U.S. Steel Hour: "P.O.W." (10/27/1953)

[Theme music] [Blasting noise] [Announcer] This is "The United States Steel Hour." [Driving theme music] [Announcer] Only steel can do so many jobs so well. And the United States Steel trademark, USS, [Announcer] stands for quality steel. [Productive theme music] [Announcer] Steel for industry. [theme music, heavy on drums] [Announcer] Steel for transportation. [Theme music heavy on drums] [Announcer] Steel for the farm. [Announcer] Steel for the home. Quality steel. United States Steel. [Theme music] [Sound of door closing] [Footsteps] [MP] Hi, Doc. [Major Mead] Hello. [Theme music] [Excited murmurs] [Marty] Lucky Dover? [Marty] Hey you remember, Lucky Dover? [Soldier] Yeah. [Soldier] How'd you know him? [Marty] They just flew him in from Korea. [Soldier] No kidding. [Excited chatter] [Marty] Do you remember Lucky Dover? [Sitting soldier] Yeah. [Marty, unintelligible excited chatter] [Sound of door being pushed open] [Marty] Hey, Danny, Bonsell. Guess who they just flew in from Korea? Dover. [Danny] Lucky Dover? [Danny] My gosh, what kind of shape is he in. When I saw him last weekend in freedom village, he was, [Marty] Well, Danny, he's walking. [Danny] And after all they threw at him. [Bonsell] Yeah. [Marty] Now there was a brain they couldn't wash. [Marty] Lucky Dover. [Bonsell] Lucky Dover. [Corporal Freddie Benton] I was with him in George company, Major. We were out on patrol together see, when the Chinese captured us. [Major Willis] Take it easy, Corporal. [Freddie] With Lucky in command, we held out for two days, [Willis] You're clearing up fine, Corporal. [Freddiel] You know the only reason they captured us finally is that, [Willis] You know I don't really think you need that anymore, Freddie. [Freddie] Dover, what a guy. [Danny] I was with him for two years Lieutenant, in PW camp number nine. Ah! [Danny] I could tell you there were times I felt like saying, so long kiddies. And, [Danny] With a tin can, chop like a rock, anything. [Lieutenant Harper] As you were, Corporal. [Danny] But then the day Lucky stood up to those Commie slopes and turned their own brains inside out, I said to myself, [Danny] "Danny, you gotta live. You gotta live and see more like this." [Danny mumbling] And then what they did to Lucky. [Harper] Relax. We got him back. All in one piece. [Freddie] Our Father, who art in Heaven. Hallowed be thy name. [Lucky Dover] Wait. [Harper] Yes, Sergeant. [Dover] Let's take a break, huh. We can stop. [Harper] I'll send for a wheelchair. [Voice] Lucky! Lucky Dover! [Dover] No. No, wait. [Dover] Hey, Marty, Marty! What are you trying, [Talking over top] How are you? [Marty] Lucky, baby! [Dover] Are you from ? [All] Yes, I'm from ! [Freddie's voice] Lucky? [Dover] Freddie Benton. [Freddie] Okay, so I'm still infectious, see. How're you feeling, Lucky? You're making it, huh? [Dover] Yeah, sure. [Freddie] Good deal. [Dover] Danny! Danny! How are ya! Alumni Association of PW Camp number nine! [Danny] Hey, Lucky, I hear they got you up for a Silver Star! [Dover] Who me? [Freddie] Yeah, extraordinary heroism in combat. [Marty] I heard it's for the PW camp. [Dover] It's latrine intelligence. Hey look, what's the deal around here. [Freddie] It's ? top song. They let you sleep, sleep all day. And the chow, [Dover] I think, I mean, what do they want from me? [Dover] You know, what are they asking? [Marty] Nothing, they just leave you alone. [Danny] He's ? Lucky. It's a little different from what you just left, huh. [Marty] It's an easy deal. [Harper] All right, all right. Knock it off, now. Nothing else for now. [Freddie] Take it easy, Lucky We'll see you later, huh. [Voice] Take it easy now. [Marty] Lucky, later on I got some new pictures of the kids I want to show you. They're, [Others] Come on, Marty. [Harper] I Know Sergeant, it's rough. [Dover] Yeah, rough. [Harper] SOP is to check you through the assembly line, but if you'd rather rest, [Dover] No, I'm all right. Rest later. [Dover] Carry on, Lieutenant. Carry on. [Foot steps] [Music] [Willis] You're off 25 pounds, ah [Dover] Oh well, cracked corn and millet isn't much of a diet, you know. [Doctor] Okay, put your shirt on. [Willis Narration] Wasting of the muscles, a generalized vitamin deficiency characterized by night blindness. [Willis Narration] Vestiges of Beri Beri and Malaria. [Dover] Hey, Major. [Dover] What about this, this here? [Willis] Oh, yes, it's a hangnail. Fight it off. Okay, nurse. [Harper] Okay, let's go, Sergeant. Let's go, let's go. [Willis] Ward 17? Major Willis. When Sergeant Dover checks in, put him right to bed. Keep him there. [Willis] Yes, we've got a problem, there. Oh, you'll have him in about 20 minutes. He's stopping by on his way at Major Mead's office. [Dover] Head doctor, huh? [Harper] Oh it's routine. Everybody goes through the MDs. Same as getting blood tested in a way, you know. [Dover] Not actually, no. [Sound of knocking on door] [Mead's voice] Be with you in a moment. [Bonsell] I told ya, it ain't up here, it's down here in my guts. I don't go for this head works. [Mead] Take this xray, Bonsell. Let them take a look. [Bonsell] Yes, sir. [Bonsell] Yeah, Sergeant Dover. [Bonsell] Hey, Major. [Bonsell] There's your meat. [Dover] Ironman, Bonsell. [Bonsell] What are ya doing Lucky, bucking for a section eight? Gonna get a psycho discharge? [Bonsell] Don't strain yourself, Lucky. [Mead's voice] Come in, now, please. [Harper] This is Sergeant