 Proudly, we hail. 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 for your Army and your Air Force to bring you this story. As proudly we hail, the United States Army. Our story is entitled, Jungle Patrol. This is the story of a jungle encounter between a small group of well-equipped soldiers in an army so strange that modern methods of warfare were worthless. Our first act curtain will rise in just a moment, but first... In the world of music, the melody, plus a good arrangement and a good performer, most often determines a song's success. In drama, the play is the thing. Plus, of course, good actors to deliver the lines. In whatever occupation you choose, training and teamwork are the reasons for success. If you're a young man of service age, you can be trained for success in the course of your choice by enrolling now in your United States Army's new technical training program. There are 88 courses to choose from, in such fields as radar, guided missiles, automotive maintenance, medical services, and many others. These are only a few. And if you act now, you can make your application and rest assured that you'll have a reserved seat in the class of your choice. If you're a high school graduate, I suggest that you investigate this outstanding opportunity today. For complete information, visit your nearest United States Army recruiting station. Team up with the Army, and you team up with success. And now your Army and your Air Force present the proudly-behaved production Jungle Patrol. On paper, it looked like a fairly routine assignment. Under the command of Lieutenant Robert Stark, a 15-man detachment, all volunteers, would be taken by helicopter from the base camp to a point 40 miles away. There, in the guise of an enemy patrol, the detachment would make its way back to camp. The 40 miles to be covered was through thick Latin American jungle. The main purpose of the patrol was to see how well newly developed clothing and equipment could stand up under such rugged conditions. You see, that's what we do in my branch of R&D, research and development. We test everything under all kinds of conditions. You think I'd have learned by now? Learned what, Joe? Never to volunteer for nothing. Ah, this is just going to be a little walk. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You look at that stuff down there. So, Dick, you couldn't stick a pin in it. That's the idea of this mission, Marana. If we can't stick a pin in it, we want to see if we can stick you in it. You know, Sarge, if I ever get to be a Sarge... Hey, Joe, look down there! What's the matter? What's the matter? There was a great big lion down there. He had his mouth open, was waving his paw. Ah, go on, you... Copped to put us down in a small clearing and we stood and watched it go until it had disappeared from sight. The jungle hemmed us in on all sides, thick and green and dark. It had a smell that caught at the nostrils, cloying, smell of constant decay. It had a sound, too, not one but a million sounds, all blending and laughing together. This was our enemy then, 40 treacherous miles on it. All right, man, the plane's gone. As of now, we're on our own. We're a patrol whose enemy is a jungle. How well and how quickly we can lick it is important. You all know your jobs. You all know the individual records you're to keep of your equipment. Other than that, let's keep our eyes open and stay on the wall. Any questions? Marata? Lieutenant, are the natives friendly? I understand. They're very vicious. And a special delicacy with them is fried marata. Knock it off! Come on! Well, we'll be seeing no natives. Anything else? Okay, then, let's get moving. Butler, Thomas and myself will take the point. Sergeant Ward will hold down the rear. Uh, O'Neill, since your radio and you are our only contact with the outside, you'll be middleman. The rest of you, fall in. We'll move out. Through that day, we cut our way eastward. The heat was like a thick, wet blanket which made the body feel heavy and the breath quickened. A special repellent, one of the many items we were testing, kept the swarms of insects away from us. And despite heat and the density of the jungle, we made good progress and camped that night on dry ground. Oh, my aching back. Trouble, Joseph? I just saw a pair of eyes looking at me from over there. Biggest headlights. Can you have me a new Cadillac? Yeah. You guys all set? You might bring us an eye cap. Yeah, I'll do that. Probably get some rain during the night. Make sure you don't get washed away. Hey, Sergeant, how about you carry me tomorrow on my feed height? Why, Marata, you're in your element. Oh, yeah. I knew there was something I wanted to tell you. You got guard from 2400 to 0400. Oh, me? That's right, buddy. Gotta get some sack time. You'll relieve Walters. Suppose one of those animals eats me up, huh? He'll get indigestion. Now, knock it off and get some sleep. We got a big day tomorrow. How do you like that? Doesn't