.  There is a 
barrage of bullets.

BALLARD
D--n it!

DAWSON
Take out that German setting up the machinegun!  
Quick!

BALLARD points the gun at a German machine gunner 
getting ready to shoot.  He lets out a massive spray 
of bullets at the gunner.  Instantly the gunner is 
shredded to pieces.

BALLARD continues to spray out machinegun fire at the 
oncoming Germans.

Most of the Germans are out in the open, making them 
easy to fire at.  After a little while there are few 
Nazis left.  The ones that are left are almost out of 
ammo.

A GERMAN STANDS UP WITH HIS HANDS UP.  Then another 
one stands up.  And another.  And another.

BALLARD
What do I do?  There's still Krouts shooting.  What 
do we do with those guys?

DAWSON
Wait and see if more of them surrender.  If more 
don't surrender, we'll have to shoot them.


BALLARD
All right.

Suddenly the four Germans are shot from behind.  They 
fall forward.

LEWIS
What the h--l happened?

BALLARD
Their superior officer probably shot them.  The 
officers never like it when their men surrender.

BALLARD keeps on shooting the machinegun.  He runs 
out of ammunition.

BALLARD
I'm out!  Lewis, hook up another box.

LEWIS
Yes sir.

He gets another ammo box and starts to hook it up.

LEWIS
D--n.  Somethin's jammed.

BALLARD
Huh?

HE LOOKS AT THE GUN, trying to figure out what's 
wrong.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO A YOUNG GERMAN SOLDIER LAYING ON 
THE GROUND ABOUT 40 FEET AWAY FROM THE NEST.  He's 
only about 16 years old.  He sees that there is a 
delay.  He gets up and runs straight at BALLARD'S 
nest.  He doesn't shoot yet.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO BALLARD AND LEWIS, who are 
still trying to figure what's wrong with the 
machinegun.

DAWSON
Hey hurry up!  There's a guy running straight at us!

BALLARD
Shoot him!

DAWSON
I'm out of ammo.

HE LOOKS AT JOHNS.

JOHNS
Mine got destroyed during the shelling.

LEWIS
So did mine.

THEY ALL LOOK OVER.  The German is getting close.  
Too close.

BALLARD
F--k!

The German starts to shoot at the men.  They all 
duck.

BALLARD looks over at a gun, just outside the nest.  
It so close.  But it's in front of the nest, and out 
of arm's reach.  BALLARD looks at the other men in 
the nest.  Then he gets up and jumps out of the nest.  
Everyone is screaming:  Ballard!  What are doing!

The German shoots at BALLARD. BALLARD reaches for the 
gun, but it's to late.  The German had already 
reached BALLARD.  He has his gun directly in 
BALLARD'S face.  BALLARD just stares at the gun, then 
at the Nazi.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO LEWIS, DAWSON, AND JOHNS.

JOHNS
S--t!  Get the gun working now!

LEWIS nervously tries to get the gun working.  He 
can't get it working.

LEWIS
Why doesn't someone else shoot him!

DAWSON
'Cause they'll hit Ballard too.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO BALLARD AND THE GERMAN.  They 
are in the same position.

CAMERA TURNS TO SLOW MOTION.

SUDDENLY BALLARD drops to the ground and spins around 
with his leg out, knocking the German off his feet.  
While he's doing this he gets his knife out.

Now that the German is on the ground, BALLARD jumps 
up and kicks the gun out of the German's hands.  Then 
he falls onto the German with the knife at his neck

CAMERA GOES BACK TO NORMAL SPEED.

BALLARD HAS THE KNIFE AT THE GERMAN'S NECK.  The 16-
year-old Nazi starts to cry uncontrollably.  He keeps 
saying something over and over again in German.  Then 
he finally starts to say (in very bad English) "I 
surrender."  When he sounds it out.  He keeps saying 
it.

BALLARD HAS A FLASHBACK OF THE 17 YEAR OLD SOLDIER 
BEING KILLED:

CAMERA IS IN HAND HELD POSITION (in the view of 
BALLARD).  The CAMERA runs up the beach.  There are 
bullets coming straight at the CAMERA, then barely 
missing.  Finally the CAMERA reaches a big lump of 
dirt.  There are a whole lot of people gathered there 
this time.

THE CAMERA TURNS TO THE LEFT.  A very young man 
(about 17) is huddled up.

THE MAN
Hey Ballard!  I'm so happy to see...

He is shot in the chest three times.  His eyes open 
wide, then he falls to the ground.  There are three 
holes in the man's back.  It's very gory.

WAR SOUNDS SLOWLY FADE OUT, while there's a...

VOICE OVER:

THE SOUNDS OF CRYING.

CUT BACK TO BALLARD, LYING ON THE GERMAN.

The crying is coming from the German, still.  BALLARD 
still has the knife at his neck.

THE GERMAN RAISES HIS HANDS BEHIND IS HEAD.

BALLARD quickly gets up, grabs the German, picks up 
his gun that he was trying to get before, and runs to 
the machinegun nest.  He throws the German in and 
points his gun at him.  He realizes he is standing, 
so he crouches, still pointed at the German.

BALLARD
Somebody keep an eye on him while work the 
machinegun.

JOHNS takes the gun and looks at the German, then 
back to BALLARD

LEWIS, DAWSON, AND JOHNS STARE AT BALLARD.

BALLARD
(TO LEWIS) Did you get it working yet?

LEWIS
Uh, no.

JOHNS
Where'd you learn to do that?

BALLARD
Boot camp.  Don't you remember?

JOHNS
No.  I don't remember most of that kind of stuff they 
taught us.  Combat is so different from boot camp.  I 
never thought that kind of situation could happen.

THE WHIZ OF A BULLET ZOOMS BY.  Everyone ducks.

DAWSON
Quit the chatter and try to get the machinegun 
working!  We're in a war, remember!

BALLARD AND LEWIS START MESSING WITH THE MACHINEGUN.

DAWSON
How many men do you think they got left?

JOHNS
I don't know.  There's a hill.  They might have more 
behind it, waiting to attack when we don't expect it.  
We've been held up in this nest for a long time.  We 
gotta get moving.  We have deadline.

BALLARD
I think I know what the problem is!

Everyone turns to BALLARD.

BALLARD
There's a bullet stuck in the chamber.

HE TAKES IT OUT AND THROWS IT.

He hooks the ammo box up to the gun.

BALLARD
It's ready.

DAWSON IS LOOKING FORWARD.

DAWSON
I don't think we'll need it though.  Look.

EVERYONE LOOKS.  The German's have white flags up.

DAWSON, BALLARD, AND JOHNS JUMP OUT OF THE NEST.  
They walk to the Germans.

LEWIS STAYS BEHIND WITH THE 16 YEAR OLD GERMAN.  He 
has Dawson's pistol.

CUT BACK TO BALLARD.

BALLARD waves to the other men to come help out.  
They all come out.

THE WHOLE COMPANY STARTS TAKING THE PRISONERS TO THE 
DESIGNATED SPOT (Behind the first hill).

CAMERA GOES TO DIFFERENT PLACES, where the Americans 
are taking the Germans to the spot behind the hill.

CUT TO DAWSON, who is talking on the phone.

DAWSON
(ON THE PHONE) I need about four trucks to take some 
prisoners away.

BEAT.
DAWSON
(ON PHONE) Okay.  Thanks.  Also, bring some guns.  We 
lost some of ours in a shelling.

BEAT.

DAWSON
(ON PHONE) All right.  Over and out.

He hangs up the phone.

BALLARD come over to DAWSON.

BALLARD
We need to get going.  We're way past our schedule.

DAWSON
I know.  We really need to get going.  It's going to 
be dark in a little bit.  And I want to leave before 
nightfall.

BALLARD turns to MYERS, who is walking by.

BALLARD
Hey Myers!

MYERS turns around.

MYERS
Yes sir?

BALLARD
Grab a few men and take a head count.  Report what 
you got to Lieutenant Johns.

MYERS
Yes sir.

HE WALKS OFF SCREAMING: Mack!  Delane!  Jones!  Get 
over here and help me count heads!

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – FRONT – SUNSET

DAWSON and JOHNS are sitting on a fallen tree at the 
beginning of the forest.  They both have their 
helmets in their hands.

JOHNS
I can't believe what this war's done to me.  I was so 
different back at home.  I could've never imagined 
what I'm like now. (HE TURNS TO DAWSON) Do you know 
what I mean by that?

DAWSON
Yes.  I understand perfectly.  I feel like that 
sometimes to.