Dover. [Mead] Hello, Seargeant. [Dover] Hello, Major. [Mead] Sit down. [Mead] Cigarette? [Mead] You know Sergeant Bonsell? [Dover] Mm, hmm. [Mead] Camp number nine, huh. [Dover] Mm, hmm. [Mead] Well, how are things, Sergeant? [Dover] All right. [Mead] They tell me you once nearly made Mao Zedong, himself blow a gasket. [Dover] All right. [Mead] I talked with a lot of other men from camp number nine who say, [Dover] What do they say? [Mead] They came through only because of you. [Dover] The hero routine again, hm. [Dover] Answer me something, Major. [Mead] Yeah. [Dover] What kind of a hero lets himself get captured in the first place. [Mead] Well, Sergeant. [Dover] Now, answer me that Major. [Dover] What kind of a hero gets captured? Did you ever hear what they say, the old guard dies but never surrenders? It does, doesn't it? I'll let you in on a secret, Sergeant. A lot of the old guard died of old age. Yeah, but, Answer me this Sergeant. Your ammunition was all gone. What were you gonna throw at them next, your socks? [Dover] PW camps. [Mead's voice] Yes. Most of the guys are great. There are a few hogs. Know what I mean by that? Hogs? [Mead] Sergeant, I've had a hundred men through here from PW camp. [Mead] No two alike. You see, each man feels the heat or the cold in his own way. [Mead] Some can take a lot. Some can take hardly anything at all. [Dover] I've seen that. [Mead] Well, the army can't just say to a man go ahead and be a traitor. Be a coward. [Mead] And what they do say is be the best man that's in you. And be a soldier. [Mead] Well, that can often be a lot. [Dover] Seen that too. [Dover] Dammit, why don't they do something about that? [Mead] Huh? [Dover] It could be dangerous, get infected. [Mead] Oh, certainly Sergeant. About all that brain washing that went on in the camp. [Dover] Sigh. They were at us day and night [Dover] Over and over again. [Dover] Be honest. Tell the truth. [Mead] The truth? [Dover] Be honest. Admit that America, [Dover] is collapsing, [Dover] and that communism is the only hope of the world. Over and over again, that kind of monkey talk. Two years I had of that. [Mead Narrator] The interview disclosed the usual sense of guilt over having been captured. Also a mark dwelling on trivialities, such as a hangnail. [Mead Narrator] But, comprehension is good and intellect appears, otherwise unimpaired. [Dover's voice] I have 26 months in. [Mead] How did you keep occupied? [Dover] I made things. [Dover] My old man was a carpenter, so I knew how. [Mead] Any sports? [Dover] Yeah, they let us build a basketball court. [Dover] Wanna see? [Dover] That's a referee's whistle. I made that out of a wooden spoon handle they gave me. [Mead] You made it? [Dover] Here,try it. [Tweet, tweet] That's great. [Dover snickers] [Dover] You know the best things of all the gags we used to pull on, [Mead] Gags? [Dover] I remember one time about a half a dozen of us, got a, [Dover] Oh, well, [Dover] You know, it's just, just gags. [Mead] Well, Sergeant. I guess it's time we let you give it a rest. [Dover] Oh, ah, maybe. [Mead] Yes? [Dover] About my girl. Well, Betty Lou. It's my girl. [Mead] You don't care to be with her. [Dover] I don't, I don't think I even know how to be with a girl anymore. [Mead] Everybody worries about that. [Dover] I don't even know what to say. [Mead] You'll be all right. Everybody is after a while. [Dover] Do I have to come back here? [Mead] Come back only if you want to. You know, if you feel like shooting the breeze sometime. [Dover] Alright. Thanks a lot, Major. [Sound of door closing] [Footsteps] [Danny] I'll have to make a rhubarb about that. [Danny] Aw right, raise you two hundred. [Marty] Oh well, as a man that has coming in from the US defense budget 21 months back-pay, I'll raise you two hundred. [Bonsell's voice] Hey, Dover. [Bonsell's voice] Hey Dover! [Marty] Knock it off Ironman, he's asleep. [Bonsell] Yeah. Yeah, sleep, sleep my pretty. [Bonsell] Twice on the switchboard, I heard his folks call him from Michigan. [Marty] So, he'll call them back. The guy's sleeping like a baby. [Freddie] Bonsell, if a guy was drowning, you'd throw him an anchor at his head. [Bonsell] Benton, for a guy who went to aggressive, [Freddie] I never did. [Bonsell] You signed a peace petition for the Communists, didn't you? [Freddie coughing] [Bonsell] Did you or didn't ya? [Freddie] I'm coughing my lungs up. [Bonsell] Did you sign it or didn't you? [Freddie, coughing] They wouldn't give me any other choice. [Bonsell, interrupting] Did you sign?! [Freddie] Well, what do I do. I had to do something. [Marty] Drop dead, Ironman. [Freddie] He's gotta lay off me. He's gotta make me stop feeling like a rat. [Danny] Bonsell, will you lay off! [Bonsell] Okay. I'm a rat. [Freddie] Lucky. Lucky. [Freddie] Lucky, you gotta tell them the truth. [Freddie] Lucky [Blubbering] [Dover] I told ya, I told you everything. What do, what, [Foreboding music] [Mead] Yes Mr. Dover? [Mead] Well, just don't rush him. As the saying goes, ? his story, just come back from the corner drugstore. [Harper] The boys say he's ready to talk. [Mead] Oh hang on a moment, Mr. Dover. I'll transfer your call. [Mead] Operator, switch this into Ward 17. Sergeant Dover, please. [Phone ringing] [Music] Hello? Johnny, Johnny! [Dover] Hello, Dad. [Father's voice] Hi, are you all right, son? [Dover] Uh, [clears throat] sure. [Dover] Couldn't be better. You know great. [Father] Well, son