 The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont company, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents Geraldine Fitzgerald in Nurses Under Sealed Orders. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Tonight on the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont, we bring you an exciting drama of today. Our star is the distinguished young actress of Broadway and Hollywood, now appearing in Sons and Soldiers, Geraldine Fitzgerald. DuPont presents Nurses Under Sealed Orders, an original radio play by Arthur Arrant, starring Geraldine Fitzgerald on The Cavalcade of America. This is a story about a girl from Boston. Anne Madchak was her name. Anne didn't look much different from the other three girls who shared a hut with her there on the tan with their hastily combed hair and deal-fitting men's G.I. shirts and trousers. Nobody would have singled her out from the others. Nobody except perhaps one person. The first time she saw him, he was sitting under a tree outside the hospital holding his stomach with his hands. He had a funny expression on his face. What's the matter, soldier? You're sick? No, I'm all right. You look kind of peeked around the edges. Said I was all right. All right, all right. You don't have to bite my head off. Bombardier. Where'd you drop in from? That's a military secret, ma'am. No foolin'. How do I know you're not a spy, huh? Hey, where are you going? Back into the hospital. I've got work to do. Why are you holding your stomach that way? Uh, nothing. Just a habit I got into. Since when? Since yesterday afternoon. Mm-hmm. I'm taking you into the hospital. Come on, corporal. Hey, hey, not so high and mighty there. Who do you think you are, anyway? You're superior officer, corporal. I'm a nurse, lieutenant matcheck to you. Oh, I suppose that means I gotta address you with proper respect. Never mind that here. Lean on me. Hey, now listen. I told you I'm not going into any house. Quick! Lean on me. Oh, I won't lean on you. Oh, come on. Now, quit pulling me. It's all your fault, anyhow. My fault? Certainly. Do you... Do you mind telling me how you figure that one out, corporal? Well, you're taking my arm, ain't you? Mm-hmm. Putting it around your neck, ain't you? Why, so as I can lean on you? Well? Well, my arm's around your neck. I can't be holding my stomach, can I? When I don't hold my stomach, it hurts, and when it hurts, I grunt. Mm-hmm. Now, you're satisfied? You keep that arm around my neck and grunt all you like. Oh, you're stuck on me, aren't you? And one more word out of you, and I'll wash your mouth out with soap. You're probably needed anyhow. I'm sorry I didn't have him ready, doctor. The aidman was busy in another ward, and the patient wouldn't let me undress him. That's all right, nurse. It's quite clear what the trouble is. What is it, doc? Malary? No. Hunk of shrapnel, maybe? No. First appendix? No. Well, then, for the love of mine, what is it? A corporal, you've got an attack of acute colitis. Oh. Where will I live? You have what is commonly known as a bellyache. I can positively guarantee you live. Is that a good one on you, Anne? The woods bristling with jab artillery in Florence Nightingale here rescues a case of bellyache. Oh, I think you girls are being mean. How did Anne know there wasn't really something wrong with him? It might have been anything in the place like that. Thanks, Ella, but the kids are right. It is a pretty good joke on me. And Lord knows there's not much to laugh at around here these days. Maybe that's why I kind of fell for the guy. You what? You heard me. But he's only a corporal, Anne, and regulations... Regulations can't prevent you from liking someone. Well, it's your heartbreak, Anne. We won't say anything. Thanks. Oh, darn this hair of mine. It keeps slipping out at the back. Do anyone got a bobby pin? Are you feeling all right, honey? Of course. Then maybe a memory has gone bad. The last stop for bobby pins was the five-and-diamond Manillo, you remember? Oh, yes. We just didn't have time to get around to our shopping, did we? Well, anyway, we've still got moonlight. Think you'll run into him again? Well, he's still on the reservation, waiting to be discharged. He'll be walking over to the headquarters hut this evening to get his papers back. Can I help it if I happen to be walking the same way? Oh, Miss. Yes? Uh, maybe I should say Lieutenant. That's the proper form, Corporal. I hope you don't think I'm trying to be fresh or anything, but you seem to be walking somewhere, and I seem to be walking in the same direction, so I thought... As a matter of fact, I was