 The Interpol Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of better things for better living through chemistry, presents the Cavalcade of America. Our story, a short straw. Our star, Irene Gunn. A short straw. A strange title. It's just muck, chance, fate. And fate it is in our drama tonight. A drama of sheer chance. The short straw. Our story begins in the Philippines. The winter of Burl Harbor. Gap troops swarming ashore on northern Luzon. The slowest doll of our troops toward Baton. This is a true story. The story of a woman, the first member of the United States Naval Service to receive the Legion of Merit Award. The story of nurse Ann Bernatitis, United States Navy. It was the day of Christmas Eve, 1941. Manila, an open city. All military personnel ordered evacuating. It piled into an old school bus. The nurses inducted the surgical unit number five. And we were off to Lamar, a little town on the can. I don't know what the situation will be at Lamar, Ann. We're going to have to make do with what we find. Oh, well, we'll manage all right, Dr. Moore. I'm sure we will. You've got me puzzled. Did you ever hear of a military hospital at Lamar? No, I didn't even know we had one there. I supposed to have one there. One thousand bed hospitals, I'll say my orders. Oh, this is jungle. We're riding through sick enough to hide a dozen hospitals. We need sick and perspiring. Give me the creeps. This is it. Am I the biggest in a one-horse town out of ten? Everybody out. Oh, boy, boy, you're sick. There's a hospital. There's nothing here but some old warehouses. It's got around, Ann. I want to check the supply truck. Right, Dr. The sound of those guns can't just be in here before morning. Lamar found it on Manila Bay, just one muddy street crowded with refugees. Some in Calais, the cars, but most on foot. It's a little like it's salvaged from their homes piled in bundles on their backs. I pushed my way through the crowd to what seemed of office in one of the ramshackle warehouses. I'm Jones, Corporal Jones. What can I do for you? I'm Ann Burnett-Hiders. Surgical unit number five. Where's the hospital, Corporal? Don't look now, but you're in it. Here? In this warehouse? Sure. Come back here. I'll show you. Huh? Take a look. A whole thousand bed hospital in place. Bed tables for whole weeks. Oh, Grace. Corporal, how many men do you have with you here? Just about a company. The rest of the outfits have been moved up north into the line. All right. Get out and round up your men. Find as many natives as you can to help. And women, too. They can help scrub this place down. Ann? Ann, where are you? I'm back here, Dr. Moore. Ann, the casualties are coming in. It's one serious case. A little Filipino boy, badly burned, needs surgery immediately. Corporal, that's Grace in there. It's marked operating table. Break it out. Margaret, dear. Margaret, dear. All right, Sunny. It's all right. I brought you some coffee. I will guarantee nothing but that it's hot. The kid's coming. I'm still in a coma, but thank you for pulling out of it. This is hot, but it's good. Drink up. You need it. You know what? I can't figure something out, ma'am. A miss, a miss, miss. Well, the other nurses are on you. You're a Navy. Doesn't figure. Well, blame it on a short straw. A short straw? I don't get it. Well, I was at the Navy Hospital of Canakow, and we had some patients be evacuated to Army Hospital in Manila. Well, head nurse had us draw straws for the missing. I caught the short one. Simple as that. I see. I want to have those others and they can have it. If they got away. I heard over the radio that the Jeff... Hello, please. Uh-oh. Hello. Well, hello, please. Well, if it isn't our patients. Hello. I got burned. Your hand. How I fight Jeff's mouth. Take it easy. Tell me how I fight Jeff's. Easy, kid. How I fight Jeff's mouth. Now, now, now, now, now. What's your name? What's your name? Felipe. You're a brave boy, Felipe. And you've proved that already. You can still fight for Jeff. Huh? You tell me how. Well, you can fight without guns, Felipe. You can fight with your heart and your face. Don't, don't understand that. You can teach others to be as brave as you are. You can help them help you. Only guns stop Jeff's. Now, guns can't stop anything. It's the people behind the gun. People like you, Felipe. Wonderful little people with tremendous courage. All the time, the rumble of the gun through close-ups. We literally worked our hearts out setting up that hospital. And the last time that it takes to tell every cop, every table, and every cabinet was uncrated and washed down. Surgical unit number five, more. Yeah. All right, yes. Corporal. Yes, sir? Where's Mrs. Linnokitis? I saw her in the ward when I commenced her. And? Yes, Dr. Moore. Just had orders on the phone. We have to pull out. Evacuate? Uh-huh. Oh, no, we've just gotten set up here. Where to now? The whole line