JOHNS
Now, killing people is a daily thing.  That's not 
right.  People shouldn't have to go through this...

BEAT.



JOHNS
You know what I was before I came here?  I was a 
minister.  A minister.  I would never have even 
thought about cursing...But now, I can't stop myself.  
I do it all the time...I just want to go home to my 
family.

MYERS WALKS UP TO DAWSON AND JOHNS.

MYERS
Captain Dawson, Lieutenant Johns.  I have the body 
count.

DAWSON
Proceed.

MYERS
Three were killed in the last attack.  16 wounded.  
Only a few major wounds.  But they can be fixed.

DAWSON
Three?  You're sure?

MYERS
Yes sir.  Very sure.  I couldn't believe it myself.

DAWSON
How many were killed in the shelling Corporal?

MYERS
Uh...We weren't so lucky during the shelling sir...23 
killed, 27 wounded.

DAWSON
Thank you.  Do you have the names?

MYERS
We do have a record of the names, yes.  But Sergeant 
Delane has that sir.

DAWSON
Okay Corporal.  Is that all?

MYERS
I believe so.

DAWSON
All right you may go, but send back Sergeant Delane.

MYERS
Yes sir.

HE SALUTES AND STARTS TO WALK AWAY.

DAWSON
Wait!  How many of the wounded, do you think will be 
able to fight?

MYERS
Probably about half.

DAWSON
Okay, thank you.

MYERS LEAVES.

A few moments later DELANE comes walking over.

DELANE
You wanted to see me sir?

DAWSON
Uh, yes.  Do you have the list of names for the 
wounded and killed?

DELANE
I have the list for the dead, not for the wounded 
though sir.

DAWSON
Okay, that's fine.

DELANE PULLS A SHEET OF PAPER OUT FROM HIS POCKET AND 
GIVES IT TO DAWSON.

DAWSON
Thank you.  You may go now.

DELANE
Thank you sir.

HE LEAVES.

DAWSON opens the folded piece of paper and starts to 
read some of the names.

DAWSON
We lost some good men...Some real good men...

HE LOOKS AT JOHNS

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – NIGHT

CAMERA IS FOCUSED ON CAPTAIN DAWSON'S FACE.  He's 
looking straight ahead.  It's sleeting.  The little 
pellets of ice hit DAWSON'S helmet, making a noise.

CAMERA PULLS BACK.  DAWSON, BALLARD, and JOHNS are 
walking through the forest.  CAMERA PULLS BACK MORE.  
The company is walking behind them.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON MYERS.  He is right behind DAWSON, 
BALLARD, and JOHNS.  LEWIS is right behind him.

DELANE is next to MYERS.  He whispers to him...

MYERS
Hey Delane.

DELANE LOOKS AT HIM.

DELANE
What?

MYERS
Do you think you'll live through this?

DELANE
Through the end of the war?

MYERS
Yeah.

BEAT.

DELANE
I don't know.  Sometimes I think I won't make it.  
Like when we're in battle sometimes I think I'm in 
for it.  But sometimes I'm sure I'm going to make it.

BEAT.

DELANE
I have mixed ideas I guess.

BALLARD turns around.  He walks back to them.

BALLARD
What about your dreams?  What do you dream of?

DELANE
What do I dream of?

BALLARD
Yeah.  Do you dream of what's going to happen to you 
after the war, or do you dream of what's going to 
happen to you in the war.  I think that what you 
dream about is what will happen to.  What your 
subconscious is telling you what will happen to 
you...So what do you dream about?  Honestly.

BEAT.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO LEWIS.  He is listening to what 
they're saying.


DELANE
Well I don't know...I guess I dream about what's 
going to happen to me after the war.

BALLARD
Like what?

BEAT.


DELANE
I dream about getting married...having kids...

BEAT.

DELANE
Spending time with my family.

BEAT.

BALLARD
What do you dream about Myers?

MYERS
I dream about after the war...About traveling all 
over the world.  Seein' all kinds of stuff.  Gettin' 
my passport filled with all kinds of stamps from 
different countries...We've already been to a lotta 
countries in Europe already.  Don't gotta worry bout 
that.

BEAT.  

CAMERA, AGAIN, SWITCHES TO LEWIS, who is very 
interested in the conversation.

MYERS
Besides, I don't think I wanna come back to this 
hellhole of a country...Ever.  I've seen too many 
things.  Too much blood and gore...I don't think the 
gore will ever stop haunting us...Anywhere we go 
we'll see the dead and dying...the blood...the faces 
of the men we killed...we'll never be the same after 
what we've gone through...it'll consume our minds...

BEAT.

MYERS
This war will be an everlasting nightmare that we 
can't get rid of...there will always be a spot in our 
memory reserved for it...

BEAT.

MYERS
There's one moment that'll always stick out in my 
mind...Back in July, when I first came to the war, my 
company was advancing through a small town and we 
were checking all the cellars and houses and stuff to 
see if anyone was in them.  Well, a young soldier, 
'bout 16 years old, came running out of this door.  
He had his hands up, but at the time, I didn't see 
that...He was so close...and I got so scared that 
without even knowing I did it...I shot him in the 
stomach...I've killed lots of guys...But this was so 
different...this young kid, who hadn't even finished 
high school, was running out to surrender to us...so 
he could go to America...so he could be out of this 
war he was forced to fight in...He came out smiling, 
all happy...he was so excited that he was going to go 
to a new and better country...and I stole his 
life...As soon he got shot his smile faded and he 
dropped to the floor...he looked up at me and said in 
English, "I really wished I could have gone to 
America.  It is great country."  Then he died...That 
really hit me hard...
 
A LONG BEAT.

MYERS
What about you Lieutenant?  What do you dream of?

BEAT.

BALLARD
I don't dream...I don't have enough room in my head 
for dreaming...

BEAT.

BALLARD
But if I did...I don't think I would dream about 
after the war...

MYERS
What do you mean Lieutenant?  Are you saying that you 
don't think you're going to live through the war?

BEAT.

BALLARD
I don't know...It's just that...I can't picture 
myself alive at the end of the war...

BEAT.

BALLARD
And I had this dream...

DELANE
I thought you said you don't dream.

BALLARD
It was the last dream I had...When I was at the 
M.A.S.H. unit...

THE DREAM THAT BALLARD HAD REPLAYS FOR US.  When it's 
done we come back to where we were before we saw the 
dream.

BALLARD
I don't wanna talk about it though.

BEAT.

MYERS
I don't think dreams have to do with anything.  
You'll be fine Lieutenant.

BALLARD
I don't know Myers...I don't know.

CUT TO:

EXT. BIG OPEN FIELD – SIEGFRIED LINE – DAY

The company is just stepping foot onto the huge 
field.

They walk a few feet before there is AN EXPLOSION.  
One of the men is blown up.  Then another EXPLOSION.  
AND ANOTHER.  

THE COMPANY DROPS.  There's another explosion.

CAMERA FOCUSES ON DAWSON.

DAWSON
We're in another d--n minefield!

BALLARD
Who were the four men?!

Someone screams out:  Greger...Keith...Garge and 
Tammer!

BALLARD
Okay!  Thank you!

HE TURNS TO DAWSON.

BALLARD
Those were your men.

DAWSON
(SADLY) I know.

JOHNS
Get out your bayonets!  Start digging!

EVERYONE GETS OUT THEIR BAYONETS.  THEY START TO DIG, 
looking for mines.

WE WATCH THEM FOR A WHILE.  Almost everyone has found 
a mine.

MYERS
Sh--!  There's too many!  And there's nothing to mark 
them with!  What do we do?!

THERE'S AN EXPLOSION near the beginning of the field.  
Everyone looks back.

A burned, bloody body is lying next to a small ditch, 
where the mine was.

BALLARD
Who was it!?

No one says anything.

BALLARD
Who was it!?

There's an eerie silence.  You can feel that 
something's wrong. 

BALLARD
Come on!  Who was it?!

The man next to the body looks at him.  He's 
disgusted at the site of it.  He screams: I can't 
tell sir!  He's got no head!

BALLARD
Look at his dog tags!
THE MAN TRIES TO BUT CAN'T.  The metal is too hot.  
The name is also melted off.

THE MAN
He hasn't got any!  They musta flown off when his 
head came off!  (TO HIMSELF) Man, this is so 
disgusting.

BALLARD
All right!  We'll find out when we get to the end of 
the minefield.  Keep digging everyone!

THE COMPANY KEEPS DIGGING.

CUT TO:

EXT. END OF FIELD – BEGINNING OF SMALL FOREST – DAY

The last of the men are crawling out of the 
minefield.  When everyone is out, they walk into the 
forest a little bit and stop.

