 The Cavalcade of America sponsored by Dupont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents Alan Ladd in Ambulance Driver Middle East. The king is here, perhaps just around the corner for some of you. So before we begin our play, we want to remind you of Dupont's Speed Easy. Speed Easy wall paint will help you do a good job of redecorating this spring. For less than $3, most rooms can be made to look like new with Speed Easy. Just in with water, cover the walls with one thick coat, and in one hour it's dry. Don't forget, Speed Easy, made by Dupont. Tonight, our Dupont Cavalcade tells the unusual story of an ambulance driver in Africa with the American Field Service. A story written by Arthur R. Rint and based on authentic material, cabled from abroad by Captain John Patrick of the AFS. William Prescott, played by Alan Ladd, is the counterpart of many other volunteer ambulance drivers overseas who were on call day and night. They never know from one moment to the next what dangerous assignment may come up. Tonight's Cavalcade is the record of the way one of these men handled an exceptionally hazardous mission upon whose successful completion depended the health and safety of an entire army division. Dupont brings you Alan Ladd as William Prescott, American Field Service, in Ambulance Driver Middle East, on the Cavalcade of America. My name is William Prescott, Ambulance Driver with the American Field Service. Today, the American Field Service is back in action again. We're with the Free French in Syria, with the British in Africa, and Burma, and now in Italy. We're all Americans, recruited in the United States. On the battle fronts, we evacuate the wounded. We stand by at Bomber Command Post. We go out with regiments and maneuvers in the Syrian desert. These are some of our jobs, but there are others, like the job we ran into at a casually clearing station of the British Army in Africa. It started in a bizarre at the crossroads in the mysterious desert. More less? Musta, you buy more less, then I make price less. Hey Prescott, why don't you answer the guy you better get him while the price is going down? Musta, you like less? Make price one half. Musta. Look, my man, you make the price one quarter and then we'll start bargaining, huh? All right, I'll say this. Just a moment, sir. Need? Yeah. I'm looking for Mr. William Prescott, sir, of the American Field Service. Well, don't look any further, pal. He's your man. Hey, what's up, Sergeant? The Colonel would like to see you, sir. Oh, here's the trouble for your bud. Oh, what's he want? He didn't say, Mr. Prescott. But, confidentially, I think it's about the epidemic. What epidemic? The one the men aren't supposed to know about, Mr. Prescott. Well, is it very bad? Yes, very bad, sir. Four men died this morning. The Colonel said you were the one man who could help track it down. Okay, Sergeant, let's go. Epidemics in this country can spread faster than a prairie fire. Yes, sir. Good morning, Colonel. Yes, Prescott. Thank you, Sergeant. That'll be all. Yes, sir. Mr. Prescott, I'd like to have you meet Lieutenant Brownlee. Delighted, old man. Won't you sit down? No, thanks, Lieutenant. Well, what's the problem, Colonel? Smallpox. Smallpox? Oh, good Lord. We started about two weeks ago. We thought we had it licked. We vaccinated the entire town about one-third of our troops. A third? Well, what's the matter with the rest of them? Oh, then I presume you didn't know, Prescott. In the British Army, a soldier can refuse vaccination. No, sir, I didn't know, but knowing it doesn't help now. Yes, Prescott. But this epidemic is just another thing we've got to lick. It's one of those things to die on the battlefield for your country. But it's a bad show when a healthy man comes all the way out to this Godforsaken corner of the world, picks up a filthy disease, and is destroyed by it. Well, it's always a mystery to me where they pick it up, sir. It always is. Well, there never was a mystery yet that didn't have a solution tucked away somewhere, eh, Prescott? No question of that, Colonel. Anyway, I'd like to have a try at it. Maybe we can get to the source of this smallpox. That's what I expected you to say, Prescott. We'll eat a jeep, Colonel. You know, I say, jeeps are something, aren't they? I fancy I'd like to have one after the war. Yeah? So at half of America. They're what you'd call a big dream back home. It used to be a chicken in every pot, now it's a jeep in every dream. Gosh, I wish I were back there just for a week. How long have you been out here, Prescott? Year and a half. Tunisia first, and now here. I just got back from an evacuation job. There's something I've been wondering about, little chap. Ever since I first heard about you and all you've done. Yeah, I know. How do I come to be in the AFS instead of the Army or Navy? Or any other place where they carry guns and