is pulling back. We're on to a place called Little Bargeo. Maybe we can catch our breath there. Everything we did at Lamar, we did over again at Little Bargeo. Hospital lords sprang up in the midst of a jungle. No shed became an operating room. A garage shed became a kitchen. And always, all day, all night, the wounded were brought home. Little Barge. Yes, sir? Let's have a hand here. Right. And take over. Be careful, be careful. They're getting those men out. Yes, ma'am. Here, wait a minute, wait a minute. Carry this boy directly to surgery. That's him there. Yes, ma'am. Hey, Jimmy. And this man. Put him in ward beam. Easy there, soldier. Let me help you out. Thanks. Miss. You feel all right? Yeah. Just a chunk of scrap iron on my shoulder. Look after the others. Got to take a rest. Sure, here. Press the pad. Thanks. Would you mind lighting one? No. You've got a dirty face. Oh, mercy me. What will the neighbors think? You feel you're all right? Sure. Just to be sure, let me have a look at that. Look, Miss, you've got a more important business. I'll wait my turn. I remember we built a platform on a tree high enough to look out into the bay. Whenever we had a breathing spell, we'd climb up and search the horizon for some sign of ships. A dab of smoke on the horizon. Corporal Jones was up there one day with Philippe, and I was there too. I was waiting for the brownies to win a pen of watches for those ships. But this ain't never going to happen. Well, East is peaceful up here. It's like a Sunday back home. Where's home? Pennsylvania. A place called Exeter ever here of it? Nope. Me too. You too, what? Me too, nope. Exeter's a nice little old, can-I-be town. Take the airway. Let's get down from here. Quick, come on. Here, let me have your hand. Don't worry about me, Jones. Help Philippe. Okay, come on. I'm all right. Look, look. There they are. Stop playing. Come on, come on. I've got to get to the hospital. Hey, wait! Under the bed. Hurry! Yes, sir. I'm sorry, soldier. This may hurt you a little. I've got to get you under the bed. Okay. Just put your arm around my shoulder. That's it. That does hold on. Just a minute. Just a minute. Thanks a million. Corbin, up those other men. That's him. Yes, sir. The plane's coming back. We need to get out of here. Please. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Come on. Get out of here, police. Get in the cellar. Please, be quiet. I tell you, don't worry about me. You're more important than I am. Get in the cellar. Get in the back. Get out of here. Just where I lie back. You're crazy. You're crazy. I'm so straight. With the bombing of the hospital at Little Bargill, the last act of the drama of the Candigan, each by each, our men were forced to give way. Poor and tired men screened past the hospital in ever-mounting numbers. Find this homey order for your back joint, please. Leave everything else for the instrument, ma'am. We'll need them. Yes, Doctor Moore. Cormans? Yes, ma'am. The men in this ward can be moved into ambulances. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am. Oh, Philippe. I'd come and say goodbye. What's going to happen to you, Philippe? Where will you go? Oh, I'm going to Hill. I fight jacks. Why hell only but I fight good. I know you'll fight good. Where are you going to? To the rock. To the one place that jacks will never take. We're going to Corregidor. To the DuPont Cavalcade of America, starring Irene Dunn, and our Bill Hamilton's Beacon for the DuPont Company. I'm on the list of things that affect children's health is tooth decay. Even today, it affects 98 out of every 100. And now, during National Children's Dental Health Week, it's a good time to do something about it. Part of the answer is preventive dentistry, proper diet and brushing, regular visits to your dentist. Among the scientific tools your dentist uses to safeguard your health are X-ray examination. And today, the X-ray serves you better than ever. DuPont Dental X-ray Film, for instance, is designed for faster exposures. It's less affected by movements of the patient. That's why it's so suitable for examinations of children's teeth. Along with other DuPont X-ray products, DuPont Dental Film contributes to better health as one of the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry. Now, we return to our Cavalcade story, the short straw, starring Irene Dunn as the Navy nurse and Bernadette. Those of us who were there will never forget the night of April 8th and 9th. We were huddled into barges, launches, anything that could float under the fire of Japanese guns. We settled across to Corregidor, through the rock. Corregidor looked like heaven to us. They even had electric lights. But the lights illuminated seeing the penchant and anguish is 11,000 men and women damned underground. All their force, that's what the men left on the pan, still fighting, still holding on. And there's no more room in