BALLARD
All right, we need to get a head count.  

He turns to the man on his left.

BALLARD
Halls, Breck, Mitchell, Farmer.  You guys take a body 
count.  Write down all the names of everyone here.  
You can get some more people to help you if you want.  
Everybody else rest.

FOUR MEN STAND UP AND WALK TO THE END OF THE COMPANY.

BALLARD TURNS TO DAWSON.

CAMERA FOCUSES ON THEM.

DAWSON
There's supposed to be two or three minefields with a 
huge minefield at the end before we get to the 
Dragons Teeth.  Do you think this is the last one?

BALLARD
Well, this is about the third one I've been through.  
And it is definitely the biggest.  So, this could 
quite possibly be the last minefield.  

DAWSON
I think you're right.  Where's Johns at?

BALLARD
I don't know.

DAWSON
Lieutenant Johns!

CAMERA FOCUSES ON JOHNS, who is in the middle of the 
group talking to a wounded man.

HE LOOKS OVER.

JOHNS
Yes sir?

DAWSON
I need to talk to you for a minute.

JOHNS
All right.  I'll be over in a minute.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO A PRIVATE WALKING TO BALLARD AND 
DAWSON.  When he reaches them, he holds out his hand.  
There's something in it.

THE PRIVATE
Captain Dawson, I found these lying on the ground in 
the minefield.  I think they belong to the man that 
was blown up.

DAWSON and BALLARD LOOK AT EACH OTHER.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO JOHNS.  He stands up, saying to 
the wounded man: I'll talk to you later. 

HE WALKS OVER TO DAWSON AND BALLARD.  The private 
that was talking to them is walking back to where he 
was sitting.

When JOHNS gets there, BALLARD is looking at some dog 
tags.  JOHNS SITS DOWN.

DAWSON
You know those eleven explosions that we heard in the 
minefield?

JOHNS
Yeah.

DAWSON
Well, we already knew ten of the men killed.  And we 
didn't know who one of them was because his dog tags 
flew off.  Right?

JOHNS
Right.

DAWSON
Well, we're thinking that these are the unknown man's 
dog tags... And it's someone from your platoon.

JOHNS looks at BALLARD, then at DAWSON.

JOHNS
Who is it?

BALLARD hands the dog tags he was looking at to 
JOHNS.

JOHNS looks at them.  His face is filled with grief.  
He's not going to cry though.  He can't cry at his 
rank.

JOHNS
(SADLY) Collins...He was a great medic...And a great 
guy.

BEAT.

DAWSON
I'm sorry Lieutenant Johns.

BEAT.

DAWSON
That's not the only thing I want to talk to you 
about...We are pretty close to the Dragon's Teeth.  
We need to tell the men about what we're going 
against.

JOHNS
All right.  I'll do it.

DAWSON
Okay.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO MYERS, MACK, AND GREEN (FROM 
DAWSON'S COMPANY).

The three are talking.

MYERS
Hey, who was the guy that didn't have the dog tags?  
Did anyone ever find out?

GREEN
I didn't hear anything about it yet.

MACK
Yeah, neither did I.

MYERS
I wonder who it was.

We hear LIEUTENANT JOHNS:  Can I have everyone's 
attention?!

MYERS, MACK, AND GREEN LOOK TO THE FRONT AT JOHNS.

JOHNS
Pretty soon we will be reaching what is called the 
Dragon's Teeth.

THERE ARE GROANS ALL OVER.

JOHNS
Yeah, yeah.  I know.  You've probably heard about 
them from some veterans at the M.A.S.H. unit or 
something.  But you probably don't really know what 
it's like.  Veterans have a tendency to lie.

THERE ARE LAUGHS AROUND THE GROUP.

JOHNS
The Dragon's Teeth is a series of machinegun bunkers, 
minefields and many other pretty bad things.  I 
wouldn't know all of them.  I haven't been there.  So 
it's going to be new for all of us.

A MAN SCREAMS OUT: Why is it called the Dragon's 
Teeth?!

JOHNS
I was just getting to that.  It's called the Dragon's 
Teeth because there are cement "teeth like" objects 
sticking up from underneath the ground making it 
impossible for tanks and other vehicles to pass 
through.  In-between these Dragon's Teeth are many 
different kinds of mines.  Be prepared.  There could 
be three, maybe four rows of machinegun bunkers.  
There could possibly even be a fifth row.

MORE GROANS.

JOHNS
The reconnaissance planes also saw some big artillery 
guns.  They're not sure, but the guns could be up to 
120-millimeter guns.  So we're going to have to move 
fast, so the artillery won't get a good shot at 
us...That's about all we know so far.  We're going to 
be the first trying to break through, so we'll be 
making history...Does anybody have any questions?

THERE IS SILENCE.

JOHNS
Okay.  I guess we can get going now then.  Get ready 
to move out.  	The ammunition supplier is coming 
around.  Just tell him how much ya need.  Don't take 
too much though.  Leave room for everyone else.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO MYERS, MACK, AND GREEN.

They all turn to each other.

MYERS
Where's Collins?  I need to get my arm wrapped.  I 
got a little burned.

HE LOOKS AROUND.

MACK
I haven't seen him around.

MYERS
I'll go to Captain Dawson and Lieutenant Johns and 
ask them where he is.

HE WALKS TO BALLARD, JOHNS, AND DAWSON.
MYERS
(TO JOHNS) Lieutenant, do you know where Collins is?  
I need to get my arm wrapped.

The three officers look at each other.  JOHNS clears 
his throat.

JOHNS
Uh, Corporal Collins isn't with us any more.

MYERS
Huh?  What do you mean...

JOHNS
You know the soldier killed in the minefield that we 
didn't know who it was because he didn't have his dog 
tags (HE HANDS THE TAGS TO MYERS)?

MYERS reads the tags and suddenly has the look of 
grief on his face.

MYERS
Oh man.  Collins.

He starts to get TEARS IN HIS EYES.

MYERS
Why'd it have to be him?

JOHNS
I know.  It's terrible.  That's what happens in war 
though.  You know that.

MYERS
Yeah, I know.  But it hits you hard when it's someone 
your close to.

BEAT.

MYERS
I'm going to tell the other guys.

JOHNS
Okay.

MYERS WALKS BACK TO MACK AND GREEN.  He sits down.

MACK
What's wrong John?

MYERS
Corporal Collins was the unknown soldier killed in 
the minefield.

MACK
Are you sure?

MYERS
Yeah.

MACK
Man...

COPORAL COLLINS WALKS BY.  He stops and looks at the 
depressed men.  He sits down.


COLLINS
Hey guys.  What's wrong?

THEY ALL LOOK AT EACH OTHER, THEN AT COLLINS.

MYERS
Do you see him too Mack?

MACK
Yeah...

COLLINS
What?

THEY ALL HUG COLLINS.

COLLINS pushes them off and scoots back quickly.

COLLINS
Hey get off me.  You scaring me.  Don't do that 
again.

MYERS
We thought you died...

COLLINS
What!?

MYERS
Johns and the other officers said that you were the 
unknown guy that died in the minefield.

COLLINS
Well I better straighten this out.

HE STANDS AND WALKS AWAY.

MYERS, MACK, AND GREEN all look at each other.

CAMERA SWITCEHS TO DAWSON.  He is coming back from 
the communications soldier.

DAWSON
(TO BALLARD AND JOHNS) Lieutenants.  I have some bad 
news...Your platoon commander, Captain Daniels, was 
killed by some infiltrators at the M.A.S.H. unit, 
along with some other officers in the hospital.

BALLARD
What?

JOHNS
No...No...

DAWSON
I'm sorry.

BALLARD starts to cry.

BALLARD
(TO HIMSELF) Why?

DAWSON
It was apparently happening right when you were all 
there.  They said it happened after a big power 
shortage.

BEAT.

DAWSON
I really am sorry.

BEAT.

BALLARD
I'm going to kill those stupid sons of a b---h 
Germans.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – NEAR DRAGON'S TEETH – DAY

The company is walking through the forest.  They are 
all spread out so if they have to hide, they won't be 
all bunched up.

CAMERA IS AT BACK OF COMPANY.  IT GLIDES UP TO THE 
FRONT TO DAWSON.

He, BALLARD, JOHNS, and DELANE are all walking 
together close together.

THERE IS A FAR OFF VOICE.  THE VOICE IS SPEAKING 
GERMAN.