shoot them? Well, if some guys happen to have a punctured eardrum, so they get turned down. Others have a sacroiliac, so they get turned down. Nobody has ever been admitted to the fighting service with either of these interesting imperfections, and I haven't both. But we need you, men, Mr. Prescott. Need you badly. Now, I've already arranged for your jeep, Sergeant Mcabeer, standing by outside. I guess that's all, Prescott. Unless you have any other questions. No, I guess not, Colonel. Fine, fine. Lieutenant Brownlee will accompany you and be of any help he can. He's new out here, but I'm sure it can be of service. As you yanks say, I'm ready, willing and able. Luck now, Prescott. Thank you, sir. We'll be needing it. Let's see, Prescott. Why the deuce are we stopping at the bazaar? I thought we were going directly to locate the source of the infection. That's right, Lieutenant. But this is the Middle East. Everything you see, everything you touch, everything you smell, in short, everything. Was it the bazaar before it got to you? Yes, I see. Whenever you're looking for anything, look here first. Come on. Buy milk, Master. Well, boys, have a nice, cool drink. My love, my love, my love. Milk? Milk, Master? Milk, he says. The angst of little balmy, Lieutenant. Come on, come on, quit stalling. Take a glass of milk. Here, give my two friends some milk, will you? Well, no, come on, Prescott. We've got to be getting along. Let's try to do me a favor. Well, you just take that glass of milk and don't rush me. Here, Master, milk, be glass. You have all the ridiculous ideas. Oh, by the way, have you seen many new faces down here lately at the bazaar? New faces, Master? Yeah, you know. Bedouin, Sinusi. New faces come from Hills? Ah, new faces. Yeah, that's right. Many come last week, the week before. Bedouins? Yeah. Sinusi? Yeah, that's right. They come in from Hills, maybe. Ah, from Hills. Milk, Master, milk. Oh, never mind. I don't want any milk. If I drink any more, I'll turn into a bloomin' churn. Oh, wait a minute, Sergeant. I'll have some milk, fill them up, big glass. Yes, Master, milk, be glass, very big glass. Hey, that's not bad. Not as good as Connecticut, but not bad. Now, about those new faces, you know, Bedouins, maybe. Bedouins? Many come from Hills, one week, two week past. Come here, bazaar, sell many things. There you are, Lieutenant. Carry on. So they came down from the Hills? Now, listen carefully. Did you notice any soldiers, English, like me, at that time? I said, did you notice? He heard you. Why didn't he answer? Why does he talk to you? Not to me. Milk. Milk, yes, Master, big glass, very big glass. Very well. I suppose I'll have to submit to this blackmail again. There you are. Better drink it now. You heard his feelings. Oh, really, now, Prescott, Master. It's horrible stuff. Now, did you notice any soldiers? Soldiers? Many here. Many soldiers, British, buy many things from Bedouins. I see. Now, one more question. And I have no intention of buying any milk. Are these Bedouins? Were they strong and healthy? Or were they sick? Sick? Oh, sick? Yes. Yes, Master, very sick. Many die here in bazaar. Others go back to Hills. Oh, yes, very bad sick, very bad. That does it. Come along, Lieutenant. We better report this to the colonel. And that's how it was, sir. The Bedouins came down from the hill, somehow communicated the disease to the men, and they went back. Those that were alive. They didn't go back, Prescott. Not right away. They dropped in somewhere else first. I've had a report from a village down the line. Sukne, Sukne, I think it's called Sukne. They've had 20 cases up there, all natives as yet. But frankly, I don't like the look of it. Yes, Sergeant? Medical reports, sir, just came in. Let's have a look at it. You may go, Sergeant. Yes, sir. Well, it's here. What's here, sir? Gentlemen, we've got a full-scale man-size epidemic on our hands. This report is from Gadare. They've had 14 cases since yesterday. Gadare's just north of here. Well, that's a nice mess. Our colonel at least, knowing where it's broken out this time, we shouldn't have too much trouble. You're a very optimistic Prescott, because I believe you're in for a good deal of trouble. The rest of this job is to go out with Lieutenant Brownlee and lick this epidemic at Gadare before it's too late. Even a sandstorm be welcome right now. Six and a half days of nothing but a jeep in the desert. Hell, there's nothing to do but keep shoving on. Hey, look over there. I think I see something. By George, sir, why? What do you think it is, Prescott? Well, maybe it's a camel. What? It is a camel. That case is probably a herd of them grazing, and that means... What? We've found out little infection spedders, our walking germ cultures. All we've got to do is find the camp. They've got the biggest tent, that's where the sheep could be living. Talk to the old boy like