 From New York City where the American stage begins, here is another program with a cast of outstanding players. Public service time has been made available by this station to bring you this story. As proudly we hail the United States Army. Our story today is entitled The Spartan. This is the story of a soldier who learned the meaning and values of true leadership. As proudly we hail the United States Army Infantry. Our first act curtain will rise in just a moment, but first, the man who measures up will succeed anywhere. For a life of excitement and adventure, join the United States Army. The Army is the proving ground, the place where the men and the boys part company, where you'll learn more about how to take care of yourself and how to lead others in a few short months than you could in a lifetime of civilian activity. In the Army, your opportunities for advancement and leadership are unlimited, but you've got to have what it takes. The man who measures up here will succeed anywhere. Can you measure up? If you think you can, then here's an opportunity for you to serve your country and build a man-sized career for yourself that will take you as far as you want to go. Visit your local United States Army Recruiting Station now. And now your United States Army presents the proudly we hail production, The Spartan. It never fails to happen, no matter how tired or beat I am or how many things I have on my mind. Whenever 3,000 soldiers are gathered together for a regimental review parade, and I'm either watching or taking part in it, something grabs me in the pit of my stomach, travels up my spine, and ends in a kind of lump in my throat. And today is no exception. In a few minutes the regimental band will sound off, the review will begin, and already I can feel the lump in my throat. Only this time it's going to be the biggest one I've ever had, for two reasons. One, I'll be marching at the head of my company instead of at the rear where I should be officially. And the second, well, that's a story. A story that started on the day I became Company Clerk over 10 years ago. I'm charging half way that company order. It can't be right. Yes, it's official. You and I are corporal. And Company Clerk? That's right. Corporal Hendricks has been transferred to regimental headquarters and you're taking his place. Well, why me? Why you? Well, because you showed me once, you know you were around on a typewriter keyboard. And you seem to be a pretty smart young fellow. Oh. Well, what's the matter? Something wrong? No, I... Well, I guess I'm just sort of surprised. Sure, I understand. Day after tomorrow you can report here right after morning, Charles. You've got a lot to learn. Yeah, he was right. I had a lot to learn, but I wasn't anxious to learn it. When I had enlisted in the army, I'd done so with only one thought in mind. To become a non-commissioned officer in the infantry. And that meant to me leading soldiers in the field. And now it looked like I was going to be stuck behind a desk. But there was one consolation. At least I'd made corporal. And that was a step in the direction I wanted to go. So I made up my mind to do the best I could. I got that letter taught here, Edwards. Coming right up, Sarge. Here it is. Uh-huh. Okay. Now, Edwards, you've done pretty good in your five weeks as Company Clerk. Well, sure, Sarge. I made up my mind to that. But you helped a lot, too. Oh, thanks. Uh, you want me to type up that roster for the supply room now? Wait a minute. Wait a minute. Slow down, boy. You make me nervous hustling to do things like that. How about a coke on me? Well, thanks, Sarge. But I'd rather get that roster out of the way first. Look, do I have to make it an order? Here's the nickels. Well, okay. Anybody works as hard as you deserves a break now and then. You got to remember you're down south now, boy. An old sal can be mighty rough sometimes. Well, maybe it can be, Sarge, but soldiers got to be able to overcome hardships, just like the Spartans. The Spartans? Who are they? Oh, I read about them in high school. They came from a country in Greece, and they were the best soldiers in their time. You know why? Because they disciplined themselves. Denied themselves all comforts until they were hard, tough, and able to take on and defeat all comers, which they did. Well, that might be so. When I was a kid back on the farm in Tennessee, I learned I could get more furrows plowed by stopping now and then to take a rest in the shade. Well, that was a long time ago, Sergeant. Things have changed since then. Yeah, I guess they have. Oh, and speaking of changes, how would you like to take over the making out of the duty roster for me? You mean, uh, figuring out who's to do K.P. in fatigue every day? Jack, don't worry. I'm not getting lazy. Army's growing mighty fast