DAWSON HOLDS UP HIS FIST (HALT SIGN) THEN WAVES DOWN 
(GET DOWN SIGNAL).  Everyone gets to the ground, and 
hides behind a tree, in a bush, etc.

CAMERA IS FOCUSED ON SOME TREES.  Shadows walk by the 
trees.  Then there are bodies.  Nazi's.  They're 
walking forward.  Straight at the company.  There's 
only about 10 people.  It's a patrol squad.

THEY'RE GETTING VERY CLOSE TO THE COMPANY.  One of 
the Americans cocks their gun.  THE LEAD GERMAN TURNS 
HIS HEAD IN THE DIRECTION OF THE SOUND.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO DAWSON.  He looks back and shakes 
his head.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO THE GERMAN.  He's still 
looking around.  He stands there for a while then 
walks off.

HE SAYS "Let's go, there's no one here," in German 
and waves his hand for the other men to follow him.  
They keep walking until we can't see or hear them at 
all.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO CAPTAIN DAWSON.  He sticks his 
head up and looks around.  Then, after he's sure that 
there's no else around, he turns to JOHNS to talk.

DAWSON
(WHISPERING) Hey, where do you think they came from?  
They couldn't be that far from here.  It was only ten 
men.

JOHNS
Should we send up a squad to check it out before we 
go?

DAWSON
That's what I was thinking.

DAWSON
(TO JOHNS) Who should we send up?  Who are the best 
men in your platoon?

JOHNS
Ballard, Lewis, Myers, Delane, Mack, Jones...Those 
are the best.  What about your group?

DAWSON
We'll definitely send up the sniper, Owens.  He's got 
a great memory.  He's with your platoon.  We can also 
send up, from my company, Cole, Logan, and Green.

JOHNS
That's ten.  Is there anyone else?

DAWSON
I think that'll be fine.

JOHNS CRAWLS BACK, TO GET THE MEN HE NEEDS.  CAMERA 
STAYS ON DAWSON.  He turns to Ballard.

DAWSON
Ballard.  You're going to lead a squad...

BALLARD
(CUTS HIM OFF) I know.  I heard the whole thing.

DAWSON
Oh, okay...Be careful Lieutenant.  I will sir.

IN A FEW MOMENTS JOHNS COMES UP WITH THE NEWLY FORMED 
SQUAD.

BALLARD
(TO SQUAD) Okay, let's go guys.

They stand up and start walking cautiously.

CAMERA FOCUSES ON DELANE.

DELANE
(TO MACK, who is beside him) Hey Mack.  Why is it 
that we always have to go on these kind of missions?  
No one else has to do them.  It's always us.

MYERS TURNS AROUND.

MYERS
(whispering) Hey!  Be quiet!  You're here to do what 
your commanding officer tells you to do.  And if you 
don't, you're gonna get killed.  So stop complaining.

DELANE SNEERS AT MYERS, BUT DOES WHAT HE TELLS HIM TO 
DO, because he knows it's true.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO BALLARD.  He is walking 
cautiously.  Being careful not to step on something 
that would give away his position.

They keep walking for a little while.  

Suddenly BALLARD sees something and HOLDS UP THE HALT 
SIGNAL.  Then he waves for the squad to get down.  
They all get down, including BALLARD.

BALLARD TURNS AROUND.

BALLARD
(WHISPER) Owens!  Get up here!

OWENS CRAWLS UP TO BALLARD'S POSITION.

OWENS
(WHISPER) Yes sir?

BALLARD
(WHISPER) Survey the area with your scope.

OWENS looks through his scope.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE VIEW OF THE SCOPE.

It moves left a little, then right.  It suddenly 
STOPS on something in the distance.  It is a 
machinegun nest with three Germans.  

Then it moves to the right a little more.  There's 
another three-man machinegun nest.

THE CAMERA THEN MOVES EVEN MORE RIGHT.  There's 
another three-man machinegun nest.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO OWENS.  He's looking in his 
scope.  He takes his eye off and looks at BALLARD.  

OWENS
I can see three machinegun nests from here.

BALLARD
Three?

OWENS
Yep.  There might be more than that though.

BALLARD
D--n it!

DELANE
We have to take out those machineguns before we can 
move on.

BALLARD
Owens, what's behind the machinegun nests?  They're 
at the edge of the forest aren't they?  What's behind 
the forest?

OWENS LOOKS THROUGH THE SCOPE.

Now we see what OWENS sees:

Cement pyramids sticking out of the ground.

CAMERA SWITCHES BACK TO FOCUSED ON OWENS.

OWENS
The Dragon's Teeth is just outside the forest.


BALLARD
Sh--!

BEAT.

BALLARD
We need to form a plan to get past these guys.

BEAT.  BALLARD is thinking.

BALLARD
All right.  I got it.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO A GERMAN MACHINEGUN NEST.  There 
are three Germans in it.  They are looking out to the 
forest.

There is a grenade suddenly flying through the air at 
a tree next to the machinegun nest.  It lands and 
explodes.  The tree trunk is burned severely.  It is 
almost broken.

THE GERMANS IN THE NEST ALL SCREAM something in 
German and turn their guns around, looking for 
someone.

Five more grenades fly at the tree and explode.  The 
burst is humongous.  The TREE FALLS right across the 
nest, killing the Germans.

THE TWO OTHER NESTS ARE SHOOTING THEIR GUNS, not at 
anything.  They're just hoping they'll hit someone.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO ANOTHER MACHINEGUN NEST.

There is a movement of bushes on the right side of 
the nest.  Immediately the gunner turns to the 
movement shooting.
CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE VIEW OF OWENS SCOPE.

OWENS is focused on the gunner's head.  Once the aim 
is steady...

CAMERA SWITCHES TO FOCUSED ON THE GUNNER.  There's a 
quiet shot and suddenly the gunner is dead on the 
ground, with a bloody head.

While the two other Germans are trying to take 
control of the gun, there are sub-machinegun shots 
heard and they are also suddenly lying on the ground, 
dead.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE LAST NEST.

It's shooting in the direction of the sub-machinegun 
fire.  But he doesn't hit any of them.  They have 
already moved.

THERE'S A SHOT FROM THE RIGHT OF THE NEST.  THE 
GUNNER TURNS TO THE SOUND.

As soon as he is turned.  He is shot in the back by 
machinegun fire.  He drops to the ground.  The two 
remaining men try to take control of the gun but the 
ten man American squad has already jumped out of 
their hiding spots and are ready to shoot the Germans 
before they can shoot them.  Two men, GREEN and 
LOGAN, are at the second machinegun nest with the 
machinegun pointed straight at the two Germans.

THE GERMANS LOOK AROUND.  They are trapped.  They 
RAISE THEIR HANDS.

CAMERA IS FOCUSED ON BALLARD.  He suddenly gets anger 
in his eyes.

WE SEE CAPTAIN DANIELS LYING IN THE M.A.S.H. UNIT 
(BALLARD'S THOUGHT).  

CUT BACK TO FOREST.

BALLARD shoots the surrendered Germans.

DELANE
Hey!  What do you think you're doing?  You just 
killed innocent men!  That's murder!  You can't do 
that!  It's against the rules!

BALLARD
Listen to yourself.  Rules?  What rules?  Those f--
king German's killed innocent men everywhere.  They 
broke into that M.A.S.H. Unit we were in and killed 
wounded officers, including Captain Dawson, that 
weren't doing anything...Rules?  They don't play by 
the rules in war.  Why should we?

MACK
Captain Daniels (SADLY)?

EVERYONE IS THEN SILENT.

BALLARD
Let's go.

DELANE DOESN'T MOVE.

BALLARD
I said move!  And that's an order!

DELANE WALKS PAST HIM RUDLY.

Everyone else also walks.

CUT TO:

EXT. FOREST – DAWSON'S COMPANY – DAY

The squad comes back with the prisoners.

DAWSON
What happened?

BALLARD
We just took out three machinegun nests so you could 
advance through the forest.

DAWSON
Very good.

BEAT.

DAWSON
Let's advance.

CUT TO:

EXT. DRAGON'S TEETH – DAY

The company is hiding.  They are at the edge of the 
forest.

CAMERA FOCUSES ON DAWSON.  He turns to the company.

DAWSON
Ready...go!

THEY ALL CHARGE FORWARD.  A machinegun bunker is 
nearby.  It starts firing right away.

A FEW MEN ARE MOWED DOWN.  THE OTHERS KEEP CHARGING.

The soldiers get closer to the bunker.  The closer 
they get, the more men are mowed down.

A few men reach the bunker and go behind.  BALLARD is 
one of them.  He kicks the door open and throws a 
grenade in.