bother me a bit. Oh, let's hit it. How's it going, Butler? Just so long as we're not in a hurry, so I... Kind of thick, eh? Keep telling myself there must be an easier way through this stuff. How's Marata doing? The boy has found a home. Hey, Marata, stop trying to convince those monkeys you're one of them. Oh, way off. Let go! Yeah, I'm just standing. Hey, get this thing off of me, will you? It must be 25, 30 feet long. No trouble, Sergeant. No trouble, no, Lieutenant. Snake was all set to jump Marata. Butler here saw him just in time. Nice going, Butler. Yeah, Jim. Thanks. I... I... I think I'd better sit down. The heat, you know. I'd say this is a pretty good example of why we gotta stay on our toes every minute. Well, you look at the size of that thing. And him, you want to look good, Joe. Okay, you two fall back with the main group. Sergeant Ward, I'll take the point with Rodriguez. Let's get moving. The looks of things, we got some more rain to look forward to. Don't straggle there. Keep moving. Close it up. Hey, would somebody tell me what the big hurry is? We ain't gonna get out of this no matter how far we go. Lieutenant wants to get off this low ground before dark, lame brain. Maybe you like sleeping underwater. Yeah, just a little afternoon shower, that's all. All afternoon. We're lucky we got this open plane to move across. Yeah. And what do we got ahead? Not only jungle, but mountains. We made camp that second night on the brow of a low-lying hill on the edge of the plain. We've been lucky in that. For a low, our maps indicated the plain. They did not accurately show how wide it was. And so, even though the going was slow in the rain, at least we got a rest from the jungle. The forest lay not only the jungle, but it ran thickly over mountainous terrain. The going ahead was gonna be much tougher. Well, I guess that just about does it. So far, has anyone got any complaints? That is, with respect to equipment? Yeah, Lieutenant, mine's too heavy. Marata, shut up. I was only answering a direct question. I'll tell you what, Marata, if your equipment's too heavy, why don't you leave it here when we start out tomorrow? Travel life. No machete, no carbine, no food, no special repellent. You can even take those jungle boots off and go barefoot. Anybody else? O'Neill, how's the radio holding out? I've been keeping it in the case, Lieutenant, good as new. Well, I hope we can keep it there. You don't accept, Marata, feel okay? Yeah. Considering everything, I'd say we were in good shape. The going will be slower and tougher till we get over this range ahead. After that, we should be used to it. Don't say it, Marata. How do you like that? I don't even open my mouth and this guy has his foot in it. Hey, Joe, tell us what it's like to charm a snake. Lieutenant, it's sheer clear floor, but that ravine down through there, how far did you go? About a mile. Came to rise as far as we could see in this rain, but cliffs. I guess we're lucky we've got the ravine to go down. Yeah, I guess you could say that. 300 feet down a gulch is practically a waterfall. We've got enough rope, so it shouldn't be too hard. We'll make one end fast up here, and everyone can use it to guide them down. We may need the rope later on, Lieutenant. We can't afford to lose it. I know. I'll come down last and bring it down with me. You can't do that, sir. You won't have anything to hold on to. Sergeant, I come from a long line of mountain goats. 300 feet down a winding, tricky gulch, half full of rushing water. Even with a rope to hold on to it, it was mighty ticklish every foot of the way. I, the Lieutenant, expected to do it without the rope. I couldn't figure it. I was about halfway down with O'Neil a few feet above me when he suddenly turned. Hey, O'Neil, what's the matter? Nothing. Trying to make sure I don't get the radio under this water. Better use both hands. Yeah, yeah, I'm okay. Don't worry. It's awful slippery right there. Yeah, I know. Why didn't you strap that thing on your back? Easier to carry on a strap. You better swing around. Hey, hey, hey! I got you to hold on, hold on! The radio, the radio's gone. Never mind that. Hold on to this rope before we follow it. When the Lieutenant came down that ravine without a rope to guide him, I'll never know. When he joined us, we took stock of ourselves and then moved slowly on, cutting our way across the floor of a rain-soaked jungle valley. But now as we moved it was with the realization that all contact with the outside had been taken from us. Oh, Neil, will you stop blaming yourself? Accidents happened. Yeah, but if I'd only strapped it to my back... There's no good in dwelling on what you might have done. Hadn't been for butler, things might have been a lot worse. Just thank your lucky stars during one piece. But now I'll contact with it. What of it, man? We can take care of ourselves. Now we can't have the luxury of knowing if we got in a spot we could call for help. This way we're