a Dutch uncle, vaccinate the tribe and go home. Hey, you're right, Yank. Look now, you can see the rest of the herd and the tent poles. Right. Come on, let's go. All right, hold it, Sarge. Slow down. Drive them toward that big tent up there. Stop at a respectful distance. Sarge, get better way here. All right. The tent lets you go. I'm a little ashamed to admit it, Prescott, but those dogs make me a bit nervous. That makes two of us left, isn't it? Well, the dog's barking is one way of being announced. Those better ones know we're here now. Well, they've known that for some time. Probably got lookouts all over the hills. Now take it easy and let me do the talking. And whatever happens, don't shoot. We'll wait right here. What for? The sheep. Hey, it looks like he's taking his time coming out. I don't know if that's a studied insult or he's getting himself all spruced up. You know, these tribes out here are hostile. Don't think much of us. They like the gerries better. They're impressed with their ruthlessness and cunning in it. Here he comes. Who's that with him? His son's. He looks a pretty venerable character. Maybe we ought to... There we are. Let him come to you. Say, do you notice anything peculiar about the way he walks? Can't say that I do. Why? There's something strange about it. It's something. It looks all right to me. Yeah, and the way he holds his head, it's not natural. Well, it's not smallpox either. It's too healthy. And some of the others look like they have it, though. Quiet. Here he comes. Mahabha! Mahabha! Mahabha! Mahabha! We are English. Come from beyond the desert. Welcome, English. May Allah send you good health. And you also, sir. Good health above all things. Good health is a jewel that cannot be bought, a gift from God. Truly spoken. You... you have much sickness here? Much. It is the will of Allah. There is much sickness beyond the desert also. The black sickness. You have that here? We have it a little. Those beyond the desert have been saved. Allah has smiled upon them. They have good fortune. Yes, good fortune and good doctors. There is a medicine. Not one who has been given this medicine dies. And you have come to give it to us? Yes. You see, we are doctors. It is our wish to bring good health to you and all your tribe. This medicine you spoke of, it is truly a miracle. Yes, one of the greatest. It has never failed to make those who are sick well again? No, never. You swear this by Allah? By Allah, we swear it. And you are willing to die if what you say is not true? Oh, I see, Prescott. We are willing to die. Good. If you are willing to take lives on medicine, then I call my people together and tell them to make ready. You are listening to Alan Ladd as William Prescott, American field service in ambulance driver Middle East, on the cavalcade of America sponsored by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Better things such as cordura rayon yarn, used in peacetime for sturdy truck and bus tires, and today in tires for bombers and army rolling equipment, and the parachutes for flares, cargo and fragmentation bombs. Our play tonight is the story of William Prescott, an American field service volunteer ambulance driver, serving with the British Army in the Middle East. A full division of the army is threatened with a small box epidemic that has been traced to one isolated tribe of Bedouins. Prescott has been assigned the dangerous task of tracking down the unfriendly Bedouins who are spreading the disease and vaccinating them with the serum that will control the epidemic. As our DuPont cavalcade play continues, Prescott, played by Alan Ladd, Lieutenant Brownlee, and Sergeant McEvoy have just talked to the sheik of the Bedouin tribe, who has promised to bring his people together for vaccination. Well, Prescott, you got your hyper and vaccine ready. The sheik made good and comes his whole blamed tribe. Mahaba! Roll up sleeves, see? Roll up sleeves like this. Oh, there. I seem to understand your pantomime, all right? Well, how do they feel the first jab of this needle? All right, there. You're first. Just hold your arm out. There. That's a good fellow. All right, steady now. All right, Lieutenant. The alcohol. That does it. All right, move along. You there. You're next. All right, Grandma. Just hold still. This hurts me worse than it does you, almost. Got the alcohol ready, Lieutenant? I don't know. Here we go. That's a good girl. Well, that's fine. All right, keep moving. Just a... Good Lord, Lieutenant. Prescott, what's the matter with you? You've seen a ghost? I wish it had been a ghost and said it was a sheik. A sheik? I don't get you, old boy. Didn't you just see him come out of his tent, get down to the end of the line? Oh, yes, but... Remember what I said before when we first came up, that there was something peculiar about the way he held his head? Mm-hmm. Yes. Well, I just found out