I, [Father] Everybody's waiting to say hello. Mother, your brother, Ralph, and, I'm gonna turn you over to Mother. [Mother] Johnny? [Dover] Hi, Mom. [Mother] Oh, Johnny. Three years since I've heard your voice. [Mother] Talk Johnny, just talk. Well, how are you, Mom? [Mother] More, Johnny. Say more. Oh, Mother. [Mother] Johnny, we're taking the first train. Betty Lou is coming too. [Dover] Betty Lou! Well, what's the rush? [Mother's voice] Well, Johnny. [Dover] No, I mean rushing dad here like that with his heart and, and that long trip, Mom, ah. [Mother] Johnny. Don't you want us to come? [Dover's voice] No, all the expense and [Mother] But, Johnny. [Dover] Look, Mama. I tell you what. They're gonna give me a leave here in a couple of days, and I'll come home. [Dover] And, ah, you'll see so much of me, you'll be sick of me. [Mother] Sure I believe that. [Mother] Well, if you'll say a word to Betty Lou? No, no, Mom. [Mother] But, Johnny, [Dover] Look, somebody's here with medicine. [Sound of phone hanging up] [Loudly] Dammit. [Softly] Dammit. [Music] [Sound of door closing] [Mead] A thirty day home leave for Sergeant Dover? [Harper] From all this, he's okay for it physically. [Mead] Oh, well I suppose they all have to face it sooner or later. [Mead] Approved. [Laughter] [Mayor Blake] You ah, maybe remember folks at the last time I had occasion to enter this house. [Ralph Dover] Sure, Mayor Blake. [Ralph] When my kid brother here, booted a football right through your city hall window. [Laughter] [Father] Ralph, why don't you run out and get us something all to drink. [Ralph] Sure. [Chair scraping back] [Mayor] Well the ah, circumstances are a little different tonight, hey young man. [Dover] They are. [Mayor's voice] And ah, fact is, much as I have tried to keep my feelings in control on this subject. [Mayor] I will have to rise and salute to this young man, of whom we are all so proud. [Mother's voice] Oh, yes! [Father's voice] Very proud. [Mayor's voice] That we are Johnny. For everything you've done, and been. [Mayor] And as much as you may be opposed to public demonstrations and, [Mayor] expressions of sentiment. As all true heroes are. [Mayor's voice] I hope you won't take it amiss when I inform you that the Legion is planning a reception for you this Friday at the City Hall. [Mother] Oh, it can't be! [Mayor's voice] Yes, sir. [Mother] Oh! [Mayor] Homage to a hero. And we hope to express our sentiments with something more concrete than words. As, ah, for instance, there has already been acquired a '54 convertible. [Mother's voice] A car! Oh! And also, bearing in mind the not so distant future, a modest six room house. Against the day when you and Mary Lou [sic] here. [Betty Lou] Oh, ah, Mayor Blake, please, [Mayor's voice] Or ah, am I rushing the wedding bells prematurely. [Mayor's voice] Oh, am I, Johnny? [Sound of hands slamming on table, murmuring] I'm sorry, Mom. [Coughs] [Dover mumbles] [Mother] Johnny, darling. You're overtired. Over excited. [Dover] Don't! [Betty Lou] Excuse me. [Betty Lou] Johnny. [Betty Lou] Johnny, I, I know when we began talking about weddings bells, [Dover] No, no, Betty Lou, It's not that. It's not that. [Betty Lou] Johnny, Johnny, it, it, [Betty Lou] It, it's much better if you're honest about it now. [Betty Lou] After, after all those places you've been the last few years. And, [Dover, interrupting] Betty Lou. [Betty Lou] all the things you've done. [Betty Lou] I don't blame you in the least bit for not being interested in me anymore. [Dover] Betty, please. [Betty Lou] What am I? I'm, [Betty Lou] I'm, I'm just a small town, sugar cookie. Sixty words a minute on a typewriter. Girls at Saturday night dances. [Betty Lou] And you, [Dover] I'll marry you. [Betty Lou] Well, over, over there, probably, you, you met some, [Dover laughs] [Dover laughing] I met some moose, I fell head over heels in love with. [Betty Lou] Moose? [Dover] That's army lingo for girl. A Korea girl is a moose. [Dover] And, the only moose is you. [Betty Lou] Oh, oh Johnny! I love you! [Betty Lou] I love you and I need you so much! [Dover] Betty Lou. [Betty Lou] Ever since you were away, I, I died over and over and over again. [Dover] Betty, Betty Lou. [Betty Lou] You know what I said. You know what I said. I said that if you didn't come back, I'd never marry. Not anybody. [Dover] Only me. [Betty Lou] Only you. [Betty Lou] We, we will marry? [Betty Lou] Honey what is it? [Betty Lou] You're so, you're so sad, and, ? [Betty Lou] Oh Johnny, Johnny, tell me the truth. [Dover, shrieks] The truth, the truth. Oh! [Dramatic music] [Voices, whispering] Tell the truth! Tell the truth! [Dover mumbling] [Voices whispering] Liar, liar, liar! [Dover screams] [Sounds of lamp falling over] [Voices] [Banging on door] [Voices] [Sounds of hysteria] [Father] Johnny! What is it? [Dover, whimpering] [Father's voice] Night blindness, they said it would only last a couple of weeks. [Mother] We thought you wanted to be alone. [Dover] No! No. [Dover] Never again. Never alone. [Mayor] Johnny. [Dover] I'm sorry, Mayor. Blake, there's not going to be any, [Betty Lou] Johnny, Johnny! [Betty Lou] Johnny! [Sound of door slamming] [Dramatic music] [Theme music] [Announcer] And now speaking for, United States Steel, here is George Hicks. [George Hicks] My job on this new television program will be much the same as it's been on US Steel's radio show for the past eight years. To tell you the story of United States Steel. To