 Presenting What Makes a Hero on the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by E.I. Dupont-Tunamurzen Company of Wilmington, Delaware, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. Before we begin our play, here's a happy suggestion for making your home bright and cheery. It's about Dupont's Speed Easy, the wonderfully smooth and velvety wall finish that makes almost any wall surface like new again. Speed Easy is ideal for use over wallpaper. You'll like it because it's speedy, it dries in an hour, then your room can be used again. It's easy because all you do is thin it with water and apply freely with a large brush or roller. One coat is all you usually need. Remember, just ask for Dupont's Speed Easy wall finish. Speed Easy. Its name tells the story. And now for our play. This evening, in a radio play written by Russell Hughes and Bernard Feins, the Cavalcade of America tells the true story of an American infantryman who today wears the Congressional Medal of Honor, the British Military Medal, and the Soviet Order of the Patriotic War Second Class. His name Corporal Jim Slayton is home Gulfport, Mississippi. The Dupont Company presents What Makes a Hero with Richard Whitmark as Jim Slayton and Statscotsworth as William Tanner on the Cavalcade of America. My name is William Tanner. I'm a war correspondent. Maybe you remember reading this line some time ago. Corporal James Slayton, United States Infantry, was today awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for extraordinary heroism in battle. Well, a lot of our GIs rate that line. Later I filed this. Corporal James Slayton, United States Infantry, was awarded the British Military Medal in the Soviet Order of the Patriotic War Second Class. Naturally I wondered about Corporal Slayton, what he looked like, where he came from, how he talked and acted. Then other things happened, happened fast enough to make me forget about Jim Slayton. I didn't remember him again until I received a letter from home from one of you. That letter asked a question. What makes a hero? I thought about that. I wondered what happens inside a man to make him a hero. I wanted to write a piece about it so I looked up Corporal Slayton. When I found him, maybe I was surprised because most of us have an idea of what a hero looks like. I know I had. But Jim Slayton, well, here's his story. Sixth Betrayer, huh? That's right, Mr. Okay. Here you are. Say, you're pretty small to be hacking, aren't you? Something wrong, Mr. Wrong? No, no. I was just wondering what you'd look like driving a truck. Meaning I'm little, huh? Oh, no offense. I'm no giant myself. No, guess you ain't. But don't you worry none about hurting my feelings, Mr. Ever since I was knee-high to a duck, people been kidding me about my size. Well, you certainly are a good natured about it. Mr., when a guy's five feet four and has to get soaking wet to pull up to a hundred pounds, you ain't got no business getting mad at nobody. But I can get mad. Yeah, I guess you could all right. But you've got to be careful who you're getting mad at, huh? That's right, Mr. Right now, I ain't mad at nobody. Well, that was Jim Slayton back in 1941. He was married, had four kids. He was good natured, mad at nobody. Then one sunny Mississippi day, Sunday, December 7th, it was. Jim sat in his cab. He had his radio on. He was dozing for the music. Howdy, Jim. Oh, howdy, huh? Nice day, ain't it? Yep. Business flow, huh? Yep. Nice music, huh? Pretty fair. For sure, beating your gums today, boy. Something's on my mind. Having trouble? No, not yet. But sure as today's Sunday, something's going to happen. What are you talking about? Gone at my face was burning again. You know what happens when my face gets hot. Ah, Jim, what could happen on a nice day like this? I don't care, Art. When my face starts burning, something's bound to happen, always does. Burn the day I ran into that truck. Burned the time one of my kids got measles. Ah, Jim, you're standing still so you can't run into a truck. The kids ain't going to get measles again. Jim, that means we're going to be in it. You see, I told you my face was red. We ain't only in it, I'm going to be the first guy in line. Hi, Jim. I want to sell my heat, Mr. Kennedy. Oh, going out of business? Didn't you hear the radio just now? Didn't you hear what those jabs done? Sure, son, sure. I heard. What do you offer me? A bunch of a market for used taxes these