what it is. As he walked out of his tent, the sun struck him full across the face, and I could see... Brownlee, that man is totally blind. Totally... Good Lord, Prescott. If you'll write this vaccine, we'll be able to cure his blindness. They'll tear us apart. They'll kill us. Well, we often learn how it would be, and now you're going to be killed beforehand. Just the same if they get us or not. We've got a job here to finish. Ah, Lieutenant, do you think you'd get these shots by yourself for a few minutes? Well, yes, I suppose so, but... Good. Just keep vaccinating them so they don't get suspicious. But where are you off to, Prescott? Well, me, to the ambulance for some sponges. Just take it easy. Whatever happens, don't reach for your gun. You'd be dead before you got it out. I need some sponges, Sergeant. You'll find them in the flat behind the stretcher. Right, oh. By the way, Sergeant, that machine gun of yours, could it shoot, say, 50 rounds without falling apart? Oh, I think it would be persuaded, sir. How could the man who was aiming it put the bullets exactly where he was told? That depends on who the man is, sir. Sure. How could this man come close enough to kick up dust at their feet and blow the turbines off their heads and still not hit them? If the man was me, he could. Good. Now, listen carefully. Five minutes after I leave, crawl up to that bridge over there. And I said, crawl. Get your gun set up. Take your time. There'll be no hurry. Yes, sir. The signal will be a whistle from me. The first one you hear, is that clear? Yes, sir. Aim carefully. If you kill one of them, there'll be trouble. The Army can't afford that. They've got other fish to fry right now. One thing more, Sergeant. If that gun of yours should jam, you hop in an ambulance and go home. Go home, sir. Yes, my friend. And that's also an order. Now, hold steady. One, two, three. That's a good youngster. Now, just tattle it long to your mother and... Look, Prescott. Look who's next. Huh? What'd you say? Marhaba. I am ready. Oh, uh, hello, Sheik. Ready for your medicine? I am ready. If you do not make me well, you will be killed. Yes, sir. When we make a bargain, it stays a bargain. Um, now just roll up your sleeves. There, there. That's it. There you are. Didn't even feel it, I bet. I said I bet you didn't even feel it. Well, why doesn't he say something? I don't know, but I think we'd better just back away a safe distance and make as if we're packing up. Come on, Brownlee. Wait! You do not go! You wait! You will stay! You bet, Sheik. We're just getting ready to pack up and move on. Lieutenant, you better get ready to run and run fast. I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know. Hey, uh, you think a last will and test when written in the sand would stand up in court? Really, old boy, this isn't quite the time for your Yankee jerks, you know. Look, Brownlee, uh, you see, you see this hand of mine? Well, it's shaking a little worse than yours. Hey, I wonder how long they're gonna let us wait before they start that shooting. What's this tending a little of his eyes closed for? Why doesn't he open them and get a do with? Now we will test your medicine. Oh, my God! Oh, my God! Get ready to run, Lieutenant, and Sergeant, get ready to listen. Where are you, Sergeant? Where are you? If that machine gun is... I'm going to rush this, Prescott. We've got to get out of here. Oh, come on, Sergeant. Come on. Come on, fire that gun, please. Well, it worked, Sergeant. It worked. I'll say the blooming thing worked, and I didn't pop a one of them. Well, Prescott, they certainly scared her, didn't they? Just like the old saying, he who fights and runs away. Yeah, yeah, I know. Lives to fight another day. Thank you, Alan Ladd. DuPont salutes the thousands of hardworking young men who, like William Prescott in tonight's play, receive little glory for their important part in the war, but who nevertheless have made a lasting contribution to the cause of humanity. Alan Ladd will return to the microphone in a few moments. Meanwhile, we switch to New York, where George Albee, who assembles the facts and writes the stories of chemistry heard on Cavalcade, will bring you this week's story of chemistry. We take you now to Radio City, New York. Good evening. My story of chemistry tonight is about the father of chemistry, Lavoisier, a great Frenchman, a great scientist, and a great humanitarian. At the DuPont company, we feel a special reverence for this man because he was the father of modern chemistry and because he was the friend and guiding genius, a valutheur, Irine DuPont, who came to America and founded the DuPont company. So it was fitting that Mr. Lamotte DuPont was one of the speakers chosen to honor the 200th anniversary of Lavoisier before the Society of Chemical Industry last Friday. 