give you an idea of what we look like, who we are and what we do. Here is what we look like. [Hicks] We look like the mines of the Lake Superior region. For here is our greatest domestic source of iron ore. [Hicks] We look like the docks and ships of the lakes and seas. For here is how most raw materials are brought to our furnaces. [Hicks] We have the look of cranes and ore bridges. [Hicks] Stockpiles of iron ore, limestone and coal. Blast furnaces and open hearths. [Hicks] We are rivers of molten iron. At temperatures of 2800 degrees. [Hicks] We are a maze of machinery. Gigantic, precise and fast. That is what we look like. And this is who we are, at United States Steel. The miners who dig the raw materials from the earth. [Hicks] The men who sail the ships, which bring the ore from mine to mills. [Hicks] The men who feed the furnaces which refine that ore and make it into iron. [Hicks] And we are the men who guide the cranes and nourish the molten metal on its way to finished steel. [Hicks] We are the men who roll red-hot steel into beams for bridges and buildings. [Hicks] And we are women too. [Hicks] Working in offices. And in the mills. Here inspecting tin plate on a modern electrolytic tinning line. [Hicks] We are metallurgists, chemists and engineers. [Hicks] Constantly in search of ways to make new and better steels for today and tomorrow. [Hicks] And we are more than a quarter million stockholders. Who's invested savings by the machinery, [Hicks] build the mills to make America's record-breaking steel production possible. This then is what we look like, who we are and part of what we do. And the steel we make becomes, [Hicks] The train you ride. The plane you fly. [Hicks] The ship you sail on. [Hicks] You farm with a steel tractor. Drive a steel car. [Hicks] Steel is the strength of your bridges and buildings. Types of steel carry our nation's fuel. [Hicks] Springs of steel keep the nation's time. [Hicks] You cook with steel. Live with it. Work with it. Spend hours of play with it. Always and at all times. In peace. And for defense. A steady supply of steel, helps keep America strong. For only steel can do so many jobs so well. That too is part of the story of steel. Part of the story of the industrial family that serves the nation, [Hicks] United States Steel. [Theme music] [Dramatic music] This man's feeling of hopelessness that he'll ever be able to make anybody else understand just what he went through. His own struggles. [Sound of knocking on door, under dialogue] His own breaking point. Come in. [Sound of door opening] [Mead] Well, hello Sergeant. [Dover] Hi, Doc. I mean Major. [Mead] Doc's all right. [Dover] Doc, my head's all right. I, ah, [Dover] I just thought I'd come in and shoot the breeze like you said. [Dover] That, my trip home showed me negative, ah. [Dover] They're all, they're all fine to me, but, First time I was alone. I just went to pieces. I was yelling for Mama. [Mead] Well, lots of soldiers yell for their mothers. Even heroes. What was that you said about being alone? Well, as a matter of fact. I never did care for that very much. Being alone. I guess I'm what you might call a team man. [Dover] You know like in basketball there's always four other guys with me. Football. Eight. [Dover] And, I always liked that. That always felt good to me. [Mead] The PW camp? [Dover] Sure, sure. [Dover] Dozens of guys on that team. Hundreds. [Dover] Always some of them dying. TB, dysentery, starvation. We had a, We had a cemetery up on the hill. Whenever the monkey talkers told us to thank that great leader with, we had a song we used to sing. [Singing] Hey you, all, [Singing] Don't be no fool. You wanna thank Mao Zedong. [POW's singing] For sending you to school. You wanna thank Mao Zedong. [POW's singing] For all the things you've done. [POW's singing] Hey you all, you know my will. [POW's singing] I wanna thank Mao Zedong. [Dover singing] For all the boys on the hill. The hill, hmm. Yeah, the place you wanted to stay off, see. To get home again alive. You know wanting that could do terrible things to a guy. Like, Freddie Benton, for instance. You know, the kid with TB. Wears the mask all the time. Freddie was dying by inches there on the floor of the mud hut. [Freddie coughing] [Freddie] You guys do something. Something. Help me. [Enemy soldier] Sign the peace petition, comrade. [Freddie, wheezing] My lungs are breaking into pieces. For God's sakes, please! [Enemy soldier] Very quick results I'm told. Remarkable recovery. [Freddie coughing] [Dover] That's the deal. [Dover] Pills for petition. Thanks, Mao Zedong. [Dover coughs] [Dover] I was lucky. [Dover] The name suited. That was all. [Mead] To go back to the other thing, about being alone. [Dover] I said, that was all! [Dover] I'm sorry, Doc. You, you just wouldn't understand, that's all. [Mead] Wouldn't I I? [Mead] I got word today, that a classmate of mine died at PW camp number five. [Dover] The officers camp, huh. [Mead] At the PW camp he came down with amoebic dysentery. [Mead] Almost went out of his mind with it. [Dover] Doctor? [Mead] He knew what to prescribe for himself. About 50 cents worth of medicine. [Dover] And? [Mead] They said he'd have to go on the radio first. [Mead] Testify that our fliers had dropped germs. The man of science. [Dover] Oh, yes. [Slapping sound] [Mead] He said no. [Mead] Major Howard. What misery he died of. What misery and, he'll, [Mead] You see I do understand, Lucky. I