 maker of better things for a better living through chemistry presents Richard Conte and Stuart Irwin in Tokyo's Fairhand we begin our play we want to remind you of DuPont speed easy wall finish the new wall paint that will help you to do a good job if you're planning to redecorate a room in your home just thin speed easy with water it covers walls with one quick coat even covers dingy wallpaper for less than three dollars you can make your room look like new with DuPont speed easy tonight's DuPont cavalcade is the story of a company of American infantry 82 men from Michigan led by a sergeant who in the darkest hours of the Pacific campaign fought not only against a human enemy but against cold and heat hunger sickness and despair and who by a fabulous march across the own Stanley Mountains of New Guinea turned the tide against the Japanese invaders our story written by Bernard Fines and Russell Hughes is a salute to the American infantry only recently has the infantry begun to receive the recognition it merits and the celebration of infantry day on June 15th marked a long step forward in appreciation of the magnificent job the hundreds of thousands of our soldiers who must fight on foot have done and are doing DuPont presents Richard Conte as Sergeant Paul Luchens and Stuart Irwin as Hibby Davidson his buddy in Tokyo spearhead on the cavalcade of America the earth turns toward the east the sun rides over the earth dips into the cool of dusk this is the measure of time so that east the way the earth turns it is later ours is a sweet familiar land where it is now today but ships move east from our continent and men move east to battle east to England east to the brown beaches near Sherbrooke there is blood on those beaches and time is later there and it is later still east over Burma where the Sun is high 14 and a half hours later by the clock 15 hours later in Chongqing from these shores to the beaches uplands plains of a global war men have gone in time around the clock and beyond for east of the Indian Ocean east of the equatorial countercurrent midway between the southern and northern limit of ponds is the east that is west today now where it is always tomorrow new Guinea emerald green white coral beaches an island wrapped in the blue Pacific washed by the clean surf lying in the path of trade winds and the monsoon south of the equator north of the Tropic of Capricorn west of the international dateline beyond time an island of deep jungle the monsoon forest and men went there for there was battle in new Guinea battle moving north and west against the island empire of japan these were the men from michigan company e waited in a steam and stench of the resonant jungle listening to the creep of land crabs the wild singing of crickets the voice of the alien wilderness waited for orders it was september 1942 the Japanese were pressing on port marasby 250 miles from the allied supply lines in the pacific and on september 15th sergeant paul luchin's commanding company e wrote in his diary orders today for company e not much of a job for a fighting outfit and it means more jungle the men are sick of it and i am too but we've been waiting orders and now we've got them they got their orders to build a road through the jungle from port marasby down the coast to copper copper half a mile a day through jungle no more they fought the serried tangle of vines and trees swamp underfoot and the nights came quickly with rain and the mornings with rain too and in two weeks they had carved a trail to maybe on okay men we'll stop here you can find the dry spots sit on and take it easy that new orders to be this time it's not road building well that's more like it back to the coast luchin oh we're moving out where to lose over the mountains to the other side to a place called booner but serge one of those mountains is nineteen thousand feet high not where we cross but it won't be easy when when do we start right now we carry six days rations one pound of rice green tea sugar and two cans of bully beef any questions what equipment helmet rifle a spoon take your shell to have to roll up and for sleeping you can check off your list now luge yes larry i'm going back luge i'm not going with you what are you talking about just a minute heavy larry i can't go on luge i can't stand it here i never seen the sun being wet all the time the bugs i can't breathe down here in the bottom of this jungle you're in the army larry but this isn't fighting i'd fight i'd fight anything i could see larry if you're in the army you fight the enemy and you get it the enemy seems to be mostly inside ourselves so we'll fight that too the enemy inside themselves the dark enemy of their own fear these were meant from michigan open fields and lakes clean towns the enemy was green and dim and dank the leach infested jungle of new guinea swamp pulled at their feet limes and leaves tore their hands and faces and despair stalked their hearts it was heavy going for company okay men close it up they're strung out a couple of miles serge we'll have to stop early tonight let them all catch up we don't want to be spread out if we run as jabs jabs nuts i'll give you ten to one there's not a jab from here to tokyo don't slap the leeches off off burn them all hippie yes luce what's up you check on sickness heavy the two boys with sprained ankles are having a bad time luge then there's larry what about him he says he has fever did you give him quinine that kid doesn't have fever luce he's just stir crazy look hippie that's not for you to say yeah okay we don't have a lot of quinine you know what luce what you should have let him go back from napiana or you know i couldn't do that larry's young and it's harder for him but he'll do a job oh here comes the rain we stopped now serge might as well we've done nearly two miles today pass the word back maybe okay luce and tell him to dig in fast we've got a half an hour before it starts no more at night rolled in their foxholes their sleeping faces washed by the warm rain the enemy still was fear for jungle nights were palpable with sound frogs and birds and creeping things somewhere an ancient tree fell and somewhere sometimes it was a sound like distant drums but they were blind even to their own hands some of them did not sleep luce luce yes who is it me hippie say where are you right here is my hand oh yeah yeah i didn't wake you did i know i was awake something on your mind nothing special just jumping you got any