these days, and it isn't gonna be easy to find some good administrative men. Maybe someday you might be taking my place, and I want you to be ready. Now, you don't have to look surprised. It could happen. Yeah, I suppose it could. Okay, hand me the roster, and I'll show you how to do it. Well, Sergeant Halfley surprised me all right, but I was more shocked than I was surprised. You know, looking back now, I realized what an opportunity I had, but then all I could see was me sitting behind a desk, pushing a pencil for the rest of my life in the Army. But I'd made up my mind not to belly ache, so I thought I'd just wait and see what happened. And something did happen. But in a way for which I was totally unprepared. One afternoon, several days later, when the company came back from the rifle range... Arrest, corporators. Where's Sergeant Halfley? In the supply room, Captain Roberts. You want me to get him? No, I've got to go up to battalion headquarters for a meeting. Just tell him Corporal Smith heard his ankle and is at the hospital now getting it X-rayed. He'll call back to let us know what the results are. Yes, sir. I'll be back in half an hour. Oh, excuse me, sir. It's all right, Private Jessup. You want to see me? No, sir. I'd like to talk to the first sergeant. He'll be here shortly. Maybe the corporal here can take care of you. Oh. What's on your mind, Jessup? Well, I've just been looking out the bulletin board, Corporal, and I see you got my name up for K.P. tomorrow. Mm-hmm. That's right. You do for it. I know. Well, I was wondering, you see, our platoon has to stay in tonight and clean up our barracks for inspection tomorrow. Yeah. And my wife just got in yesterday to town. She's going to stay there while I'm doing my training here. We'd plan to look around for a room for us tonight and tomorrow night. Now, well, I don't like to ask it, but could you let me off K.P. tomorrow and put me on the next night instead? Well, I'm sorry, Jessup. It can't be done. It messed up my whole roster. Can't you just change places for me with someone else? My wife's stuck in that hotel room. The town's so crowded there's no place for her to go. I'll even do two nights K.P. for one if you want. I can't do it, Jessup. I know it's tough, but if we tried to fit details to everyone's convenience, things would really be lost out. Corporal Edwards. Oh, sorry, I didn't see you. Take his name off the K.P. detail for tomorrow, Corporal. But, sorry. Take it off. Okay, Jessup. You can have tomorrow night off, you'll be on the next night. Well, that's swell. Thanks, Sergeant Happley. Thanks. Well, how come, Sarge? I just told him we couldn't do it. I heard you. Enough to a point, you were right. But in cases of hardship, you can sometimes stretch things, even regulations. But, Sarge, I... Hello, company day, Sergeant Happley. How he has? Okay, I'll take care of it. Something wrong? Corporal Smith has a broken bone in his ankle. Probably be laid up for six weeks. You have to get someone to take his place. Sergeant Happley. Yeah. You know, I made up my mind when I came in the Army that I wasn't going to ask for anything. But you don't have anyone to take his place, right? Well, not of him. I'll probably end up borrowing one from Company B. They have an extra corporal in the roster, I think. Well, wouldn't it be less trouble if maybe, uh, you'd let me take over a squad? You? Sure. I'd much prefer being a corporal in the field than Company Clerk. Oh, you would, huh? I'd appreciate it, Sarge. Anyway, until Smithy gets back from the hospital. Now, who do I get to take your place? There's a private in the third platoon who can knock off 70 words a minute. Mm-hmm. Corporal, it's not easy leading 12 men. Well, I know, Sarge, but I can do it. You can? All right, corporal, I'll do it. Thanks, Sarge. But let me tell you something. I think I'm making a mistake. I hope not, but I think I am. We're listening to the proudly we hail production, The Spartan. We'll return in just a moment for the second act. When you were in high school, did you find that the scientific subjects had a special interest for you? Enough so that you'd like to go on in the field and learn more about science? If you're a young man or a young woman with this scientific curiosity and you've had a little experience in the medical field, why don't you try your chances in the United States Army? There's a need for medical technicians in the Army, and you have the opportunity of learning more and more about the subject and gaining experience. Your local United States Army recruiting station has full details for you right now, and if you'll go see them, you'll find that your chances are very good for what you want. You are listening to Proudly We Hail, and now we present the second act of The Spartan. I hardly heard what