do. [Dover] Doctor. [Mead] I keep thinking, suppose I had to go through the same thing. [Dover] You don't know the Doc, just like your friend. [Mead] How do I know. How does anyone know? [Dover's voice] What the guys used to ask themselves. What the guys used to say. Will I make it? When the chips are down, will I make it. And pretty soon, the day has come. An awful day. And they make it. Find something. God theres something. [Dover] Then pretty soon the time has come again. And they say. How much more have I got left. [Dover] How much more? [Dover] Will I make it again. [Dover] And again and again. [Dover] That's what they worry about. [Dover] I tell ya, Doc, you would of made it. [Sound of door opening and closing] [Dinging sound] [Freddie] Lucky. [Dover] Hi, Freddie, how's it going? [Freddie] Charades only. I'm still sticking with this. I wouldn't want to infect anybody, would I? [Dover] That's right. [Dover] Take it easy. [Freddie] Lucky. [Freddie] You don't hate me. [Dover] Hate you? I owe you the best five minutes of my life. [Sound of patting cheek] [Mead's voice] Hello, Corporal. [Freddie] Major? [Mead] Yes? [Freddie] Why can't we all be like him? [Mead] Because God made no two of us alike. [Mead] All He expects of us is we do the best with what we have. [Freddie] Yeah, but He gave Lucky such a lot. [Freddie] Back at ? in the PW camp. [Mead] Yes, Corporal. [Mead] Lucky says they never bothered him. He says all he had to do was stick with his carpentering. [Freddie] Is that what he said? [Freddie] Catch him posing for statues. And, I bet ya he never mentioned the time that, [Mead] Yes, Corporal. [Mead] Go on. [Mead] You want to help Dover, go on. [Freddie] Well, there was, it was one day that even Lucky couldn't get out of the monkey talk. [Freddie] He was marched along with the rest of us to an old Japanese temple where they used to hold the lectures. [Freddie] We'd say to ourselves. Here it comes. Same old poison. Over and over and we had to swallow it. [Chang] Hello [Everyone] Hello. [Chang] Some of you I hear, are not as happy as you might be. Having this opportunity. Learning the truth. [Chang] Some of you, [Dover] Thank you, Comrade, Mao Zedong. [Chang] What? [Dover] Thank you for sending us to school. [Everyone talking at once] [Soldier] I wouldn't miss it. Yes. Admirable enthusiasm. Now, this morning we're gonna discuss the decay of American capitalism. [Soldier] That figures. [Chang] On the one hand, we can observe the increasing signs of economic depression. [Chang] Growing unemployment. Sharpening destitution among the working classes. [Chang] Of which you are members. [Dover] Are you so right. I mean the way, we've done only 20 million cars in America. He will kindly refrain. [Dover] For a hundred and fifty million people. That's some sweet. [Laughter] [Soldiers/Chang talking over each other] [Chang] Now as for the moral degeneration of the United States. [Chang] As exhibited, in the most hideous form, by a campaign of germ warfare. [Chang] By dropping murderous organisms on a peace-loving peoples of China and Korea. [Chang] What! You refuse to accept the truth. A picture it is said, speaks louder than a thousand words. Here, then. [Chang] Photos taken in our field immediately after the American flyers pass over. [Chang] Pass them around. [Chang] See for yourself. [Chang's voice] Irrefutable proof. [Chang's voice] Bugs, Typhoid bugs. [Chang's voice] Cholera bugs. Small Pox bugs. [Dover] Jitter bugs. [Chang's voice] What? [Dover] Jitter bugs. They're the worst of all. [Snickers] [Clapping, singing, everyone talking at once] [Dover] Come on, tell the truth. Tell us about your? [Dover] When will you admit, you tortured and beat your own people. [Dover] You talking to me about [Sound of rifle butt hitting Dover] [Dramatic music] That was Lucky. They trussed him up and threw him into the hole. Solitary confinement. [Freddie's voice] It was just a big hole in the ground that used to be for storing vegetables in the winter. [Freddie's voice] A grave for the living. [Freddie's voice] Kept Lucky there for days. [Freddie's voice] We'd stand there at night just listening for some sound. [Bonsell] Hey one of the guys is moanin. [Freddie] What are you trying to prove? [Bonsell] Maybe he's moaning? [Freddie] All right? Then somebody's got to do something about it. [Bonsell] Yeah, what? [Freddie] We've gotta roll him a cigarette. [Marty] I've got a long butt here. [Freddie] Good. [Fitch's voice] Half a one over here. [Freddie] Any thin paper? [Walter Fitch] Yeah. [Freddie] Here, Fitch. Roll it up into one good smoke. [Freddie] I'm taking it out for Lucky. [Fitch] Hey Freddie, that Chinese guy, [Freddie] Now look Walter. I've been studying that guy. [Freddie] He goofs off every once in a while to romance down the other end with a Chinese nurse. [Fitch] It's the, it's a hole for you. It's curtains maybe. [Fitch] How much does a man have to do for somebody else? [Fitch] Doesn't a man have any rights for himself? Well, answer me that somebody. [Freddie] Walter, I gotta do somethin'. [Freddie] Lucky? [Dover] You're crazy. [Freddie] It was such a beautiful night, I decided to take a walk. [Dover] Why? [Freddie] Smoke it. [Dover] Freddie! [Freddie] Smoke, I'm telling your smoke. [Fitch] Oh guys! Get back! [Dover] Will you go on back, please! [Freddie] What's the matter? Isn't my cigarette good enough for ya? [Enemy soldier] Enough! [Freddie yells] [Enemy soldier] Go to