Season 1: Episode 15: Soldiers
From Bravo 3/44th
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Contents |
Overview
- Directed by
- Bill L. Norton
- Written by
- Rick Husky
- Guest Stars
- Robert Fuller ... Jack Percell
- Robert Ito ... Joe
- Robyn Bernard ... Jessie Garrett
- Olivia d'Abo ... Leslie
- David Alan Grier ... Harold
- Michael Carmine ... Rudy Morales
- Also Starring
- Rhonda Bates ... Leonarda
- Glenn Cannon ... Doctor
- Jo Pruden ... 1st Nurse
- Joyce Maltby ... 2nd Nurse
- Brian Schwary ... Waiter
- Joe Moore ... News Correspondent
- David Traylor ... Orderly
- Tony Curry ... Bellman
- Tom Lupo (as T.K. Lupo) ... Boyfriend
- Lia Romaine (as Lia Michelle Romaine) ... Girlfriend
- Khristian Lupo ... Boyfriend (uncredited)
- Original Air Date
- 18 February 1988
- Title Card
- More than 134,000 military personnel were severely wounded or disabled during the Vietnam War.
Episode Summary
This is a story about three men who go to Hawaii to deal with several issues. We see the mending of a dysfunctional family; patriotism; war protest; and the suffering in a hospital ward of the injured war victims.
I first thought this was going to be about the need for Rest and Relaxation (R & R) for the fighting men of Vietnam. But Tour of Duty used this means to express the issues facing our country during these tumultous times in the history of the United States.
The three grunts did a great job of expressing the general views of most of the men in Vietnam. They listened to the angry hurting of a victim of war and faced the harsh reality of death. The thing they feared most was staring them in the face but Purcell had the courage to disarm fear and still had the strong shoulder to comfort the hurting. Our heroes show us that life is a journey that we simply have to complete. (By Ernest Johnson)
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Transcript (see transcript listing)
Excerpt from [30:01] Wading Water
PERCELL: I need to know somethin', Marcus.
TAYLOR: I need to know somethin' too, Danny. I need to know what God's master plan for me is. Am I gonna be a movie star, or rock 'n' roll idol, or is my grandmother gonna be mad when I decide to leave Motown and move to Hollywood in a long pink cadillac?
RUIZ: Hey, Joe.
JOE: Yeah.
PERCELL: I need to know how you could play it so cool when that girl was hasslin' you?
TAYLOR: You know how many times I've been called "nigger?"
RUIZ: Man, I wanted to punch her lights out, but once you hear "spic" and "greaseball" enough, "baby killer" only raises your temperature a little bit.
PERCELL: You know what else I wanna know? I wanna know what all this stuff is I'm hearing about peace marches and protests while we're laying our lives on the line.
RUIZ: Like that guy at the hotel throwing peace in our face? Who the hell does he think he is?
JOE: Well, maybe the guy, he just wants peace. Most people take peace over war.
TAYLOR: Hold it, hold it. You're Japanese, Joe, right?
JOE: Yeah.
TAYLOR: I mean, we're over there greasing Orientals. How's that make you feel about us?
JOE: Interesting question. I'm Japanese, but I lived in L.A. till the Second World War broke out.
RUIZ: You moved then?
JOE: Oh, my family was moved to an internment camp. You know, surrounded by barbed wire. My brother and me, we later served with the Four Four Deuce Regimental Combat Team in Italy and France, yeah. Yeah, my brother, he was killed by a grenade just six days before he was supposed to ship back.
RUIZ: Your brother dies fighting for America while your family's in a prison camp?
JOE: Ah, when you reach my age, boys, you learn there are no clear answers about war. We're Japanese-Americans. Nisei, huh? We served proudly.
PERCELL: I'm proud too, Joe. Damn proud. I hate killing, but I love this country, so I'm gonna fight to preserve what all the wars before this one were fought for. But it bothers me, what that girl said about us.
JOE: You mean, "baby killer?"
PERCELL: Because it's true, Joe. And the truth hurts. Bad.
Song Listing (see full series listing)
- Pipeline (B. Carman/B. Spickard) Performed by The Ventures. Surfing. Dolton, 1963.
- Back in the U.S.A. (C. Berry) Performed by Chuck Berry. Reelin' & Rockin'. Magnum Force, 1959.
- Oh, Pretty Woman (B. Dees/R. Orbison) Performed by Roy Orbison. The All-Time Greatest Hits of Roy Orbison, Vol. 2. Monument, 1972.
- Dancing in the Street (M. Gaye/I. Hunter/W. Stevenson) Performed by Martha & the Vandellas. 16 Original Big Hits, Vol. 3. Motown, 1964.
- The Star Spangled Banner (Francis Scott Key/John Stafford Smith) 1814.
Trivia
- Percell, Daniel
- parents are separated
- father fought in the Korean War, served two tours, the second of which destroyed his marriage
- this side of Sgt. Anderson, is the best soldier in the platoon... or maybe better than Sarge... or not even as good as Johnson...
- father still active in the rodeo circuit
- after the war, plans to get a horse breeding farm with his dad
- Ruiz, Alberto
- father left him and his mother when Ruiz was still a baby, went to Puerto Rico
- now has a tattoo: "Born to Kill" (the handiwork of "Leonarda da Vinci")
- likes steak and eggs. Especially the eggs.
- drinks double Zombies
- Taylor, Marcus
- drinks martinis
Favorite Quotes
TAYLOR: Oh man! Her-- The legs, they... they go all the way up.
PERCELL: I'd rather try and sandpaper a bobcat's butt in a phone booth!
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