Sergeant Halfley said that day, but I thought he was making a mistake. The only thing he said that mattered to me was that he was going to recommend that I take Corporal Smith's place. But I well remember now what he said then. Very well. The next morning, Captain Roberts called me into his office. Corporal Edward, effective today, you're the squad leader of the second squad and the second platoon. Yes, sir. That means you're going to be personally responsible for 12 trainees. Their conduct, their morale, their training. Corporal, have you ever been in charge of men before in civilian life? No, sir. I enlisted as soon as I got out of high school. I see. Well, you've had a fine record in your training cycle, so you shouldn't have any trouble adapting yourself to the field. I know I won't, sir. Fine. Fine. You report to second platoon Sergeant Rogers immediately. Corporal Edwards reporting for duty, Sergeant Rogers. Glad to have you with us, Corporal. Thanks. Got a good outfit here, Edwards. We're the second platoon by number, but we're the first platoon and everything else. I know. And we want to keep it that way. Now as far as your squad goes, it's about the best one of the platoon. Corporal Smith really had them on the ball and they're mighty sorry to lose him. Well, I think I'll be able to fill his shoes, Sergeant. Well, I'll tell you. If you do even half as good as he did, I'll be satisfied. Now, here's a roster of the squad I'm Corporal Edwards. And as you know, I'm taking Corporal Smith's place as your squad leader. Now, it'll take a while before I get to know all of you, but it won't take you long to get to know me, because I'm going to tell you now what I expect from you. Are you there? Pay attention. I am, Corporal. I'm just tying my shoelace. Well, forget it until I get finished talking. Hey, uh, your name's Jessup, isn't it? That's right. You're the one who wanted off KP as a special favor. Well, you might as well get it into your head, and this goes for the rest of you, too. Don't expect any special favors from me. My job is to make soldiers out of you, and as far as I know, there's no easy way to do that. I don't know how it's been up till now with you, but from now on, you're going to get on the ball and stay there. I suppose if there ever was an eager beaver, I was it in those days. I thought I knew everything there was to know about soldiering, but my gosh, I wasn't going to rest until my squad knew it, too. Now, the next exercise is a push-up. I want to see how many of you can do 50. Squat in position. Move. Feet to the rear. Extend. Now, the push-up is one exercise that'll make or break it. It's simple, but it's rugged. And after you do about 15, your arms begin to feel as if they're going to fall off. When Sergeant Rogers finished the count, I got slowly to my feet and looked around. There were maybe about 10 who finished, but there were none of them from my squad. Well, I would have blown a fuse right then and there, but I was too tired and disgusted. But when we got back to the barracks... This afternoon, we'll have a full field inspection, so get your packs rolled. All right, Second Squad, hold it. I got something to say to you. I guess you men know that you let me down this morning. Not one of you finished those push-ups. We tried our best, Corporal. Well, your best isn't good enough. So get this into your skulls. We're gonna have push-up drill every evening until all of you can do 50. Before you go down to Chow now, maybe we can just practice a little. Squatting position. Move. It was like that with everything. During the weeks that followed, I really kept after those men. I lost count of how many extra hours of drill I put into them. I was determined to do a job no matter how much it demanded from them or me. Well, as it turned out, I did a job, all right. But a different kind of one than I expected. One afternoon after the company got in from the field, the CO made an announcement. Men, we've now come to the high spot on your training cycle. Tomorrow night at 2400, the battalion will make a forced march of 25 miles with full field equipment. I don't have to tell you it isn't gonna be easy. Up till now, you've proven yourselves to be one of the best companies I've ever commanded. But tomorrow we'll separate the men from the boys. And oh, let me down. Platoon, sergeants, dismiss your platoon. Okay, Second Platoon. You heard the CO. Are there gonna be any boys in this platoon? We'll see. Oh, Corporal Edwards, come here. Yes, sergeant? Corporal, none of your squads sounded off when I asked if there were gonna be any boys in the platoon. Did you notice that? Yes, I did, sergeant, but you don't have to worry about them. I'm not so sure. I mean it, it talked to you about it anyway. About what? Well, I've been looking over their