sleep. Fun's over. [Fitch] ? did he have to go out there? Did he have to? Freddie? [Mead] Why didn't you ever tell me about that? [Freddie] Why? [Freddie] Because the other thing was so much on my mind. [Freddie] Oh, I once signed their phony peace petition. [Mead] But don't you think you wiped that out. Put it one against the other? [Freddie] You, you think so? [Freddie] I guess I wouldn't have infected even a baby. [Snapping of the cigarette lighter] [Mead] But Lucky did moan, out there in the hole? [Freddie] Yeah. [Freddie] Only don't ever let Ironman know. [Freddie] All the time Lucky was away, Bonsell took charge. [Freddie] By the time Lucky and I come back from the hole, Bonsell had a plan for a bug-out. Escape. [Freddie] Guys we're all steamed up. [Freddie] You see, the camp was on a peninsula, surrounded by water. [Bonsell] We sneak down to the boat liner, we jump the guards first. [Dover] You're still 10,000 miles from home. [Fitch] We don't get out of this place, we'll never live to get home. [Bonsell] Yeah, meathead. [Bonsell] The hole, it kind of softened you up, didn't it? Maybe you're figuring on going progressive? Huh? Make it with Stalin? Stand up for Mo? [Sic] [Dover] Hey! [Bonsell] I'm only asking you, Seargeant. [Dover] All I want to know is tomorrow enough time? [Freddie] Turned out awful. [Freddie] Just awful. [Freddie] The Chinese noticed us huddling around Bonsell. [Freddie] They got wind of something. They called Ironman in. [Chang] What are you planning? [Chang] Mutiny? Sabotage? [Chang] Confess! [Chang] If you will confess, we will not punish you. [Bonsell] My serial number's R820746231. [Chang] Who was with you on this plan? [Bonsell] I'm a First Sergeant. [Slapping noise] [Chang] Confess! [Bonsell] Geneva Convention Charlie, I don't tell you one more thing. [Chang] Confess! [Bonsell] My serial number's R8207 ugh, [Chang] Confess! [Freddie] Ironman is right. I'll say that for Bonsell. [Freddie] Next they went to work on Lucky again. Back to the hole for him. [Mead] Again? [Freddie] So we wouldn't have a leader, see. [Freddie] Some of the guys decided to try it, anyhow. [Freddie] Awful. [Freddie] Chinese knew our plans every step of the way. [Freddie] They caught us cold. [Freddie] Somebody must have told them. [Freddie] Shot Walter Fitch in the spine. They were ready to give the rest of us a work over. [Mead] Yeah? [Freddie] Next day the truce negotiations started. [Freddie] A miserable day. [Freddie] Doc? [Mead] Yes? [Freddie] Can we call it a day? [Mead] Sure, of course. [Sound of door closing] Operator, get me ward 17, extension 51. Sergeant Dover, please. Sergeant. [Dover] Is that an order, Major? [Danny] How many? [Dover, speaking over card players] All right, if you're that hard up for conversation. [Marty] Major Mead, Lucky? [Dover] Yeah. [Marty] What's up? [Dover] I don't know. [Bonsell] Section eight. [Bonsell] Anybody that needs it. [Dover] You know someday I'm gonna knock your teeth right down your throat. [Bonsell] Anytime, Charlie. [Bonsell] Lay it on. [Dinging sound] [Dover] Walter! Walter Fitch! [Fitch] Lucky Dover. [Dover] So you made it after all, huh? [Fitch] Made it? [Fitch] You, ah, [Fitch] You think so? [Dover] Oh, I, [Fitch] You! You! [Dover] Now, wait a minute. [Sounds of furniture falling] [Dover] Let me explain something to you! [Dover] Wait a minute! Wait a minute! I said, wait a minute! [Fitch] Why? [Dover] I can tell you why. I can tell you why. [Dover] Will you listen to me! [Dover] Please! [Dover yelps] [Fitch] Say it! Go on and say it, I'm crippled! Well, I'm not that crippled! [Danny] Hey! What's the matter? [Furniture crashing] [Danny] Walter, Walter! What's going on here? [Fitch] I'll kill him! I'll kill him! [Mead] Break it up! Break it up! [Fitch] I'll kill him! [Mead] Lucky! Lucky. [Mead] What is it? [Dover] Fitch. [Mead] Yes, I saw. [Dover] We, we escaped. [Mead] A crippled man, Lucky. Hysterical and overwrought. [Dover] It's my fault. [Dover] I did it. It was me. It was me. [Dramatic music] [Theme music] We have some new friends we want you to meet. They're Mary Kay and Johnny. Let's look in on them. [Mary] I can't see it. I just can't see it. [Johnny's voice] You can't see what in the newspaper? What are you talking about? [Mary] Oh? The ad? And it's your ad by the way. [Johnny] My ad? [Mary] Mm, hmm. [Johnny] What do you mean, my ad? [Mary] Well, you're the one who's the salesman for U.S. Steel. I think it assumes a great deal. [Johnny] For instance? [Mary] You see there. It says, "Only steel can do so many jobs so well." [Johnny] That's what it says and that happens to be a fact that I can prove. [Mary] Well now, I know that U. S. Steel makes the steel that goes into bridges and, [Mary] army tanks and, and big dams, like it shows right here, and in automobile parts, but, [Mary] I can't see that your steel is doing any job for us right here, in this room. [Johnny] You want to bet. Well, I can name a lot of jobs that steel is doing for us. Name one. Name just one. All right. It's holding you up. You're sitting on steel. No, I'm not. This sofa is covered with fabric and the, the framing's out of wood. [Johnny's voice] And the springs are made of steel. [Gasp] Of course. Okay [Mary] Now steel isn't doing anything for me now. [Johnny] Sure it is. You're standing on steel. [Mary] I'm what? [Johnny] Those are steel supports in the soles of your shoes. [Mary sighs] [Johnny] How about this wristwatch of yours. You know