IT EXPLODES.

BALLARD
Keep moving!  Don't let the artillery pick us out!

THERE'S A BUNKER BEHIND THE FIRST BUNKER.  But it's 
so far away.  And there's one after that one, and 
another after that, but they are very, very distant.

The closest one is firing at them.

Mines in-between the Dragon's Teeth are exploding.  
Machinegun fire is extremely deadly and close.  
Artillery is firing at the men...it's utter 
chaos...it's worse than any of us could have ever 
imagined...it's hell.

THE MEN CONTINUE TO RUN TO THE BUNKER.  Men are mowed 
down and blown up (by mines).

BALLARD is in the front.

They finally reach the bunker and go behind it.   Man 
kicks open the door and BALLARD and LEWIS both throw 
in grenades.  THEY EXPLODE.

BALLARD
Keep going!  GO! GO!

He is still in the front.  DAWSON is in the middle.  
JOHNS is near the back.

The next bunker is spraying out multitudes of 
bullets.  Some men drop back and retreat.  Then most 
of them do.  There are only a few left running.  Only 
a few brave men that are willing to risk their lives 
to save many lives.

LEWIS and BALLARD continue running.

They reach the bunker finally.  They kick the door 
open and throw grenades in.  When the grenades 
EXPLODE, they take off running.

THE LAST BUNKER IS THE DEADLIEST.  The only two left 
running are BALLARD and LEWIS.

There is a huge space in-between the bunkers.  It's 
amazing that they can even stay alive.  There's so 
much hot metal pumping out from that small machinegun 
pillbox.  

CAMERA TURNS TO SLOW MOTION.

BALLARD and LEWIS are running directly at the bunker.  
Bullets are kicking up around their feet.  There's 
not as many Dragon's Teeth any more.  There's just 
enough so that tanks can't get through.  And maybe a 
large jeep.

SUDDENLY BALLARD RECIEVES A SHOT TO THE CHEST.  LEWIS 
IS SHOT IN THE ARM.

BALLARD falls to the ground, but gets back up and 
runs, shooting.  His helmet is knocked off.

BALLARD is screaming while he runs, shooting his sub-
machine gun.  He doesn't stop running.

He's shot again.  He keeps running.

He's shot again and again.  (CAMERA SLOWS DOWN) This 
time he falls.  He doesn't get back up (CAMERA SPEEDS 
UP).

LEWIS LOOKS BACK. He sees BALLARD on the ground.

LEWIS
No!

He looks at the bunker with hate.  He charges at it 
at full speed, screaming, shooting.

He gets closer and is shot in the leg.  He stumbles, 
but keeps going, weaving all over the place to 
distract the gunner and to confuse him so he won't 
know where to fire.  He's running with a terrible 
limp.  It slows him down a lot.

HE'S SO CLOSE NOW.  It's a wonder he's not dead.

He goes to the behind of the bunker.  He's about to 
kick the door open, but it opens before he can.  A 
gun sticks out and shoots it around outside.  Then a 
potato masher is thrown out.  LEWIS takes cover.  IT 
EXPLODES.

Four Germans come running out.  LEWIS shoots the 
first one, but runs out of ammo.  He looks at the 
Germans.  They are pointing their guns at him.

A sub-machinegun suddenly mows them down.  As they 
fall, we see who shot them...it's BALLARD.  He's 
standing, but in an awkward manner.

He's staring at LEWIS.  He stares at him for a while.  
He has a blank expression on his face.  THEN HE DROPS 
TO HIS KNEES.  He's still staring at LEWIS with that 
sad, blank gaze.  It's like he's staring off into 
space, not knowing where he is.

LEWIS runs as fast as he can to BALLARD and gets to 
the ground next to him.

BALLARD continues to look forward even though LEWIS 
is next to him.

 LONG BEAT.  The silence wraps all around us.  We 
hear nothing...nothing but an eerie, mystifying wind.

Then words break the all-consuming silence.

BALLARD
Mark?

LEWIS
Yeah buddy what is it (LEWIS IS ALMOST CRYING)?

BALLARD
This is how I wanted it to be...I wanted to die 
honorably in battle...I wanted to be a hero...

LEWIS
No, no.  You're not going to die Andy (HE IS CRYING 
NOW).

BALLARD
Why'd I always have to be the hero Mark?  Why? (BEAT) 
If I wouldn't have been one the whole time...I 
wouldn't be dying here in some foreign country...This 
is what I really wanted though...This is what I 
thought was supposed to happen to me...I thought this 
was my destiny...why did I think that Mark?

BEAT.

BALLARD
I don't think I want to be a hero any more (he starts 
crying and falls into LEWIS' arms).

BALLARD
I don't wanna be a hero (sobbing).  I don't wanna be 
a hero.

LEWIS
All the men look up to you.  Without you we wouldn't 
have gotten this far.  You're bringing the war closer 
to an end.  You are a hero whether you like it or 
not.  You should be proud of that.

BALLARD
I wanna go home (sobbing).  I wanna go home Mark.  I 
wanna go home!  I don't wanna die!  I don't wanna die 
now!

LEWIS
Andy (SOBBING).  Without you in this war, most of the 
men in our company wouldn't have the strength, 
determination, and drive to continue.  You inspired 
this whole company and you will inspire many more in 
the years to come...You gave them hope...you were the 
one thing that could help them not lose all faith in 
living...You pushed them to the limit of what they 
thought they could do, then you pushed past their 
limit.

BEAT.


BALLARD
If there were one thing that I wish I accomplished, 
it would be that I made a difference.  Did I do that?  
Did I (HE'S STILL SOBBING)?

This is the voice of the man we heard at the 
beginning.  It's very easy to recognize.

LEWIS
Of course you did.  Not only did you make a 
difference in these men's lives, but you made a 
difference in the world.

LEWIS is struggling to choke back tears.

BALLARD
Good.

BEAT.  BALLARD HAS STOPPED CRYING. He is looking up 
at the sky.  Clouds are spitting out snowflakes.

HE STARES AT THE SKY FOR A WHILE.

BALLARD
It's snowing Mark.  Snow.

BEAT.

BALLARD
I love snow.  It's so beautiful and white.  I loved 
to play in it when I was little...I wish I could play 
in the snow again...I love snow...

BEAT.  BALLARD looks at LEWIS.

BALLARD
You know.  Dying isn't so bad.  It's not. (MUMBLING) 
Not at all.  Not at all.

BALLARD is looking at something in the distance.  
Like he's in a trance.

BALLARD
I guess if this is how I'm going to die I should be 
happy.  I'm dying a hero's death.  This is a good way 
to die isn't it Mark?

LEWIS
You're not going to die (SOBBING).

BALLARD
This is a good way to die isn't Mark?  Isn't it (He's 
starting to get scared)?  This is a good way to die!  
Mark?  Isn't it?

LEWIS
Yes.  It is.  It's a good way to die.

BALLARD
Good (his confidence is restored)...I guess I'm happy 
I'm dying like this now.  It's not so bad. (HE STARTS 
MUMBLING) Not so bad.  Not bad at all.

BEAT.  BALLARD LOOKS AT LEWIS.

BALLARD
I'll miss you though Mark.  I'll miss you a lot.

LEWIS BREAKS OUT IN TEARS.  He can't stop himself.

LEWIS
I'll miss you too.

BALLARD'S head drops back and his eyes close.  He's 
dead.  Snowflakes continue to fall on his face.

LEWIS LEANS BACK ONTO THE GROUND, CRYING 
UNCONTROLLABLY.

LEWIS
No!

HE CONTINUES TO SAY "no" A FEW MORE TIMES.  

Then he stops. He takes off BALLARD'S dog tags.  
He takes a letter from BALLARD'S pocket and puts 
it in his.  He looks at BALLARD'S name patch.  He 
rips it off and puts it in his pocket.

Then he leans his back and lets out a bloodcurdling 
yell.  It echoes over and over again as the camera 
glides up into the sky.

We see snowflakes falling and everything is out of 
site, except for the clouds and snow.  

As we glide up, we see an American flag waving 
proudly in a gentle breeze.

CUT TO:

EXT. WHITE HOUSE – FLAG POLE – DAY

PULL BACK TO REVEAL WHITE HOUSE.

CUT TO:

INT. WHITE HOUSE – PRESENTATION - DAY

LEWIS and a two other men are standing in full dress 
uniform.  LEWIS has been promoted to Sergeant.  

THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES APPROACHES LEWIS.  
He puts a MEDAL OF HONOR around LEWIS' neck.