progress reports and I see that when Corporal Smith was in charge, they were doing a lot better than they are now. Do you have any idea why? I don't, sergeant. I sure have been doing the best I can with them. I don't think I've been too easy on them. You can say that again. You've been a real ball of fire around here, Edwards. But somehow that squad of yours hasn't caught any of that fire. Well, give me a chance, sergeant. I'll see that they will. Pretty much of a chance already. Let me tell you straight out, Edwards. I've talked to Sergeant Halfley about sending you back to the orderly room. You have? Yeah. But he said to give you a little more time, so I am. The 25-mile march is over. If your squad comes through without any men falling out or not being able to finish it, I'll consider changing my mind. Is there enough? Yeah, sergeant. You've ever felt a solid right hook connect with your jaw. You have an idea of how I felt when Sergeant Rogers got finished talking to me. Something had gone wrong somewhere, but I just couldn't figure out what it was. And that evening, as I was sitting over a cup of coffee in the mess hall, long after the rest of the company had finished chowing the lawn. What's the matter, Corporal Edwards? You look kind of down in the dumps. Yeah, I guess I do, Sergeant Halfley. Anything I can do to help? No, no, I don't think so. This is something I got to work out myself. Okay, I don't want to butt in. No, no, it's not that, sergeant. You know what it's all about anyway. Oh, by the way, thanks for telling Sergeant Rogers to give me another chance. I know that. But I have a feeling it won't do much good. I guess you'll be stuck with me as company clerk again. As far as I'm concerned, that won't be hard to take. But I know how you feel about it. Sergeant Halfley. You've been in the Army 20 years. Just what do you have to do to be a good squad leader? Well, that's not so easy to answer. But I suppose you might find the clue in that last word. Leader? Well, I think I've done that with my squad. I've never asked him to do anything I wouldn't do. Well, I've been strict with him, sure, but I've been fair. What more is there to leadership? Well, let me ask you a question. You know all the names of the men in your squad by now, don't you? Sure. All right, pick out one. Pick out one? Yeah, just name one. Oh, uh, Jessup. Where's he from? I don't know. How old is he? What do you got me? What did he do for a living before he got in the Army? Well, how should I know? Mm-hmm. Well, there's your answer. The answer? Now, wait a minute, wait a minute. I don't get it, Sarge. What does knowing those things, what does it have to do with showing a man how to soldier? Well, that's something you'll have to figure out for yourself. And when you do, I'll have lost a company clerk. Well, I gotta be running along. Oh, uh, Edwards, I've been checking up on those Spartans you told me about. And I think I got something to figure out about them that might interest you. The next morning, the march began. It was cool, as it usually is in that part of Florida. So the first few hours, we made without much trouble. But then the sun came up, and that's when it started. It got hotter by the second. And what had once been tight platoon formations earlier were now beginning to strangle out as the men's steps slowed down. The patigues were drenched with sweat. Their eyes were glassy from lack of sleep. But, tough as it was, by nine o'clock, none of the company had fallen out, although we did see some men from other companies sitting beside the road, unable to continue. Our CO dropped back from the head of the column every now and then I think it was old Sergeant Halfley who really inspired the men to keep going. It seemed every time I turned around, he was there joking with the guy. Oh, he's here in the water, man. He only got one canteen last the march. Remember, it only turns to sweat anyway. He hobbled along like he was walking on eggs, and he was panting like a Stanley Steamer. But up and down that column he walked, taking three times as many steps as we did to cover the same distance. My squad seemed to be doing okay, except for one, Private Jessup. His face was pale, great beads of sweat stood out on his forehead. He was always falling behind. At the next ten-minute break. Corporal Edwards. Yep. What's the matter, Jessup? I'm sorry. I don't think I can make this. My feet are killing me. Now, look here, Jessup, you got to make it. Don't you think everyone's feet are hurting? Now, come on. Show me you're a soldier and don't be a gold brick, huh? Look, look, I'm not a gold brick. It's just that I can't... It was a gold brick. Well, that's what I'm trying to find out, Sergeant Halfley. Jessup here says his feet are hurting him. Well, who's known I'd like to know? Yeah, somebody