idea where we are some i figure we're close to the oan stanley mountains will we we climb out of the jungle i don't know is it getting you now hippie some but mostly it's the kid larry he cried himself to sleep tonight yes i i heard him and he talks so much says we're buried alive or that we're being watched well we may be watched today i saw something moving and i had a feeling about a jab i don't even know that it was a man didn't want to scare the men there's no harm in your being prepared yeah it's funny about cigarettes what's that when you can't see the smoke they don't they they taste different you ever notice now that you mention it i don't know i'll try to find out wait here okay hurry back luce who is it who is it i'm gonna be easy larry easy it's me luce did you fire just now luce something came at me i felt something sharp on my neck i thought it was a jacket he had a knife was it you who yelled i guess so you know what that was on your neck larry no luce it felt like it was a land crab crawling in the sleep with you i've had it happen to me too a land crab that's all so you can go back to sleep kid luce i'm no good i'm not getting better i keep on being scared we're all scared larry every one of us this isn't a friendly place but i i'm gonna crack up luce i won't make it i know you'll make it kid it's the hardest thing of all fighting your own fear but when you do and win you're a man get some sleep now you'll feel better tomorrow yeah tell us about your farm back home no i told you tell us what you raised on i'll make him tell it again about the potatoes i told you about it well just tell us again what they tasted like look i'm with larry on this it just makes me hungry i only want him to go as far as the ham why don't you settle for luce's story about college the football games yeah well all right hey luce yes hibby what do you want i'm giving up frederick's turkey dinner for a nice snowy football game you flatter me hibby but it'll have to wait oh come on we ought to get one mile further before dark so we can get to the mountains tomorrow one mile took five hours one mile took five hours they hacked a gap through the boundless green and passed on them and sometimes they felt that the wall closed again behind them but there was no way back on october 12th sergeant luchens wrote again in his diary we've been on this trail three weeks and slow going but today we had luck we picked up a native who speaks a little pigeon english he told us about the trail you you sure this is trail he got what's he saying luce must mean yes at least he's nodding his head you fella we want to cross mountains to other side savvy me savvy he may stop along how that's great makes good sense now wait a minute look you we go upside of mountain here savvy no no god is this the trail no god bud place ghost mountain not go here come alongside place not here we're going over here ghost mountain bud place you die look luce do we have to go over here there's some kind of a trail it's on the chart and it's the only place to try no no god no god well this cookie doesn't like it you'll never get him to go with it and we'll do it alone it's our orders and there's food on the other side pass the word back we start climbing okay sergeant and tell them to keep close and keep moving and that there aren't any elevators you are listening to richard conti as sergeant paul luchens and steward erwin as hibby davidson in tokyo spearhead on the cavalcade of america sponsored by dupont maker of better things for better living through chemistry among these better things is cordura rayon yarn used in peacetime for sturdy trucks and bus tires and today in tires for bombers and army rolling equipment and the parachutes for flares cargo and fragmentation bombs as this evening's dupont cavalcade continues company e of the american 126th infantry led by sergeant paul luchens played by richard conti and hibby davidson his buddy played by steward erwin are climbing over the oen stanley mountains of new guinea jungle gave way to a limitless billow of fog and sound died away the voice of the jungle no birds cried out on the mountains nothing moved it was a dead land the men of company e strained upward through the white air their voices died and they spoke softly i begin to see why the native call this ghost mountain yeah it's too quiet just listen and even hear the guys walking this moss must be three feet thick what gets me it's it's white moss art yes sergeant what do you want art would you stand here and as the men come by tell them again about not stopping yet yeah i know if you walk your sweat if you stop you're freezing it try to catch up later on and send larry up front you just a few yards back okay sergeant okay heavy let's push on we must be near the top say do you hear something no i don't think so listen luch yes now i do it's water luch we ought to try to get some yeah it sounds like it's over this way yeah i can't see anything it must be here grab my hands all right pull me back gotcha what happened to me the the moss slipped luch look we're walking on a ridge one bad step and no boy yeah the drop off here is probably 2 000 feet what's the matter luch here be else he slipped see over there i'm glad you came up larry we've got to keep closer together how about the water luch you can't look for it too dangerous come on are you feeling larry pretty good i mean the fever's bad it feels sick but really better the fever's worse but it feels better that don't make sense well it's like luch was telling me a few nights back about being scared every day i get through i know i'm winning i don't do anything else on this trip i'll lick it that's the stuff larry say do you feel a breeze oh yeah it's warm and the fog's moving why well you know what's happened what is it luch we're going down yeah we've crossed the top the worst is over yeah yeah the worst is over the rest of the way was easy going down they walked nights and days down from the cold and on the edge of chasms and on the other side heat and rain the vibrant singing voice of the jungle claimed them again they pushed on established contact with a battalion that meant food and equipment then they rested for many of them were sick how's the kid now hibby no better i don't think he'll last much longer luch his fever's bad is he taking the quinine sure he's had enough of 10 men but it's no good i'll take a look at him luch luch yes kid you you're okay luch sure i'm swell how about