200 years ago, chemistry was a hodgepodge of mysticism and magic with a lot of fancy names, terms like butter of arsenic and flowers of zinc. Lavoisier changed all that. He said, I want the facts. And he went after them. He weighed his materials. He was actually the first one to use the chemical scales as an instrument of precision. The laboratory tools we use today, electron microscopes and ultracentrifuges, we owe to the emphasis he put on accurate scientific instruments. He turned chemistry into an exact science. Lavoisier thought government ought to be scientific too. He introduced tax reforms, cleaned up hospitals and prisons. He established what amounted to the first agricultural experiment station. He even advocated free education for all children and state old age and unemployment insurance a century and a half ago. But in France, the reign of terror was on. This man whose work was to do so much to free the people of France and the whole world from drudgery was guillotined, 51 years old, at the very peak of his usefulness. But we've benefited immeasurably from his methods. Lavoisier was the man from whom we learned that science is international without political or geographic boundaries. In 1914, the synthetic chemical industry belonged to Germany. Germany manufactured more than three quarters of all the coal tar products of the world. America learned her lesson the hard way, but she learned it well. Our scientists began to gather chemical facts as Lavoisier had done from laboratories everywhere. And in 1941, when war came again to America, we had plastics and nylon and atabrine in production to take the place of strategic materials and silk and quinine. We Americans had neoprene rubber in production. We had Buna S. rubber in the experimental stage. We had thousands of chemical products adaptable to war needs. Many of them originated here in American laboratories. More than half of the products made by DuPont, for example, have been discovered and developed in DuPont laboratories. But many other inventions and processes developed by American industry have been brought to the United States from abroad. Extraction of nitrogen from the air, 100 octane gasoline, tungsten carbide, processes for making magnesium and the sulfa drugs, many, many others. Just as ideas from laboratories in other countries furnished the missing links in Lavoisier's chain of chemical evidence, these imported inventions gave us the parts that were lacking in America's great machine of production. Without them in this war, that machine might well have broken down. Lavoisier of France taught us much. We of DuPont especially, honor him every time we use the phrase better things for better living through chemistry. We return you now to Hollywood and Alan Ladd. And here is Alan Ladd, star of this evening's cavalcade. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Men like William Prescott of the AFS and Ambulance Drivers of the Red Cross are able to carry on their work only when they are supplied from home with the equipment they need. Part of their important equipment today is rubber tires. In this war, ambulances and combat vehicles are mounted on a rubber. And the need for tires is far heavier than anticipated. Despite the progress of America's synthetic rubber program, we still face a critical shortage of tires for civilian use. The only answer is strict conservation. Every car owner is urged to conserve his present tires to the utmost and to have them recapped as soon as they need it. Certainly, this is a small thing to ask. Let me compare it to what the William Prescots of this war are doing every day. Next Monday, the DuPont cavalcade presents Alfred Drake, star of Broadway's biggest hit, Oklahoma, and Everett Sloan, famous radio actor, in The First Commando, a dynamic thrilling story of General Francis Marion and his ingenious band of American fighters who 170 years ago originated the Commando style of warfare, which is so famous today. Our story is unusual. It's presentation we believe you will like. Cavalcade is pleased to remind its audience that Alan Ladd appeared through courtesy of Paramount Pictures, producers of The Miracle of Morgan's Creek. Tonight's DuPont cavalcade music was composed and conducted by Robert Armbruster. This is James Bannon sending best wishes from the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. We invite you to listen during the next hour and a half over most of the stories that are on screen. Please listen during the next hour and a half over most of these stations to three fine programs. The Voice of Firestone with Richard Crooks, the Bell Telephone Hour with Helen Trouble, and tonight in its new time, just one hour from now, Information, Please. The guest tonight on Information, Please is none other than Sergeant Marion Hargrove, author of the famous See Here Private Hargrove. The cavalcade of America sponsored by DuPont came to you from Hollywood. That's the company.