hoping I'd see you again before you left us. They tell me it was your plane that brought us that shipment of quinine from Cebu. I wanted to say thank you. I wanted to say thanks. We needed it worse than you can imagine. Yeah, so they told us. Crickets and guns. Guns and crickets. That's a funny combination. Yeah. Like you and me. Yeah, I don't mean we're a combination. Not yet, but maybe someday when the war is over, we don't have to think about regulations. Well, anyway, I'd like to have that to think about when we take off from here tomorrow. You dream at top speed, don't you, Corporal? You don't even know my name yet. Yes, I do. I saw it on my chart in the hospital. It's Anne. And, uh, don't call me Corporal. Not for a minute or two anyway. My name's Harry. All right. Harry. Thanks. You know, it's a funny thing. What is? It seems to make sense. Our talking like this to each other. But it doesn't. It doesn't make any sense at all. Regulations say a nurse is not even allowed to walk along with anyone below the rank of second lieutenant. What do you mean you're going to get... Oh, no. Only it's funny that with the hospital crawling with captains and majors, I should get myself interested in a corporal. Oh. You're interested, huh? Maybe it's because you're so much like the boys I knew back home in Boston. Oh, what were they, bankers? No. They all worked in a cannery. They canned fish. I worked in a cannery once. Did you? Two months. Only, uh, it was, uh, tomatoes. Anne. What, Harry? Uh, Anne. I didn't say I was that interested. Well, you... Oh. I'm sorry, Harry. It's all right. No, it's not all right. It's all right. It's all right. So I expected you to kiss me. You expected? Well, then why did... Oh. Just having fun. No. Thought maybe it'd be fun to wait till I led with my right and then bingo. No. Maybe you'd do that with all the guys, huh? Maybe it gives you a kick to have a man leave himself wide open and then bingo. Look, Harry, if you let me, let me tell you. And the next time that you're out looking for a little clean fun, remember this. Just because a guy's got two stripes on his sleeve, instead of a gold leaf, there's no reason for you to pick it. What's going on here? Nothing, Colonel. Who are you? Corporal Harry Bailey, sir. Corporal, eh? I'm walking with a nurse. Don't you know she's your superior in rank? Yes, sir. Don't you know regulations forbid a nurse and a corporal to the... Yes, sir. Well... Colonel Wilson, I can explain it for you. I'm handling this nurse. Well, Corporal, I accosted her, sir. You what? I accosted her. Colonel, don't believe... She was out walking by herself and I accosted her. Don't believe a word of it, Colonel. Corporal Bailey asked if he could walk with me, and I said yes. What? I've been looking forward to it all day. There's not a word of truth in it, sir. Not a word. I take full responsibility. Oh, you do, eh? Yes, sir. Very extraordinary case. With your permission, Colonel, I'll report back to the... No, no. I'll report back to the... Attention. Corporal, I am conferring upon you the temporary rank of acting lieutenant, which orders revoked at 10 o'clock this evening when you return to Barracks. And I mean 10 o'clock. Good night. Harry. Mm-hmm. You're a dope. I'm a dope? What did you mean by telling me that I... What did I mean? What did you mean by telling me... A moment stolen from a day of horror and suffering. Maybe they didn't have any right to it. Maybe that was why nurse Anne Matchek walked back to her hut that night alone. There wasn't going to be any time to think about after the war and the boy who reminded you of the boys back home. There wouldn't even be time to think about food when you hadn't had anything to eat for 24 hours or about being tired when you'd been on your feet since Wednesday, dressing wounds, administering drugs to the ones the doctors hadn't been able to get around to yet, trying to make the last gas a little easier for the hopeless ones. No, but Tan wasn't any boy and girl story. Unless you'd call it a boy and girl story when boys are in agony and girls haggard and red-eyed with grief and exhaustion. It's the pooch. Here we go again. I don't know what we'd do without that much. We can smell a jet plane 20,000 feet up. I wonder where we'll be this time next week. While Australia most likely. No, my guess is Honolulu. Well, rest us up for a bit and then back to the wall. Oh, imagine, girls, a real permanent lipstick and an extra toothbrush. I keep dreaming of bobby pins. It's the strangest thing night after night, bobby pins. Toothbrushes and lipstick and bobby pins and skirts. Oh, it sounds