take my canteen, pour some water into this handkerchief and hold it to his head. And Jessup, what did you do in civilian life? I was an accountant. Just like me, spent all the time on a desk. When I was, let's pull off his shoes. Well, Sergeant, the break's almost over. Come on, hurry it up. Yeah, just as I thought. Blisters as big as my fist. Let me have you a bayonet, Corporal. He sterilized it with a match and then he let the water out of the blisters. When Jessup got his shoes back on, the break was over, but he was able to walk again. Sergeant Halfley didn't say anything, just gave me a long look, but I knew what he meant. When the march started again, I took Jessup's rifle and a couple more for men who seemed tired. I wished I could have carried each one of my men's rifles because I had a lot to make up to her. We only had a few more miles to go, but it was just before noon and the sun had reached its zenith. I guess maybe I overdid it carrying those extra rifles or maybe I was thinking too much about what I'd done. And what I hadn't done. Anyway, without any warning, everything went suddenly black. And the first thing I knew, I was lying flat on my back, looking up into the sky with something wet dripping down my face. Corporal, you okay now? Oh, what? What happened, Jessup? You passed out. I passed out. Oh, well, that's a good one. Real tough noncom I am. What'd you say, Corporal? The guy who knew how to set an example, some example. First one in the company to drop out. Drop out? You didn't drop out, Corporal. When you fainted, the CO blew the whistle for a ten-minute break. Come on, it's just about over now. A break? Yeah. Come on. Put your arm around my shoulder. That's it. You think you can make it? Oh, sure. Sure, I think so. We'll carry your rifle if you're okay. Oh, thanks, Jessup. I don't know how to... Oh, forget it. You only did what you thought was right. We're all going to finish this together. We did finish it together. When we hit the company area, old Sergeant Halfley, his voice hoarse and his face red, called us to attention, and we marched in. Our heads high, our backs straightened, our feet in step. When the company was congratulated and dismissed, everyone headed for their sack, except me. And I made a somewhat weary beeline for the orderly. Oh, hey, Corporal Edwards. How come you ain't hit the sack yet? Well, there's something I want to say to you, Sarge. You don't have to say anything. I'm going to say it. I've lost a company clerk. Now go on, get to bed. Thanks, Sarge. Oh, say, Edwards, why aren't I thinking about it? Those Spartans, remember? Yeah. Well, I found out there was another bunch, too. The Athenians, Greeks they were. That's right. Yeah, well, those Spartans won a lot of battles, but they left nothing behind them when they were finally beat. No statues, no books, no nothing. But the Athenians did. I think you know why now, but I'll tell you anyway. The Athenians spent their time trying to understand people, but the Spartans didn't. Well, you're dead right, Sarge. Now, I can tell you this. Before today, I was only a Spartan, but from now on, thanks to you, I'm going to be an Athenian, too. OK, get a good sleep, squad leader. Well, 10 years have passed since then. Our outfit became a combat division, and we've been around. Private Jessup went on to Officer's Candidate School, and the last I heard of him, he was a major and doing fine. Sergeant Halfley? Well, he's the reason for the regimental review parade today. He's put in 30 years, and the day is retiring, and as is the custom in the army, his regiment is passing in review before him. And me? Well, I've asked the CO to let me give eyes right as we pass the reviewing stand. A salute from a new first, Sergeant, to an old one. Well, there's the band. It's time to go. Come to me! It's cut! With men who know the army, it's the job you do that counts. Now take the yard breakman, the dental technician, the petroleum chemist, or the weather observer. They're all soldiers, and they're all doing a grand job of making the United States Army the world's best. Why don't you use your skills in the United States Army? There's a job for every specialist and technician in the Army, and there's a need for his special skills and a satisfying career for you with those special skills. Visit your local United States Army Recruiting Station real soon and learn about all the benefits you can have when you enlist in the United States Army. This has been another program on Proudly We Hail, presented transcribed in cooperation with this station. Proudly We Hail is produced by the Recruiting Publicity Center in New York for the United States Army Recruiting Service. This is Dick Hartley speaking, inviting you to tune in this same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.