that's made of USS stainless steel. [Mary] Gee, I'm sorry I ever brought the subject up. [Mary] All right there isn't any steel in , um, in this carpet? [Johnny] You ever hear of carpet tacks? [Mary] Listen, smarty, there is no steel in my dress. [Johnny] There's a snap fastener. [Mary] Oh, fiddle sticks. [Johnny] And that's not all. [Mary] Never mind. [Johnny's voice] The cotton was harvested with steel equipment. [Mary] Oh, really. [Johnny's voice] The dress was made on steel machines. All right. All right, all right. You win! Will you take back what you said about our ad? [Mary's voice] Yes, sir. [Johnny] And you admit that only steel can do so many jobs so well. Yes, sir. [Johnny's voice] Good. [Mary] Don't go away. [Johnny] Hmph. [Mary] You know, Johnny, there are an awful lot of other things that steel can do for us. [Johnny] Sure, there are thousands of them. [Mary] Yeah. [Mary] Remember those pictures that you promised to hang in the hall for me? [Johnny] Pictures? Oh, yeah, I remember. Well I'll get to them one of these days. [Mary] You'll get to it right now. [Mary] Picture wire. Picture hook, and a hammer. [Mary] All made of steel. [Mary] Remember dear, just as you said, "Only steel can do so many jobs so well." [Comic music] [Theme music] [Pensive music] [Door opens and shuts] [Mead] You wait here. [Mead] Sergeant Dover? [Mead] Lucky? [Dover] Yes, Major. [Mead] I've waited three days for you to come to my office. [Dover] I don't have to talk to you. There's nothing where the book says I have to. [Mead] No. No, you don't. [Dover] Doc, I, [Mead] I can't honestly imagine what you're ashamed of. [Mead] Anybody who did what you did, has a right to a moment of weakness. [Mead] When a man's put that much money in the bank. He's entitled to draw on it. [Dover] Not on his buddies. [Mead] How did they break you finally? Another dose of solitary? [Dover] Who told you that? [Mead] There were a couple of things you said about being alone. [Dover] Yeah, I'm a team man. Alone in the hole, [Mead] You came through solitary all right the first time. [Dover mumbling] Not again, not again, not again. [Dinging sound] [Bonsell] Hey, Fitch. [Fitch] Hello. [Bonsell] Look, Fitch. Don't you think you're being a little hard on the kid, I mean, ah, [Bonsell] I don't like the guy, we don't get along, [Fitch, talking over top] I was the greatest Lindy Hopper in Sioux City. [Fitch] I won cups. [Bonsell] Yeah, but, [Bonsell] Rough stuff ain't gonna get your legs back. [Fitch] It'll get me satisfaction, see. [Fitch] Satisfaction. [Willis' Voice] Bonsell. [Bonsell] Yes, sir. [Willis] About these x-rays. Come in here. [Dover] The commies got wind of the escape plan. [Dover] Drag me in again. [Dover] I said go ahead beat me, torture me. Anything. I begged him as a favor. [Mead] And? [Dover] Instead they threw me back in the hole. [Dover] Then suddenly, I wasn't me anymore, [Mead] And so you talked [Dover] Pouring on. Slobbering, drooling. [Dover] I don't even know what I said, I just told them everything. [Mead] How do you know? [Dover] Because the next day they took me to the hospital, and, gave me food and clothes and tobacco and rice wine. [Mead] Yes. [Dover] But, Bonsell, [Dover] he's gonna show you the scars down his back, like railroad tracks. [Mead] Lucky. [Dover] Look, what more do you need? Bonsell stood up and I fell flat on my face. [Mead] Just that once. [Dover] Well, how many times does a man get? [Mead] I'll tell you the way it is. We've been lucky, we Americans. Stuff like that never happened to us. [Mead] Secret police, labor camps, torture, confessions. Europe and Asia, they've known about it a long time. [Mead] But between us, Lucky, in that kind of communist degradation, we've had a couple of oceans. Also a Bill of Rights. [Mead] But in Korea, in Korea some of us found out, the awful secret. That Americans too, have a breaking point. That Americans too can be hammered down. [Mead] But we also found out that a man can make himself come back and fight again. Like Freddie Benton. [Dover] Freddie Benton, that's not me. [Mead] Well, Lucky, did you ever hear of Cardinal Mindszenty of Hungary. [Dover] Who hasn't. [Mead] A prince of the church. [Mead] Faith like a rock. [Mead] When the Communists came for him he got out a message. In the end he said, "In the end, they may break me down, [Mead] "In the end, they may make me sign one of their confessions." [Mead] You think you're better than Cardinal Mindszenty? [Mead] Lucky in my work, I've met very few absolute heroes. Also, very few absolute cowards. The most any of us can do, is be the best man that's in him and after that try to live with himself. [Mead] Could you see a visitor? [Music] [Betty Lou] Johnny. [Dover] How do I tell her Doc, how do I tell my girl? [Betty Lou] I think I can understand. [Betty Lou] Some things. [Mead] I asked her to come. [Betty Lou] Johnny, don't send me away. [Betty Lou] I don't want to be your judge. [Betty Lou] I just want to be your moose. [Dover sobbing] [Betty Lou] Oh Johnny, Johnny! [Dover mumbles] I can't live with it. [Betty Lou] Just forget it. Forget it. [Dover] How? [Footsteps] [Door opens and shuts] [Bonsell] This ain't my idea. [Mead] All right. I'm just, [Bonsell] The gut doctor sent me. [Mead] Perforated ulcer of the colon. Unfavorable prognosis. [Bonsell] Yeah. [Bonsell] I said look doctor, if it's my belly, what do you send me the head man for? Is it? What for, where's the connection? [Bonsell] They