like another world. Gracie. What is it, Ann? I'm worried about Joe. She's been sitting out there staring into the darkness ever since she came off duty. Oh, well, I guess maybe we're all a little scared. Yes, it's different with Joe. I caught her looking at that picture of her father this morning. He never wanted her to join up. You know, he kept telling her it's too tough that she couldn't take it. Do you think she'll crack up? All I know is there are jet planes up there and they're going to bomb this hospital before they're finished. One hysterical nurse can do a lot of damage. What are you going to do with it? Me? I'm going to see that she gets straightened out until Japanese brothers stop dropping thermite bombs all over our lovely hospital. Well, good luck. We'll keep our fingers crossed. Joe? No, didn't hear you come in. Did you hear the officers talking? Every word. All those planes lost on the ground. You can replace that kind of loss, Joe. Trained fighting men are harder to replace. Ann. Ann, I'm afraid. Sure you are. So am I. No, no, I'm really afraid. Any minute now those planes will be back again. Any minute now they'll be death and dying. Right here in this very room they'll be... Go on, Joe. Well, it's only that... Well, this is it. You see what I mean? I've worked and studied and trained for something like this. All my life I knew what I wanted to be. I just didn't volunteer for the war the way you did. I've known it ever since I was a kid. Go on, Joe. Now it's here and I keep thinking of bombs dropping on the hospital and those helpless men. Go on, Joe. I can't do it. I'm afraid, Ann. My dad was right and it's too tough. I can't take it. I can't take it, you hear? In a few minutes you'll be out there on the floor of Ward 1. You won't be there because you're brave. Any more than I will. You'll be there because the lights will be out. And there'll be men there who aren't afraid of anything, but they're afraid of the dark now because they're alone and can't help themselves. They're going to need you, Joe, like you've never been needed before in your life. You won't let them down, Joe. I know you won't. Nurse, I can't see. I can't see. Here, drink this. Don't move. I'll look at your eyes in a minute. Nurse, look at my leg. Look at it. I might hear, boys, if you just wait a minute. Nurse, nurse. Joe, Joe, are you all right in here, Joe? Thanks, Ann. I can manage all right. Joe, are you still afraid? Darling, I haven't got time to be afraid. You are listening to Geraldine Fitzgerald in Nurse's Undersealed Orders, an original radio play on the Cavalcade of America sponsored by the DuPont Company. As our play continues, Lieutenant Ann Matczyk, Army nurse played by Geraldine Fitzgerald, stands at attention before the smoldering ruins of an American field hospital in the Batan jungle. An officer is reading out an order. That women, nurses of whatever rank and grade will be prepared for evacuation within one hour. They will proceed with whatever personal baggage can be carried by hand to headquarters hut where there will be a last roll call before entering the vehicle of transport. They will then assemble at Pier 2, there to await the vessel of embarkation. I repeat, nurses will assemble... Is that all packed up and ready to go? We're two, I wonder. Wherever it is, we've been in the worst place. Please, God, let it be Australia. Well, let it be any place, but let it be soon. Oh, my man. Who's that? The boy in Ward 1. The boy with the amputation. Oh, nurse. Nurse, where are you? Hey, nurse. My arm is bandaged. Come on, girls. We're not through here yet. Major. Yes, nurse. We're not going to leave the town. We've decided, the four of us, that we're staying. Well, that's all very commendable, but I thought you young ladies understood. Volunteers were not asked for. The nurses have their standards to live up to. In civilian life, we take an outfit. You're not in civilian life now. Your bus is waiting. Are you ready? All right, sir. We're ready. May we ask, have we been moved to? Truthfully, I don't know. Ship is to pick you up at the end of the peninsula. You'll be embarking under sealed orders. Patan, the end of the peninsula. Last outpost in the Philippines except one. Corregidor, the grim gray rock. Once the Sentinel of Manila Bay. Now a death trap where men wait for rescue or for the inevitable end if help does not come soon. You could just make out the silhouette of it out there across three miles of mine-laid waters. But the girls were looking for something else. A ship. The ship that was to take them away from Patan and Corregidor for a rest long overdue