FRANKILN ROOSEVELT
I hereby award Sergeant Mark Benjamin Lewis the 
Congressional Medal of Honor for his conspicuous 
gallantry and intrepidity under constant enemy fire, 
at risk of life above and beyond...The call of duty.

THERE'S A CHORUS OF APPLAUSE.

CUT TO:

INT. FUNERAL HOME -  - DAY

There's lots of people in the room.  There is a 
little talking going on.  Quiet talking.

CAMERA FOCUSES ON LEWIS.  LEWIS is talking to a woman 
about 30.

THE WOMAN
Thank you Mark, for bringing Andy home.  It was very 
considerate.

LEWIS
Well I didn't want to just leave him there in 
France...He was my best friend.

BEAT.

LEWIS
He was supposed to get a medal of honor you know.  
The whole company sent in letters to General Patton.  
When Patton read the letters, he, himself wrote a 
letter to the president.  But some idiot lost some 
files, or misplaced them or something and Andy's file 
was one of those files.

THE WOMAN
Really?  Well I hope they find them.

A YOUNG GIRL WALKS UP TO THE TWO.  She hugs the 
woman.

THE GIRL
Aunt Karen, I miss him.

THE WOMAN IS BALLARD'S SISTER, KAREN.

KAREN
I know.  So do I (she turns to LEWIS).  This is 
Andy's younger sister, Lisa.

LEWIS
Hello Lisa, I'm Sergeant Lewis.

LISA
Are the man that brought Andy home?

LEWIS
Yes.  I am.

LISA
Thank you.

LEWIS SMILES.

CUT TO JOHNS.  LEWIS IS APPROACHING HIM.  There are 
some of the other men from the company gathered with 
him too (DELANE, MACK, MYERS, COLLINS, JONES, DAWSON, 
and some other people).

JOHNS
Hello Sergeant Lewis...It's nice to see you.

THEY HUG.  LEWIS HUGS THE OTHER MEN, saying things 
like, "Nice to see you," and "Good evening."

LEWIS
It's so good to see you guys.  I haven't seen you all 
since...

HE CHANGES THE SUBJECT.

LEWIS
What have you guys been doing?

Everyone just kind of shrugs and says different 
things (Nothing, I don't know, etc.).

BEAT.

CAMERA ZOOMS ON MYERS.

MYERS
I just can't believe he's gone.

MACK
Yeah, I can't either.  It doesn't seem right not 
having him around.

BEAT.
LEWIS
Hey, you guys.  When we were at the M.A.S.H. unit, 
Captain Daniels said that when this whole thing was 
over, that he was going to have a reunion.  Since he 
died though, I think I want to have one.  So expect a 
call in about 20 years.

EVERYONE CHUCKLES.

BEAT.

LEWIS
Excuse me guys.  I gotta do something.

He starts to walk away.

CUT TO CASKET.  LEWIS APPROACHES IT.

We see BALLARD lying in it.

LEWIS LOOKS AT HIM SADLY.  Tears start to form in his 
eyes.  He tries not to cry, but he can't help 
himself.  Tears start to drop from his eyes.

HE TAKES OFF HIS MEDAL OF HONOR.  He puts it on 
BALLARD.

LEWIS
You deserve this more than I do.  I could never be as 
good as you...You're my hero.

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. GRAVEYARD – BURIAL SITE – DAY

The casket is lying on a foldout table.  The lid is 
open.  Flowers are everywhere.  An American flag is 
slightly folded on the un-open side of the casket.

A PREACHER IS PREACHING.  There is a humongous group 
of people gathered, all sitting in foldout chairs.  
There really are a LOT OF PEOPLE.  100 or maybe more.  
Most of the crowd is military, all in dress uniform.  
LEWIS IS IN FRONT.  KAREN IS NEXT TO HIM, on the 
right, and MARY, his fiancιe, is on the left.  People 
are crying.  KAREN IS CRYING UNCONTROLLABLY.

WE PAN THE CROWD.  There are a lot of familiar faces 
near the front of the crowd: Dawson, Johns, Myers, 
Collins, Mack, Delane, and a lot of the other 4th 
platoon soldiers.

There are SEVEN SOLDIERS in full dress uniform, 
holding guns, standing at attention.  One MAJOR is 
slightly forward then the SEVEN MEN.  They are all 
positioned next to the casket, on the right, facing 
the audience.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO LEWIS.  His eyes are red from 
crying.  He's still bawling his eyes out.

WE HEAR THE PREACHER SAY "Amen".

CAMERA ANGLES ON THE SEVEN SOLDIERS AT THE FRONT AND 
THE MAJOR.

MAJOR RAISES A SWORD.  He barks out commands to the 
seven men.

MAJOR
Ready!

The soldiers lift up their guns and cock them.

MAJOR
Aim!

The men lift their guns up in the air in an elegant 
stature.  They're all at the same angle.

MAJOR
Fire!

The almighty roar of shotgun fire echoes through the 
cold air, almost uniting the seven shots into one.  

The soldiers bring their guns down.

MAJOR
Ready!

They cock their guns once again.

MAJOR
Aim!

Again, they are all at the exact same angle.

MAJOR
Fire!

The same sound we heard before rings in our ears.  
The soldiers reiterate what they did before, like 
robots set on a certain program.

MAJOR
Ready!

Soldiers repeat what they did the other two times.

MAJOR
Aim!

Same angle as the other two times.

MAJOR
Fire!

The last shot bursts through the sky, echoing over 
and over again, like a heart beat...slowly dying down 
as the reverb.

The soldiers bring their weapons down.

MAJOR
At ease!

They go to the at ease position.

CUT BACK TO CASKET.

A soldier closes up the casket and takes the flag 
off.  He and another soldier fold the flag and hand 
it to LISA (BALLARD'S sister).  They slowly start to 
lower the casket down to the ground with ropes.

LEWIS WALKS TO THE FRONT.  He crouches to the ground, 
and sorrowfully looks at the casket being lowered.  
It's an eternity before it hits the ground.  When it 
finally does, he stands and walks away, at last 
putting to death the idea that there could be some 
small chance of Ballard getting up and walking away.  
He now knows, it's finally over.

CUT TO:

EXT. WEDDING – GARDEN – DAY

LEWIS is getting married to Mary Hawthens, like he 
said earlier.  But his smile isn't quite as joyful as 
it should be.  You can still see the pain in his 
eyes.

CUT TO:

EXT. LEWIS' HOUSE – BACKYARD – NIGHT

LEWIS' house is pretty big.  He has a beautiful 
backyard, decorated with all sorts of greenery and 
landscaping.  

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON THE GIGANTIC, WRAP-AROUND PORCH.  
LEWIS IS SITTING IN A CHAIR, looking up at the stars.

CAMERA ZOOMS IN ON LEWIS.

HE IS HAVING FLASHBACKS.  We see his flashbacks as he 
sees them.

The flashbacks are of his combat experiences, the 
highlights of the past...Of BALLARD and the other 
men.  Mostly BALLARD though.  These flashbacks 
continue for some time.

THE FLASHBACKS ARE INTERRUPTED BY THE SLAMMING OF A 
DOOR.

WE CUT BACK TO LEWIS' HOUSE.

MARY, his wife, is walking to LEWIS.  SHE SITS DOWN 
NEXT TO HIM.

MARY
Whatcha thinkin' about honey?

LEWIS
Oh, nothing.


MARY
You sure?  You gotta be thinking about something.  
You've been sitting out here for an hour.  You can't 
be thinking about nothing for that long.

LEWIS
I was just thinking about some things that happened 
in the war...It was so horrible...I can't get the 
images out of my mind.

MARY
Well tell me more about what happened.  The last time 
we talked, you got all the way up to when Andy died.  
Then you stopped.  What happened?

LEWIS
I don't think I want to talk about it now.  I don't 
feel like it.

MARY
I think it'll help for you to talk about it.

BEAT.

LEWIS
It's not, like, really bad or anything.

MARY
Yeah, but I'm curious.

LEWIS
All right, but it's nothing serious or anything...We 
were still just at the beginning of the Dragon's 
Teeth.  We had a lot more to go...

CUT TO:

EXT. DRAGONS'S TEETH – LAST BUNKER – DAY

WE START WHERE WE LEFT OFF BEFORE.  LEWIS is carrying 
BALLARD to the rest of the company.  When the company 
gets close enough to see who LEWIS is carrying, they 
all stop.  They're suddenly very depressed.  Some of 
the men that knew BALLARD pretty good drop to their 
knees and begin to weep.  Everyone else is sad too.  
They all have the same look on their face.  It's like 
there's emptiness in their bodies.