throw some big word at me. [Mead] Psychosomatic. [Bonsell] Yeah, so I said, look, [Mead] Sit down, Bonsell. [Mead] I've seen your service record, Bonsell, it's marvelous. [Bonsell] Alright. [Mead] Why do you think you have these ulcers? [Bonsell] PW chow. [Bonsell] Corn going down me like gravel. I had two years of that. [Mead] Terrible stretch in a PW camp. Some men go off their head. [Bonsell] Not me. [Bonsell] Alright, why do you think I got it? [Mead] It's because you didn't break down, Bonsell. At least, [Bonsell] At least, what? [Mead] At least not where the eye could see. You had too much pride. [Bonsell] What do you mean, at least where the eye could see? You want to take a look at my back, down my legs? [Bonsell] I took everything they gave me. [Mead] I believe that, Bonsell. But you had to give way somewhere. Inside, if not out. [Bonsell] Aw, knock it off. [Mead] What a pain you've been carrying around in there. For how long? Two years? These can be read like a book. Look, I told you it was the Chow. I could take everything else they gave me. [Bonsell's voice] They never got it. [Mead] Bonsell, the only man I've ever met that never broke down inside or outside were crazy men. [Mead] Men with no instinct for survival. [Bonsell] I'm not crazy. [Mead's voice] That's just what I mean, Bonsell. These tell the story of a very brave man. But sane. [Mead] I'm warning you, for your own good, Bonsell, right now, you've gotta let it come out. You better talk. It's not gonna let you alone. It's talk now, or break. [Mead] Now what happened in camp number nine? [Bonsell] Now, look. [Mead] Yes. [Bonsell] You're my doctor too. [Mead] Yes. [Bonsell] I mean you're my doctor as much as his. [Mead] Just as much. [Bonsell] Now, look a doctor, a doctor's like, like a minister or a preacher something , ain't he? [Bonsell] I mean what he hears. What he knows? That's the same as sacred ain't it? [Mead] I'll give you my word [Bonsell] If I ever do talk to you, Doc, remember that. Remember what you said. [Dover's voice] This is Marty, Betty Lou. [Betty Lou] Hi. [Dover] Danny over there. Freddie Benton, Betty Lou. [Betty Lou] Freddie. [Dover's voice] Feel like some candy? [Several voices] No. No. No. [Murmuring] [Dover's voice] Walter. [Freddie's voice] Walter, this is Lucky's girl. [Fitch] Wedding bells? [Betty Lou] Mm, hmm. [Fitch's voice] Walking down the aisle? [Fitch] You came through fine, Sergeant. [Dover] Let me explain something to you. [Fitch] You watch yourself with my legs. [Betty Lou] Oh! [Startled murmurs] [Dover] Fitch! [Fitch] Better stand out of the way, Miss. Need one or two, doesn't make any difference. I'm gonna kill him. [Bonsell] Then, get the right guy. [Fitch] What? [Bonsell] Targets right here, Corporal. [Fitch] No, they hammered you to the last day. [Bonsell] Yeah, yeah, they hammered at me. [Dover] They gave me food and clothes. [Bonsell] Sure I told them to fix it that way. [Dover] You told them? [Bonsell] Yeah, you never talked, Dover. [Bonsell] I did. It was me, Fitch. The pain inside me here was like a rat, chewing me apart, day after day. I had to stop it. [Bonsell] I had to. I went over to 'em. I, I crawled. I talked. [Fitch] Not Dover? [Fitch] You told 'em? [Bonsell] Yeah, only, I said, [Bonsell] Cover me up. [Bonsell] Make it look good. [Fitch] You gave away everything. [Fitch] Including my legs. [Dover] Well, now, wait a minute, Walter. [Fitch] Sergeant, clear the way. [Dover] Wait a minute, whatever he did, I could ? to right now. [Fitch] Lucky! [Dover] I was him for so long. I know. [Fitch] All I know is my legs, my legs! [Dover] Alright. What would you give to have them back? [Fitch] Have them back?! [Dover] Anything? [Fitch] I, [Dover] Would ya? Everything? [Dover] Well, what if the Chinese came to you and said all right, Fitch. Here's your legs back again on a simple plan. [Dover] All we want from you is, [Dover] Dover's life. Or his. [Dover] Or everybody in the wards. [Fitch] I, [Dover] You'd think about it wouldn't you. [Fitch] I, [Dover] For a second any way. You'd think about it? You couldn't help it, Walter. [Fitch] Mike. [Fitch] What a thing for them to have done to you. [Fitch] What an awful thing. [Narrator] The most any of us can do is to be the best man, that's in him. [Mead Narrating] And after that, to try to live with himself. [Mead] These are the kind of experiences that captured, American GIs underwent as the result of their treatment in the communist prison camps. [Mead] It might have happened to any average group of normal American boys. [Mead] The boys you know. [Mead] Remember, it is the nature of the enemy. [Mead] It is the intention of the enemy. To make this happen. [Closing dramatic, music] [Announcer] Two weeks from now, "The United States Steel Hour," will bring you Faye Emerson and Robert Preston, [Announcer] starring in, "Hope For A Harvest." A story of love and life in California. And next week on, "The TV Hour," see "Outlaws Reckoning," an exciting, authentic story of early life in the Old West, with Eddie Albert and Jane Wyatt in the starring roles. [Marching music] [Theme music] [Drum roll] [Closing theme music] [Announcer] Remember, only steel can do so many jobs so well. [Announcer] Your guide to quality steel, is this trademark, USS. [Announcer] The best possible steel at the lowest possible price. [Announcer] The proud achievement of United States Steel. [Dramatic music] [Announcer] This is ABC television network.