you i don't know luch i i think i'm dying no you're going to show all of us but luch i don't mind oh you'll be okay i've been thinking luch all your life no matter what you do you're getting ready to do one thing getting ready to die well what do you mean kid it's like you told me about being scared no matter what else you do luch if you like that before you die it's something tell the guys i said it lucha it it's not bad to die if you're not scared i'm glad i was his grave was shallow and the green swamp water poured in birds whose harsh cries sounded over him were not from michigan no were the flying foxes and the bright day often as bees they buried him when no sun shone and where the rain washed down season to season yet he went home home in the deep communion of all men who'd die for freedom in an alien land october 20th new orders reconnaissance and force toward booner village it took us eight hours to go the first 800 yards but then we were really pinned down by a jackpill box luch we got to get that pillbox if we're gonna make headway yeah but how you bring up the flame throwers for cover two guys me could knock it out it might work sure it'll work okay okay i'll go with you no sir you command this outfit just cover us with those flame throwers and it'll be a cinch then the rest of you can come in after us it was a good plan hibby and the two men went in and they were halfway there when the flame throws went haywire but hibby went on through and the pillbox was dead for a minute the jungle was quiet and rifle fire started and we went in against it all right let me know over here off i i was hit i i saw it coming i i tried but what was it off that jump with a hand grenade i got him but it was too late where where you heard sergeant it's my legs i'm afraid to are they they're still there just just feel yeah they're still there i was afraid you got some shrapnel though yes i i know but i guess i'm gonna live they got hibby luch oh after the pillbox he stopped a few going in but he got there he knocked him out before he died he was a don good soldier yeah hey look sergeant i'll fix you up with sulfon morphine there'll be a stretcher coming in for you okay out thanks you know serge knocking off a boomer is no snap no you're right but it's going to be a big war out yeah sure it's going to be bigger than crossing mountains or taking boona or getting a clear crossed europe there'll be no snap but out here i guess we took the first step it is a big war and it was the first step the step that led this week a thousand miles past boona to the island of sypan there are dark places on the earth and men have gone there from our land gone east and west to loneliness and fear and sometimes death and they have gone in truth beyond the limits of time for they bring home tomorrow q ritchard coty and stewart erwin for joining in cavalcade's tribute to the man of the american infantry now gain whitman speaking for dupont tells you of an unusual use for nylon one reason the war is a mountain-sized job is that the mountain is made up of thousands upon thousands of details in 1943 for instance the army service forces shipped abroad 21 000 boxcars 17 million neckties and 617 million sulfideazine tablets to name only three items often the thing that seems insignificant like well shoelaces turns out to have an importance beyond all reckoning when it actually goes into combat duty at the front here at home even those of us who live in the deep south have no idea of the unbelievable humidity of the tropics where so many of our troops are fighting cloth can go to pieces in a few weeks from the dampness and so can ordinary woven shoelaces and shoes without shoelaces are no good when you're wading through a swamp bloodsucking leeches crawl through the islet holes or your shoe fills with mud and you lose it all together shortly after our troops first landed in the south seas word came back send the shoelaces that will stand up under this climate the material that stood up under the climate and that is still taking it out there is nylon nylon shoelaces for jungle fighting are one more reason why there's no nylon in wartime for hosiery for you they are now used in practically all army shoes and the same characteristics which make nylon so acceptable for hose make it invaluable for military use and it's used only when no other material proves effective reports the army quartermaster depot you can see from this report how our services guard their supply of this valuable material nylon is fighting dampness and humidity in the jungles in ponchos for shelter tents raincoats foxhole covers and bedding rolls insects are warded off by nylon hammock screens supplying nylon for shoelaces and these other war uses is a typical contribution of chemical science and dupe hunt better things for better living through chemistry tonight marks the second week in our fifth war loan drive our fighting men all over the world are striving and dying for victory a victory that will not come cheaply nor easily we here at home have a continuing obligation to give them all our moral and material support we can help now tonight by buying an extra war bond back the attack by more than before next monday evening cavalcade presents herbert marshall in what price freedom a dramatic story out of the war of the revolution out of a period in that war when victory and freedom were almost lost through lack of money and how largely through the efforts of one man robert morris the money was raised to meet the cost of freedom next monday evening cavalcade will also have the special privilege of presenting secretary of the treasury henry morganthor the man who in these times is carrying forward the task of raising the funds for our present fight for freedom cavalcade is pleased to remind its audience that richard connie appeared through the courtesy of 20th century fox producers of the technicolor production wilson tonight's cavalcade music was composed and conducted by robert armbrister this is james bannon sending best wishes from cavalcade sponsor the dupe hunt company of wilmington delaware and inviting you to listen to cavalcade next week starring herbert marshall in what price freedom monday night is good listening on nbc for your further pleasure may we suggest that you stay tuned for the firestone program the bell telephone hour and information please which follow over most of these stations cavalcade of america sponsored by dupe hunt came to you from hollywood