LEWIS is crying a lot.  He still has the limp from 
getting shot.

LEWIS REACHES THE COMPANY, STILL CRYING.

DAWSON
Everyone take a rest (TO THE COMPANY)!

JOHNS is near the front of the men.  He walks forward 
to LEWIS.  He looks at BALLARD painfully.  He gets 
tears in his eyes.

JOHNS
We always said he would get himself killed for all 
those things he did...but I don't think we ever 
thought it would really happen.

BEAT.

JOHNS
He had too much determination and drive to let 
himself get killed.  He never thought about 
dying...until just a little while ago...he had a 
feeling that he was going to die...and even though he 
was scared, he toughed it out...he never gave up...he 
kept going like he always did...sometimes even more 
than usual...

BEAT.

JOHNS
I will never forget him...

BEAT.

JOHNS
What are we going to do with his body?  We don't want 
to just bury him here on some battlefield far away 
from his home.

LEWIS
We should take him home.  So he can have the funeral 
he deserves.

DAWSON
We can put him on a medical truck when they come to 
that away the wounded.

LEWIS
Yeah.

BEAT.

LEWIS
Wait, the truck comes tomorrow doesn't it?

DAWSON
No, not if we call in an emergency one now. (TURNS TO 
A SOLDIER SITTING BEHIND HIM) Find the radioman.  
We're going to make a little call to the closest 
M.A.S.H.

The soldier hurriedly runs to the back of the 
company.

JOHNS
I'm going to go back and talk to Collins about 
getting this little scratch on my arm bandaged up.  
It's been bleeding quite a lot lately.

He walks away.

LEWIS
Yeah, I'm going to go get my leg fixed.

HE LIMPS OFF.

DAWSON
Lewis!  Wait!  Come back!

LEWIS turns and hobbles back to DAWSON.

LEWIS
Yes sir?

DAWSON
Me and lieutenant Johns have been talking and we both 
agree that you should be promoted.  You will be moved 
up to sergeant.

LEWIS is surprised.

LEWIS
Thank you sir.  That means a lot to me.

DAWSON
You deserved it a long time ago.

LEWIS
Thank you again.

DAWSON just nods and smiles.

HE CHANGES THE SUBJECT.

DAWSON
So, while you're riding to the field hospital, keep a 
close eye on Lieutenant Ballard.  He's going to get a 
good funeral remember?

LEWIS SMILES.

DAWSON
Get some rest Lewis.  You've been fighting hard this 
whole time.  You need a break.

The soldier DAWSON ordered to get the radio finally 
arrives.

DAWSON turns and sees him.

CAMERA STAYS ON LEWIS, who is hobbling to JOHNS and 
COLLINS.  We hear DAWSON talking to the soldier:

DAWSON
There you are!  What took you so long?

THE SOLDIER
I'm sorry sir.

CUT TO:

EXT. JOHNS – DAY

JOHNS is sitting next to COLLINS, who is wrapping up 
his arm with some bandage.

LEWIS sits down next to JOHNS.  JOHNS looks up from 
his arm to LEWIS.

JOHNS
Oh, hey Mark.

LEWIS
Hey...I was thinking something...uh...when are we 
going home?

JOHNS suddenly has a happy expression on his face.

JOHNS
Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you.  The veterans from our 
platoon are going home once we finish one last 
objective.

LEWIS
What (disappointed, mad)?!

JOHNS
Why, I thought you would be glad.

LEWIS
We were so close to going home, and Andy had to die 
now.

JOHNS' smile slowly and sadly fades away to oblivion.

JOHNS
I never thought of it that way...(forlornly) I guess 
when you think about it in that perspective...it 
makes things worse.

BEAT.

JOHNS
Well, you're going home anyway.  You got a million 
dollar wound.  You'll be off this continent in a few 
days...back to America.

LEWIS looks at his leg.  It looks rather grotesque.  
There's blood all over his pant leg.  He can hardly 
walk.

LEWIS
D--n!  It's starting to hurt a whole lot more than it 
did before.

BEAT.

LEWIS
What is the last objective?

JOHNS
We have to capture a small town just a few miles away 
that's occupied by a small platoon.  They're waiting 
for supplies and men to come in tomorrow.  We have to 
take the town, occupy it and wait for the supply line 
to come through.

LEWIS
Is there already a supply line going through the 
town?

JOHNS
Yeah, that's why the platoon's there.  We have to cut 
the supply line going to an S.S. company up north on 
the Siegfried Line.

LEWIS
Oh.

BEAT.

LEWIS
How long have you known we were going home?

JOHNS
Just before we attacked.  I didn't want to get the 
boys all excited.  They were fighting fine without 
knowing they were leaving.

LEWIS
I can understand that.

He clenches his teeth tightly together trying 
terribly hard to push back the pain, but it's not 
working.  He grunts and groans.

LEWIS
S--t!  It didn't hurt this much when I got shot.

COLLINS finishes wrapping up JOHNS' arm and looks at 
LEWIS.

COLLINS
Here, let me help you.  I'll wrap it up and give you 
some morphine.

LEWIS
Okay (still clenching his teeth together). 

He lays his back on the ground.

COLLINS comes over and kneels beside him.  He takes 
some morphine packs out of his bag and slaps one of 
them onto LEWIS' leg and holds in there for a little 
while, then takes it off and throws off somewhere.  
He takes the other one and slaps it on, holds it 
there for a little while, then throws it off 
somewhere.

COLLINS waits a little while.

COLLINS
How's it feel?

LEWIS closes his eyes tightly and clenches his teeth 
a little then his face facial expressions settle and 
his muscle relax.

LEWIS
A little better, but the pain's still there doc.

COLLINS is befuddled.  He turns to his bag and pairs 
out some scissors and bandage.  He sets the scissors 
and bandage on the ground.

COLLINS
I'm going to lift up your pant leg so I can wrap the 
wound.

LEWIS NODS.

COLLINS starts to wind up the leg of LEWIS' pants.  
He goes slowly and meticulously, careful that he not 
disturb the wounded area.

The farther up the leg we get, the more blood and 
gore is revealed.  Blood is stuck all over his leg, 
from when the pants were lodged on his legs.  When we 
finally reach the bullet hole, blood is gushing out 
of LEWIS' leg like a river.  It's very nauseating and 
disturbing to look at.

COLLINS turns his face in disgust, than turns back, 
knowing that he has to fix it.

COLLINS
Whew.  What does it feel like?

LEWIS (in agony)
Pretty bad.  I think the bullet's still in there.  It 
shattered my bone.

COLLINS looks at his leg.  He looks underneath, 
CAMERA FOLLOWS.

His under-leg has a hole in it.

COLLINS gasps.

HE COMES BACK UP, CAMERA FOLLOWS.

COLLINS
There's a hole on the other side of your leg.  I 
think the bullet went through.  I don't know if your 
bone's broken or not.  You're gonna have to be sent 
home to get surgery.  Or they might operate on you at 
the field hospital.  I'm not sure.

BEAT.

COLLINS
I better wrap it up.

He takes the bandage roll and starts to unwind it a 
little, then he starts to wrap it around Lewis' leg.

CAMERA GLIDES UP to see MYERS walking by.  He looks 
down at LEWIS and says "Ow" kind of quietly, then 
keeps walking.  CAMERA FOLLOWS.

He walks to DELANE, MACK, and a few other men.  When 
he reaches them he sits down and looks over to the 
direction of LEWIS, then back at the men.

MYERS
Have you guys seen Mark Lewis?  His leg's pretty bad.  
I bet he'll go home pretty soon.

MACK
I wonder when we're going home.  It's seems like 
forever since we got here.

MYERS
When did you get here?  After me, I think.


MACK
Yeah.  Me and Joe Spalasa came here in late June.  I 
fought a little in Italy too, though.

DELANE
Yeah most of us fought in Italy.

MYERS
Spalasa?  I haven't seen him around.  Where's he 
been?

MACK
He got killed on that attack against Fort Driant.

MYERS
Oh.

There is an awkward silence.

CUT TO:

EXT. LAST BUNKER – LATER – DAY

CAMERA ON DAWSON.  He's walking to the center of the 
men.  

DAWSON
Can I have your attention please!

The crowd quiets down.

DAWSON
The medical trucks will not be arriving until 
tomorrow.  There's some kind of traffic jam.  I'm 
sorry.

Groans and complaining stirs up around the gathering.

DAWSON
Quiet!

They immediately silence.