days, Jim. Well, I'll just leave this heat with you, Mr. Kennedy. I'll trust you to get the best price you can. What's your big hurry, boy? I'm going into this year war, first thing in the morning. Well, this war ain't but an hour old. You got four kids. They'll call you when they need you. No, sir, I'm mad clean through, Mr. Kennedy. I'm going to do something about it right now. Boy, you shot her off a lot of steam for a little stove. What those jabs done there at Pearl Harbor will take me a long time to get over being mad. We got to make it so Pearl Harbor sticks in their car and choke him. Now, simmer down, son. You get your chance. That's what I'm aiming for. Hey, do you know where Pearl Harbor's at? Well, I guess I don't, rightly. But where it is, I'm going to get there to hurry. Well, that was Jim Slayton. Up to and including Sunday, December 7th, 1941. Certainly nothing yet to make him look or act like a hero. In fact, a man five feet four weighing 100 pounds doesn't give anybody the idea that he is hero material. But let's go on with the story just as I heard it. It was the following day, December 8th, that Jim Slayton showed up at a recruiting station. All right, all right. Breaking up. Now, keep in line. You'll all be taken care of. Hey, hey, hey. Where are you going? You talking to me, sir? You guessed it, shorty. Look at that. Please don't give me no trouble, sir. I come in here to enlist. I had my place in line and stepped out for just a second to toss out a cigarette. OK, but stay where you are and keep your clothes with you, shorty. Why? You'll find out. All right, now keep it moving. Right through this door. Name? Jane Slayton. Age? 28. OK, here's... Holy mackerel. Where's your mask, son? Oh, now look here, corporal. Just give me that paper and let me go. OK. Straight ahead. And don't fall through the cracks on the floor. Five feet, four and a quarter. Four and a quarter. Weight? 100 even. 100 even. Thank you, sir. Where do I go now? Uh... What's your occupation, Slayton? Taxi driver, sir. Then I suggest that you go back to it. A solar taxi, doctor. I'm sorry, Slayton, but you're under the minimum weight. We can't accept you. But I'm as big as those jabs any day. I'm sorry, but the minimum weight is 105 pounds. You are five pounds under it. You mean you're going to turn a man down for five pounds? That's it, Slayton. But, sir, only five pounds? I'm sorry, but that's it. All right, next man, on the scale. But, sir, then five pounds won't make no difference in a man's fighting weight. I'm going to get a gun, ain't I? That'll make up for the five pounds, won't it? Now look here, son. The army has rules and regulations. One of them is a man can't get in if he's under the minimum weight. You couldn't stand the gap. It's tough. Now move along. Yes. Next man, 162 and a half. 162 and a half. Now you guys wait here. Well, how'd you make out, kid? Just like you said, Sarge. How much you miss it by? Five pounds. Five, huh? Yep. That's tough. Say, look here, Sarge. Hmm? Is there any one of them rules and regulations that says a man can't give it another wheel? Not at all, kid. Not at all. Okay. I'm going to get them five pounds. Well, son, you can try. It looks to me like you're just about as big as you're going to get. Maybe you didn't stay out in the rain enough when you was a kid. Rain? What are you talking about? Forget it. I was just ribbing you. Now you go home and forget about it, kid, because, well, that's the way it is. Five pounds under the minimum weight. Five big pounds that looked at Jim Slayton as hard to get as five million dollars. But he went at it. In a couple of weeks, he added two pounds with three to go. Eight a lot of things he'd never liked before, kept on eating them until he had one more pound to put on. That one was the toughest. It had to be picked up ounce by ounce. But one day, Jim Slayton put himself on the scales. They tipped over at 105 and a half. And Jim hurried himself down to the recruiting station before he lost those precious ounces. The army took him in. And he went to basic training. Are you making it, soldier? Me? Slowly, slowly. You've got any idea how much all this stuff weighs? About 60 pounds. What's the matter? Having trouble with it? It does seem like the last ten miles give me the heart. Here, give me a rifle. I'll tow it for you. No, buddy. I'll do it myself. Did I tell you something? They sure ought to make these helmets out of cardboard. This