the wards. He'll have to lie in the new places up in his corridor. All right, get the orderly to put up cops right along this way. Another convoy wounded is coming in. We'll start using the next lasso. Attention, please. Hold it, hold it, please. It is the commanding general. The spirit that made it stand, a beacon to our liberty-loving people of the world, cannot fall. Our prayers are with the men we left behind. Oh, poor boy. What happened to him now? I don't know. No one knows. Hello there. Hi, Miss. How's the arm? Oh, it'll go. What's got me is trying to breed the worn-out fog there pumping into this tunnel. Well, now after what we went through across the way isn't this place a sort of heaven? Miss, heaven can't be a whole dug underground. Heaven is a mess room on a cruiser with a child-eyed moving bag. You're amazing. You'll bet. So am I. No kidding, Navy nurses? Yes. But I thought all the Navy nurses were caught in Manila all in turn filibub prudence. Oh, no. I mean, none of them got away. Now that I heard them. Oh, no. Okay, stand aside here. Oh, yes, of course. Easy now. Let him down. It's caught through the downs. Yes, Miss. You got any hospitals over here you want to uncreate? Oh. Yes, doctor? We can take him to the ward now. Yes, sir. All right, Jimmy. Give me your hand here, will you? You think you'll be all right. I don't know. I hope so. I'm so tired I don't know my own name. Pretty good me telling you that. How long has it been since you had some sleep, Ann? Oh, I seem to remember a couple of our sleep yesterday. The day before. I'm not sure. You're terrific. Terrific. Doctor, I'm one of the lucky ones and I know it. Like some of the Army nurses who came over with me have been at it for a week working right through. And Rosemary Hogan, Rita Palmer, badly wounded. Some of the girls never did get off the tan. Where are they now? And all the Navy nurses I worked with at Cannacal all interned by the death. Don't throw any poses at me, doctor. I drew the short straw. You know what I heard today, Ms. Burns-Titan? I don't think you ought to talk so much, Jonesy. I like to talk. I heard some scuttlebutt. About what? You. Now what did you hear? You're going home. You're delirious. No, that makes sense. This place can't hold up forever. They got to get you off. You're talking too much. That's what they should do. There's ain't no place for a woman. No, no, no. You listen to me. Ever since I joined the Navy, nobody's ever asked me where I wanted to go and nobody ever will. I follow orders. But even if I had a choice, there's no place I'd rather be at this minute than here. Right here on this rock. All I've ever learned, I learned for this. And for what I can do here in Corregidor. And that's true for every other nurse on the island. Yeah. But anyhow, I guess I'll ask you. What is it? If you should be going. Did you drop them and say goodbye? Hmm? I think I wouldn't. Get to sleep. It was later that night in the nurse's quarters. Look what it says in this paper. What does it say in the paper as if I didn't know having read it from front to back fifteen times the last two weeks? It says hemlines are going up this year. So what? I wonder if that applies to dungarees. Don't laugh at some serious matter. Imagine showing up at Lady Bittlesmith's in last year's dungarees. Attention, please. Attention, please. All nurses that are appalled to the mess hall at once. Repeat. All nurses to the mess hall at once. I wonder what's up in? Well, it's not an invitation to Lady Bittlesmith's ball. That's for sure. Let's go and find out. I understand. You're to have your gear packed and be at the assembly point at 2100. Any questions? How much can we take with us, sir? As little as possible. Wait, won't matter. Bulk will. Now, the general has a few words to say to you. I want to read you a portion of a message I've just received from General George C. Marshall. I request that you convey the special commendations and gratitude of the War Department to the nurses on Corregidor, whose service is a source of inspiration to all of us. Sign, General George C. Marshall. And now you are leaving us. Do one thing for me. When you get home, tell them how it is back here. Tell them we are waiting. That's all. Good luck and God bless you. I won't leave. I'm not going to go. Somebody's got to stay here with his men. Listen to me, Jenny. None of us wants to leave, but we've got our orders. It's not our job to ask questions. Not our job to get emotional. They're taking us off because we'll be needed somewhere else. How do you think they're taking us off by plane? I don't know. He said that wait doesn't matter, but Bulk did. I guess it's submarine. Submarine? Oh, gee him. Say, do me a favor. Take my things with you to the assembly point. Well, wait a minute, Anne. We're due there in 15 minutes. Well, I'll be there. But you can't. I'll be there. But where are you going? Keep