them. Twenty American girls. Twenty army nurses stretched out on the dock exhausted. Twenty girls of whom it could honestly be said even their own mothers would not recognize them. In a week we'll all be having ice cream sodas in Darwin or Sydney. Honolulu. Sydney. Honolulu and I'll take vanilla. I can't see that it makes much difference. One place is just like another. Is it so? Oh. You heard from him lately, Anne? When there was mail, I heard from him. Oh, is he all right, Anne? He didn't mention Gracie. Only that he cracked up near Darwin and he's waiting for another plane. Waiting for another plane. It isn't as though he were like anybody else and knew how to take care of himself. He's such a dope, really. Hey, listen to that. Sounds like it's out there in the harbor. I don't like it. I don't like the sound of that gun. You don't like it? That gun's on a destroyer. A Jap destroyer. One direct hit and that tub we're waiting for is gone for keeps. You're right, Anne. Jap's got her searchlight out. Looking around. Well, it won't be long now. One way or the other. Will somebody please tell me when it's time to stop making SOS with this flashlight? My fingers are tired. You can stop now, Joe. We can all stop. There it goes again. I said, there it goes again. We heard you, dear. We also heard you. There it goes again. But we'll have a mic. Cut it out. Will you, everybody? You're giving me the willy. Go on. Say it. There it goes again. There goes our last chance. There goes home and husbands and kids. There goes everything we've ever wanted or hoped for or dreamed about. There goes us. Yes, there it goes. Joe, do you hear something? It seems to me I do hear somebody, Ella. Could it be anybody we know, Joe? I do seem to recognize the... Ella. You don't suppose it's in. Don't leave me alone. Don't be silly. Why, the voice I heard was almost... Would you say hysterical? You see, that proves it, Joe. Can't be our Ann. Not Second Lieutenant Ann Matchek, a Boston man. Well, I don't know. What makes you so positive? It's afternoon. Remember what happened last night? Oh, shut up. Oh, I certainly do. Ann was the girl who was going to stick it up post come Hades or High Bombers. Ann couldn't be cracking up over a little thing like the sinking of a rescue ship. All right, all right. I'm sorry. It's just... I got my hopes up too high, that's all. You were counting pretty heavy on seeing him in Darwin, weren't you, honey? I'm not ashamed to admit it. No, wonder what we do now. Better start making S.O.S. with the flashlights again. Oh, I wish I knew more of those dots and dashes. I'd say, hurry up. We nurses have been waiting long enough. What happened to our Uncle Sam? The sleep of the switch? Ann Matchek was counting on him. She had a date with a boyfriend and had a rough luck over Darwin. She'd like to see him just once before she goes back to work. It's not too much to ask, is it? Or is it? On the boat. Hey, what's pulling you up there? Even if it don't look like it, they all here, sergeant. I'll have to take you away for no time to check up. Money nurses, not your cargo. Now, please, don't try to stand at attention. Make yourself accountable. Cook will fix up anything you need. Hungry, thirsty... All right, I guess we can push off. Just a moment. Yes, what is it, Miss? I'd like to ask where we've been taken to. Don't know myself yet. Sealed orders. When can you open them? Why, uh... Right now, I guess. What's the matter? Ladies, I... What is it, sir? Well, these orders weren't quite what I expected. How can you tell us if you keep interrupting? Wait a minute. Well, Captain? Ladies, our destination... Final port of call is... Corregador. That's... That's really the last stop, isn't it? You better push off, mister. We're wasting time. Gee, I'm sorry, Ann. You're the only one who really should have got a break. Rest of us just wanted clothes and makeup and ice cream sodas, but you... I'll see him again. But I thought you said... Wherever American boys are, torn and sick and bleeding, he'll be there. He's part of that picture. And so am I. As long as I do what I can to help them, I know some nurse somewhere is doing what she can to help him. And that's all that matters, really. So tell them to roll out the carpet at Corregador, Captain. The Army nurses are on their way. Thank you, Geraldine Fitzgerald. Ladies and gentlemen, in a few moments, Miss Fitzgerald will be back with an important announcement. In the meantime, I'd like to tell you a story. This is a story of the nylon we knew in stockings gone to war. And it begins at Wright Field, Army Air Force's station. There's