one's pushing my head clean on down to my ankles. Put me it up up there! You're marching at attention! Okay, slow boy. Stick with it, Slayton. Only ten miles more. I sure do. I sure do. Okay, Sergeant. So, Jim Slayton went through basic training. It was tough, hard, grueling. Now, maybe by this time you and I have some idea what it takes to be a hero. Or have we? Training is one thing to stick out. Battles another. The one takes guts to keep from blowing your top at things you think are GI nonsense. The other? Well, let's keep on with the story of Jim Slayton. One day, Jim Slayton, United States infantry, height, five feet four, weight, military secret, found himself overseas. What am I doing here? Is Pearl Harbor over here? Is there any Japs here? That's who I come out to fight. Well, maybe they didn't want to scare the Japs too much, Slayton. Why don't you stop giving me the needle, Sergeant? Not for the world, Slayton. You're my pin-up, boy. You know, someday I'm going to get mad at you. Save it for tomorrow. We're moving up. Moving up? You mean we're going to get a chance to do something? It's just about that. Oh. What's the matter, kid? Deciding not to be a hero after all? Who ever said I wanted to be a hero? Well, you said you were mad, didn't you? Sure, but I was mad at Japs. Yeah? So were a lot of us, kid. You stop calling me kid, you hear? I'm older than you. I'm 28. I got four kids of my own at home. You're not even married. So leave off, you hear? I'm just driven. Now, you better grab some sleep because we're going out early and I don't want to have to carry you tomorrow. Good night. Good night, Sergeant. And listen. Yeah? Do me a favor. How's about laying off the cracks about my size? Huh? Okay. It's a promise. And you lay off worrying about the Japs. Why, sir? Because we're going to have plenty of Heinies to worry about. The outfit moved out. Infantry. Foot soldiers. The guys who pound through the mud and dust. The guys who take a piece of ground and hold on to it. And Jim Slayton was with them. Corporal Slayton now. He may have been little, but he had a heart and somebody saw it and put a couple of strikes on his sleeve. Jim had his tastes of battle. And it was bitter. Just as bitter as it is for a boy from St. Paul or Omaha or Cincinnati or Casper, Wyoming. And the hero stuff? Well, who thinks about that when the goings hot and tough? Jim didn't. Not even when his outfit was holed up in a farmhouse outside a town. A town that had to be taken. Ah, this is a great thing this is. Hold up like a bunch of gophers. Seems to me it's better being a gopher and still breathing than popping our heads out and stopping breathing. Maybe you're right, Slayton. You know, you kind of got the edge on the rest of us. You ain't got much to hide. Now take Larkin over there. Six feet for 250 pounds a guy. That's a lot of stuff to hide in a fox hole without having some of it sticking out. There's that sniper again. Yeah, and every slug he sends over gets closer. If we could only get one look at that cookie we'd get more to him out. Six of us, he's got already. Sergeant Collins. Yes, sir. Take his men as volunteers. Scout that hill up ahead. Yes, sir. Sergeant. Yes, Captain. Yes, that's the sniper. Yes, sir. All right, you guys. You heard the old man. Who wants to go to a surprise party? I'll try. Me. Better than playing ground squirrel for the whole war. Help me in. I'll go, sir. Rick and I'd like to come along for the walk, sir. Ah, now look, Slayton. I'm a volunteer. I'm one. You are listening to What Makes a Hero with Richard Widmark as Jim Slayton and Scott Cotsworth as William Tanner on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by E.I. DuPont in the Moorsen Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Maker of better things for better living through chemistry. This evening's Cavalcade is the story of a man with fighting spirit. All the more remarkable because of his stature for pint-sized Jim Slayton stood at five feet four and a quarter in his stocking feet and tipped the scales at an even hundred pounds soaking wet. But Jim was a fighter and he finally succeeded in joining the army as an infantryman and was sent overseas. As our Cavalcade play continues Slayton has volunteered for a detail that has been ordered to wipe out a German sniper's nest. Calling to this scrub is no good. Can't see what's up that hill. That sniper must be someplace up there. Nope. That Heinie's got