a promise. Orderly. Yes, Miss? Where's Corporal Jones? His bed is empty. I'm sorry, Miss, but he passed away an hour ago. Oh, no. Awful, nice guy. Yes, by Jonesy. A Navy launch took us out to sea towards a rendezvous point somewhere beyond the minefield. I'll never forget that ride. We just reached the rendezvous point when Jeff Searchlight brought us in their glare. In a minute shelled what pounded all around us. Time to go back. No, Shep will ride through this, shall he? Full of stains. Now, now hold it. Look there. It's a stop. Scrambled onto the deck of the submarine. Literally pushed down the ladder into the control room. The hatches were slammed down. Take it down. All ahead full. Level off. Periscope depth. Sorry for the rush-hack, ladies. You understand. I'll check for her to see if your bunks are ready. Glad to have you aboard. Glad to be aboard. October 14, 1943. The President of the United States approves the award of the first Legion of Merit granted to a member of the United States Naval Service. The citation... Lieutenant Ann Agnes Bernatitis for exceptionally meritorious conduct as a member of surgical unit number five during the bombing of the Philippine Islands by enemy Japanese forces. Constantly in the front lines of defense and on two separate occasions forced to evacuate to new positions after Japanese bombs had wrecked the surgical unit. Nurse Bernatitis courageously withstood the dangers and rigors of tropical combat, rendering efficient and devoted service during the tense days of prolonged siege and evacuation. This is Irene Dunn. I want to say that our cavalcade story of Ann Bernatitis is ended. But her story continues. Ann Bernatitis now has the rank of Commander United States Navy. She is stationed at the Naval Hospital in Newport, Rhode Island. Through her, we want to honor all the nurses of our armed services and to the nurses in civilian service whose lives may not have been as spectacular but surely are no less dedicated to healing in the immortal tradition of Florence Nightingale. Music Irene Dunn, the cavalcade players for tonight's true story. And now, Bill Hamilton speaking for the DuFont Company. A scientist in a modern paint laboratory really keeps his eye on the ball, literally. In DuPont's Marshall laboratory for paint research and development, there is a very simple testing device consisting of a little steel ball and a slanting piece of glass. A fresh coat of paint is put on the glass and the time it takes the ball to roll down the glass is recorded. Some paints let the ball roll all the way down. Others get tacky so quickly that they bring the ball to a dead stop. That paint wouldn't be so good if you had to touch up a section you had just painted. Although paint making is among the oldest of industries, the most far-reaching improvements have been introduced in recent years by research men. DuPont paint research led to Ducal Lacquer in 1923, helping to break a bottleneck in automobile production by providing quick drying finishes. And during the 30s, DuPont paint scientists developed a self-cleaning house paint. John Marshall, the DuPont scientist for whom the Marshall laboratory was named, was a pioneer investigator of man-made resin for use in quality paints. Today, the trend toward man-made ingredients continues. Now, resins, solvents, pigments, liquid latex ingredients, and many other synthetic products are giving us paints for lasting protection, as well as beauty. DuPont's new Sealer Coater, which primes and seals at the same time, is an example of this type of development. It usually dries in less than two hours with a faint, pleasant aroma. Sealer Coater makes it easier for a homeowner to do a good job himself. In the field of paint, where more than 1,200 American manufacturers must compete for the consumer's favor, DuPont scientists continually strive to bring you better things for better living through chemistry. Tonight's DuPont cavalcade was written by Irv Tunick. Original music was composed by Arden Cornwell, conducted by Donald Boris. The program was directed by John Zoller. And this is Si Harris, reminding you to be with us next week, when the DuPont cavalcade will present Operation Miracle, the story of United States Navy salvage experts in World War II. Our star, Robert Preston. Ladies and gentlemen, the Hart Fund already has given support to medical progress that is saving many, many lives. More, much more has yet to be accomplished. You can speed the fight by giving to the 1953 Hart Fund. Send your contribution to Hart, A-T-A-R-T, care of your local post office. Help your Hart Fund, help your Hart. The DuPont cavalcade of America came to you from the Velasco Theater in New York City and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Makers of better things for better living through chemistry. The preceding was transcribed. Next, it's Dean Martin and Gerald Lewis on NBC.