where new things are tried out. Helicopters, for instance, that can hang in the air and drop bomb on a dime. Experimental planes try out new radio equipment, new and better bomb bays or whatever it may be. And Wright Field has worked too with nylon. You know there's an old saying among aircraft engineers that what aviation must have is a material with no weight, no mass, and infinite strength. Now nothing in the world could ever quite fill that bill, but nylon comes amazingly close to doing it. In its physical characteristics, strength, weight, nylon yarn, particularly the latest nylon yarn, is far better for specific uses than silk ever was. Another advantage is that nylon yarn is so uniform that articles made from it can be manufactured by simpler, quicker methods. As one of the engineers said, nylon is a real military material. That is, it can stand rough treatment. It resists mold, mildew, fungus growth, insects. Well, an example is better than just telling you, suppose a pilot bales out of a plane and lands at sea. When a silk parachute lands in salt water, the army has learned it must be washed out in fresh water right away or it's ruined. Nylon can stand salt water without harm. Fortunately, nylon fiber is a material whose properties of strength, stretch, et cetera, can be controlled in manufacturing. When these fibers are combined in a yarn, a still further control can be exercised in carrying these properties into the fabric. This controlled manufacture of nylon is an important factor in nylon's greater resistance to sudden shock than silk. Technical people call this strength impact resistance, and impact resistance is what you need in the canopy or suspension lines of a parachute. Impact resistance is measured in a drop test by taking up a rope dummy weighted with lead to which a parachute is fastened. A mechanism under the wing of the plane drops the dummy. In the old days, a man wearing a parachute left a plane going at a nice quiet speed, say 100 miles an hour. Today, speeds of three and 400 miles an hour are common. Nylon can take the higher speeds and is doing it every day. At right field, we learn that thousands of nylon parachutes are riding the skies these days in every conceivable type of plane. Nylon shoots are worn by navigators, radio operators, pilots, bombardiers, gunners, paratroopers, glider troops, just about every kind of soldier who flies. As far as the air forces are concerned, we don't think there's any question about nylon deserving its name as one of DuPont's better things for better living through chemistry. And now our star of tonight's cavalcade, Miss Geraldine Fitzgerald. Thank you, Mr. Collier. On cavalcade tonight, we've tried to show you a little of the part that nurses are playing wherever our boys are fighting all over the world. The great contribution of these heroic women to the morale and the comfort of our soldiers when they are sick or hurt or dying is one of the greatest services in the name of humanity. In the horror of the battlefield, these skilled women very often mean the difference between life and death. We need more and more and more of them. But we cannot get more until their places can be taken by student nurses here on the home front. The government has asked me to appeal to all young women between the ages of 18 and 35 and in some states 17 and 35 who've had at least two years of high school training to apply for this most important war job. Just write to your local nursing organization or to student nurses, Box 88, New York City. They will send you the names of accredited schools of nursing in your state and a letter which will serve as an introduction to any of these schools. Remember, there is no greater service than that to which a nurse devotes herself. The service of saving lives. Next week on The Cavalcade of America, Dupont brings you Michael O'Shea, currently featured opposite Barbara Stanwyck in the motion picture Lady of Burlesque, and Alfred Drake, star of the Theatre Guild's new smash musical stage success, Oklahoma. The play on Cavalcade next week, Pharmacists' Mate, First Class, an exciting story of a different kind of heroism, 40 fathoms below in Enemy Waters. Don't forget next week, Pharmacists' Mate, First Class, starring Michael O'Shea and Alfred Drake on The Cavalcade of America. The orchestra and musical score on tonight's program were under the direction of Don Voorhees. This is Clayton Collier, sending best wishes from Cavalcade sponsor the Dupont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This program has come to you from New York. This is the National Broadcasting Company.