himself covered like a two dollar bet. Hey, Sarge, wait a minute. Is he something, Slayton? No. It's just a trouble, Sarge. But I feel something. Well, then what's the idea holding us up? Come on. Please hold it, Sarge. I'll cut it out, will you? This is bad enough. No, look, Sarge, maybe then Heinie's are waiting for a chance like this. I just know there's more than one. Maybe they're waiting to suck some of us in and then give us the works. A sniper up there, Slayton. Get it? A sniper. There are nine of us. Sure, but I'm telling you, I'll feed something. All right. What are you cooking up, Slayton? What's this gag? And it better not be a gag. Well, I can't tell you exactly what I mean, Sarge. All I know is my face is getting hot. And when it does that, something's going to happen. Look, Slayton, I don't know what you're trying to cook up, but you're not going to snaffle this detail with that wacky stuff we got ordered, see? I know it, Sarge, but just listen to me for a minute, will you? All right. What do you got? Look, there's nine of us. We'd be easy pickings if there's more than one crowd up there. Now, one guy could get through and take himself a look, see around. And I ain't big. I ain't got so much to hide, Sarge. You said so yourself. Let me take a look around, huh? I tell you, something bad is up there. I know it. My face always burns when there's something bad. I think you mean it. I sure do. How about it? Okay. But if you're not back here in 10 minutes, we're coming on. Okay. Now, you see that ridge up there? Yeah. I'll make for that, but I'll keep the cover. And if there's anything up there, I'll flush it out and you knock it off. Okay, Slayton, that's a deal. So long. Good luck. Hey, try to keep an eye on him, you guys. That's going to be tough. He ain't big in the first place. In the second place, he can hide under a leaf. Well, maybe he'll get through. Yeah. Maybe. What time you got, Williams? Well, it's 10 minutes up, if that's what you mean, Sarge. Yeah. That's what I mean. Well, I guess it's goodbye, Slayton. Okay, you guys. Let's split up in two sections and let's get that sniper. Let's stay down and hug... Holy cow. That's no sniper. There's a machine gun down. Keep down. Hug the ground. The little guy was right. There was trouble up there. Yeah, and he's got it right in his lap. Hey, that was a rifle. Slayton. Where the devil is he? Hey, there's another machine gun there. Over there on the left. Two of them. The dirty rats set themselves a nice little trap to suck a sip. Hug the ground, you guys. That first machine gun stopped. I think Slayton got it. Take it easy, take it easy. Those stinkers are pulling another trick. Just wait a while. What do you think about Sarge? Slayton. You know, he was a nice guy. Yeah. Yeah, I'm gonna miss him. Yeah, maybe I shouldn't have ridden him so much. Took a lot of guts to go out like he did. That lousy sniper. See where that shot came from? No, can't see a thing. Hey, that's Slayton quiet. The fake. One of those American speaking honeys. Hey, Sarge, can't we no more hide behind those bushes? That is Slayton. Hey, you all right? Holy cow, look at this. Two of them. One got it right through the eyes, and this guy bayoneted clean through... Hey, fellas, four guys in this other machine gun nest, each one filled clean through the noggin. Boy, in 200 yards. That's what I call shooting. Okay, Slayton, what really happened? Yeah, I know. I don't rightly know. They must have been surprised to see me, I reckon. I jumped in with my bayonet and got one. I think I held the other one down with my foot. Shot him after I got my bayonet away from the first one. Yeah, but how about the second machine gun nest? Well, when I caught sight of that second nest, I figured something had to be done. This mound here hid me from the crouts up there. They had to stick their heads up to see what was happening where I was when they did a shot. You know, I just got to thinking about something. What's that, Jim? About my face burning. That ain't starting again, is it? No. But I just remembered I used my last bullet when I knocked off that last hanging. And my face never warned me. That's the story of Corporal Jim Slayton. I thought about it while I was writing it. I thought about the question one of you wrote me, what makes a hero? That bothered me. It bothered me so much that I had to go back to Jim Slayton and ask him some more questions. Well, Mr. Tanner, I