DAWSON
There is other business to address.  Tomorrow we will 
be attacking a small town about 4 miles away.  It is 
been occupied by a short-handed German platoon 
waiting for supplies and men.  We are to take the 
city and push out or destroy the remaining troops.  
The city is also in the track of a supply line going 
to some S.S. troops further up the Siegfried line.  
We have to also halt this supply line so that our 
forces can push through the Siegfried line while the 
S.S. troops aren't prepared.  The supply line comes 
through at 0900 hours tomorrow.  We are leaving at 
0100 hours.  We have at the most, 7 hours to capture 
the town.  It should be relatively easy considering 
the fact that we vastly outnumber the Germans.  Be 
ready to leave at 0100 hours tomorrow morning.  The 
wounded will stay here until the town is safely taken 
and we have completely stopped the German supply 
line.  We will wait for reinforcements there.  Once 
they are in the town and occupy it, some of you will 
be leaving.  I'm sorry for those of you who just 
joined the war, you still have some time to serve.  
That is all.

The men begin chatting again.

CUT TO:

EXT. LAST BUNKER – NEXT DAY – NIGHT

SUPERIMPOSTION:
0100 Hours

G Company is starting their short hike.

CUT TO:

EXT. OUTSIDE OF TOWN

The men are stopped.  They're looking into the town.  
Two guards stand at the entrance.

CAMERA ON DAWSON.

DAWSON turns and waves to some men behind him.

FIVE SOLDIERS run out into the open, where they can 
be seen.  They all drop their guns and put their 
hands up in the air.  They walk towards the Germans.

ONE MAN
We surrender!

The Germans are alarmed and quickly grab their guns.  
They point at the men.

A German screams something to the men in German.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO DAWSON.  HE WAVES BEHIND HIM 
AGAIN.

Ten men run past and hide themselves in the bushes, 
they use trees and bushes for cover as they make 
their way towards the Germans, who are taking the 
Americans prisoner.

When they get close enough, they jump out and quickly 
shoot the Germans.

One of them waves to DAWSON.

CUT TO:

INT. HOUSE – SMALL TOWN – DAY

SUPERIMPOSITION:
1134 Hours

JOHNS and DAWSON are sitting at a dining room table 
eating some kind of dessert.


JOHNS
I am so glad those German supply trucks came.

DAWSON nods.

DAWSON
Yeah.  Those Germans really know how to cook.
 
EXT. ROAD – DAY

CAMERA IS PERCHED ON A MEDICAL TRUCK.  The truck is 
driving towards the town.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO IN FRONT OF TRUCK.  The truck 
drives through the streets and stops in a large 
circle (like a town square, or plaza) where most of G 
Company is gathered.  They are all eating the same 
thing DAWSON and JOHNS were.

Two men hop out of the cabin.  A sergeant and a 
P.F.C.

SERGEANT
I'm here to take the wounded!

He turns and waves to the other drivers.

They bring out stretchers and start loading men up.

SEVEN more trucks arrive.  One of them is a medical 
truck (it has the red cross on it like the first 
truck that came).

CAMERA SWITCHES TO A COMPANY WALKING TOWARDS THE 
TOWN.  They reach the entrance and walk into the town 
square.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO LEWIS.

He's sitting with MYERS, MACK, COLLINS, DELANE, and 
JONES.

JONES GETS UP.

JONES
I'll go tell the captain the trucks and the 
reinforcements are here.

He runs off.

LEWIS
This is it boys.  We're going home.

DELANE
Home...Haven't seen home in a while...I wonder if 
I'll still remember it...I wonder if I'll still 
remember my friends...

LEWIS
Well, you'll find out when you get there.  Let's go.

Two medics come and carry off LEWIS in a stretcher.

The rest of the men load up into the troop trucks.

When everyone is loaded...

CAMERA SWITCHES TO THE BACK OF THE LAST TRUCK.  We 
see Mack, Delane, Collins, Johns, and Dawson sitting 
on the floor with their feet hanging off the back of 
the truck.

The truck drives off.  CAMERA STAYS AT THE SAME SPOT.

CUT TO:

EXT. LEWIS' HOUSE – PORCH – NIGHT

LEWIS and his WIFE are at the same position as we 
left them.

LEWIS
I told you it was no big deal.

MARY
Yeah, but now I know the whole story...Let's go to 
bed.  It's getting late.  And we have to clean the 
house tomorrow morning.

CAMERA STARTS ZOOMING BACK INTO THE SKY.

LEWIS
What for?

MARY
The Johnson's are coming over tomorrow for dinner.  
Don't you remember?

CUT TO:

EXT. LEWIS'S HOUSE – BACKYARD – DAY

There is a party going on –- A reunion.  People are 
milling about talking, eating, having a good time.

SUPERIMPOSITION:
20 years later.
1975

CAMERA ON AND OLDER LEWIS.  He's talking to AN OLDER 
JOHNS.

JOHNS
So what are all these chairs set up for?  Is there a 
presentation or something?

LEWIS
You'll see.

CAMERA SWITCHES TO A CLOSE-ON OF:
Black tires rolling onto the driveway.  It stops.  
The door opens and a foot steps out.  Followed by 
another foot.

CAMERA GLIDES UP TO THE FEET'S BODY.  It's an older 
Captain Dawson.  He's in full dress uniform.  He 
looks proud.

He walks to the party.  He's carrying something.  But 
we can't tell what it is.

CAMERA PANS THE PARTY.  People stop and turn to look 
at Dawson.

CAMERA BACK TO DAWSON.

He walks through the people to a podium in the yard.

DAWSON
Will you all sit down please.

The crowd all finds a seat and quiets down to listen 
to the captain.

DAWSON
As you all have known, this great (sarcastically) 
government of ours has misplaced some of the files of 
military men.  One of those men was 2nd Lieutenant 
Andrew Ballard.  He was cheated out of receiving the 
greatest and most honorable decorations a man can 
receive...The Medal of Honor.  His records were lost 
in a government warehouse, just like many brave 
soldiers.  I have tried my hardest to find those 
items and give back Lieutenant Ballard the decoration 
he should have received 20 years ago.  And I have 
found them.  So with great pride...I award this Medal 
of Honor (he opens a black case with a Medal of 
Honor) to 2nd Lieutenant Ballard for conspicuous 
gallantry and intrepidity at the risk of his life, 
above...and beyond...the call of duty.

The crowd applauses.  They are very excited.  Many 
are crying.  Dawson walks forward to Lisa, who is, of 
course, 20 years older.  She stands.  Dawson puts the 
Medal of Honor around her neck.  She's crying.

LISA
Thank you.

CUT TO:

INT. AIRPORT – BELGIUM – DAY

An old Mark and Mary Lewis are walking out of the 
terminal.

SUPERIMPOSITION:
2000

MARY
Are you sure you want to do this?

LEWIS
Yes.  I'm sure.

They walk away.

CUT TO:

INT./EXT. CAR – DAY

MARK and MARY are riding down an old country road.  
Mary is driving.  MARK is looking out the window, 
searching for something.

MARK
Stop.  This is it.

MARY stops the car and pulls to the side of the road.

MARK gets out slowly.  He looks around.

CAMERA PANS A FIELD.  It looks familiar.  It's the 
field BALLARD died on.  Except now, there are no 
Dragon's Teeth or bunkers.

MARK walks forward into the field.  When he reaches 
the middle, he drops to his knees.  There are tears 
in his eyes.

MARK
This is the place, Mary.  This is the place.  My best 
friend died right here...Right here.

He pats the ground.

MARK
The flowers, Mary.

Mary hands him a bouquet of flowers.  He slowly sets 
them on the ground.  He stares at the spot.

MARK
It's strange how a miserable war can make friendships 
come together so close.  You have no idea how close 
these fellows were to me.  Especially Andy...The only 
thing a man could look forward to was seein' his 
pals.  Just to be with them.  It's what kept you 
going when you're fightin' a long, tough battle.  You 
all want to protect each other.  It was like we were 
brothers...I'll never forget those horrible 
days...but I'll also never remember the feeling I had 
that someone was looking out for me...Someone cared 
for me, and was right by me to save me...Andy was my 
hero...and he still is...

The music that was playing at the beginning starts to 
play again -- The trumpet playing a familiar song.

CAMERA SLOWLY WINDS UP INTO THE SKY.  LEWIS and his 
wife get smaller and smaller until we:

FADE-OUT TO BLACK.

SUPERIMPOSITION:
This movie is dedicated to all those brave soldiers 
who went above and beyond the call of duty to save 
our country and our loved ones.

THE END.

Copyright © 2000 Adam Gates



1

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