don't rightly know why, did it? Unless maybe I figured it was me or them. But that doesn't answer it, Jim. It doesn't answer the question of why you went up there in the first place. No, no, I guess you don't. Maybe I was mad. At what? Well, at first I was mad at the Japs, Pearl Harbor. Then when they stuck me to fighting Heinies, I guess I got mad at them. Well, that's part of it. Isn't there anything else? Well, you know, Mr. Tanner, like I said, at first I was mad at the Japs. Then when I got over here, I got mad at the Heinies. And then, then I guess I just got mad at things. Things? What do you mean? Things like, uh, well, things like what I wouldn't want to happen to my kids. Yeah, I guess that's it. Yes, that's all, Mr. Tanner. I guess that's all, Mr. Tanner. A guy who got mad at things, things he didn't want to happen to his kids. Maybe the question, what makes a hero, can't be a hero, can't be a hero, can't be a hero, can't make a hero, can't be answered any better than that. Thank you, Richard Whitmark. That's Cotsworth and members of the Cattlecade cast. Now, here is Ted Pearson speaking for the DuPont Company to tell you how to transform old no longer used furniture into gay, bright, useful pieces with your own personality for the finishing touch. There were over a million and a half marriages in the United States last year, and since it takes two to make a marriage, well, that means we have more than three million newlyweds. These days, of course, most of the men are in uniform. You see, young couples holding hands and trains and buses riding bravely off into their future. When couples set up housekeeping these days, finding furniture is a problem, more often than not, they have to buy old furniture and modernize it. And newly married couples are finding, as thousands of other people have found, that refinishing old furniture can be fun. Let's do largely to a man and a name. The man is Peter Hunt of Cape Cod who makes the business of remodeling old furniture, redecorating it in colorful, simple designs with DuPont Duco finish. The name is Transformagic, Peter Hunt's method of transforming old no longer used pieces into gay, bright, useful furniture with your own personality for the finishing touch. You can take an old bureau and change it into a sparkling chest of drawers gay with little red hearts and scrolls. A worn out kitchen table with the legs shortened and a few simple color strokes becomes a low table for the nursery. A school debt bought for a dollar or so second hand becomes a convenient holder for books, magazines and dad's pipes or mother's sewing. An over ornamented picture frame rejuvenated with Duco in a pastel tint becomes a shadow box wall cabinet with convenient shelves for knickknacks. Easy, not only is it easy but it's fun. The peasants who created the cottage furniture of Europe like the farmers who made so much of our own early American furniture weren't artists. You don't have to be an artist either. Peter Hunt has reduced his designs to a few simple strokes of the brush and DuPont has prepared a 64 page booklet called Transformagic, a gay adventure and restyling old furniture. Illustrated in full color crammed with detailed instructions what to do about the old finish how to apply new finish coats how to antique all the things you've always wanted to know about refinishing furniture. Your nearest Duco dealer will give you Peter Hunt's booklet free of charge or you may obtain a copy by sending 10 cents in coin or stamps the radio section DuPont Company Wilmington 98 Delaware. Duco Finish is one of the DuPont companies better things for better living through chemistry. Next Monday evening, Cavalcade presents The Doctor Gets the Answer a story of vital interest and encouragement to every American concerned with the well-being of our fighting men. Our story told for the first time on the air is the factual account of a young flyer suffering from mental shock as the result of his battle experiences. The Doctor Gets the Answer tells how this flyer has returned to the newly developed rehabilitation program instituted in the hospitals of our army air forces. The orchestra musical score was under the direction of Donald Voorhees this is Roland Winters sending best wishes from Cavalcade sponsor E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Company of Wilmington, Delaware. The Cavalcade of America came to you from New York is the national broadcasting company