completely on our own. Aren't we, Marotta? Yeah, yeah, yeah, sure, Lieutenant. Ain't nothing I like better than being on my own. Let's knock it off and get some sag time. It's been a rough day. Tomorrow shouldn't be any different. I want to stay that way. Gee, I hope it don't rain all day tomorrow. Boy, you can have that sliding down waterfalls. Joe, do me a favor. I know just what you're gonna say. Aren't you tired? Sure, I'm beat. Yeah, but you're not talked out. Go to sleep, will you? You know, if it hadn't been for you, Neil would have looked just like his radio. Well, only. He just fell on top of it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I'm glad he didn't fall on top of me. Because that would have been two of us taking a swan. Hey, Joe, good luck. Get off and go to sleep. I'm gonna put my foot here. Oh, buddy, I didn't know where to anchor. Just quiet a minute. All I was trying to... Just be quiet. Hey, what the... Sounded like everything in the jungle is going nuts. Ah! Come on! What's the matter? Don't let the fire as high as you can. Don't do any shooting unless you're attacked. Come on, I'm the jungle. What's going on? Don't ask me. Sounds like the thundering herd was headed this way. It's a stampede. Something has the whole jungle on the run. Don't try to stop anything going through unless it comes for you. Hey, look at their monkeys. There must be a million of them. Greenling, brother, was never like that. Stay close to the fire, man. Look at it. We better take cover in that gully. We can never stop. It's coming. Look! All right, everybody into the gully. You are listening to the proudly-we-hail production Jungle Patrol. We will return in just a moment for the second act. Ever stop to think about the meaning of a military salute? Soldiers call it a sign of recognition between men of an honorable profession. Some historians say the military salute began when knights in armor raised their helmet visors with their right hand to show friendliness. In our time, it has come to mean among soldiers a gesture of respect, not for the individual himself, but for the uniform he wears and the nation it represents. That's worth remembering. Next time you see a soldier in the uniform of the United States Army, keep in mind what that uniform means. It's a visible symbol that he wears proudly if he's a good soldier. A sign that he's begun to master one of the most honorable professions in man's history. A sign that he has joined the good company of generations of American soldiers who've done man-sized jobs in the defense of our beliefs. He's a man to respect. He deserves your salute. And more, if you can qualify, he deserves your help because he needs more men to stand beside him. Visit your nearest United States Army recruiting station tomorrow and find out how you can help him with a tough job he's doing well. You are listening to Proudly We Hail and now we present the second act of Jungle Patrol. The lights on. Boy, oh boy. If this ain't one to ride home to the folks about. Weird, isn't it? I think everything to crawl or walk or fly went through here. Hadn't been for this ditch. They had to trample us under. What made them do it? We didn't scare them, did we? Yeah, they got a look at you. The only thing I know of little panic animals like that is fire. Oh, we just see a fire. That's right. Now it's like the whole jungle died. Not a sound. Yeah. Where do you suppose they all went? Out of this area, for sure. Maybe we ought to get out of here too. If something could scare all those things. Butler. Lieutenant wants you to go on a reconnaissance with him. Want to see if we can find out what caused all the uproar. Yeah, sure. What's he figure, Sarge? Your guess is as good as anybody's. Look there, Butler. They even travel each other in their hurry. I don't get it, Lieutenant. Kind of puts the hair up in your head, doesn't it? Some of those animals aren't in the habit of running from anything. Some night lying in a ditch watching the Jaguars go by. No one can say this has been a dull patrol so far. Fire. Water? What about water, sir? A flood? No, we'd have known it by now. Oh, there's a clearing ahead. We'll take a look from there. If we don't see anything, we'll go on back and chalk it up as a mystery of the jungle. Things like that sure gets a man's curiosity on it. Imagine walking in a jungle where there's no sound but your own footsteps. Men from Mars. Who knows? Okay, now let's stop here and have a look. Looks like more of the same, Lieutenant. Well, we'll go on back and get moving. No point in wasting more time. Well, sir, sure beats... Lieutenant, what the... Is the whole side of that hill there moving or am I eyes gone wacky? Oh. Well, how? Ants. Millions of them, soldier ants. No wonder. They can sweep the jungle clean of every living thing that gets in their path. Look, there, their scouts have already reached the clearing. Scouts? You mean there? And they're just as well-organized as any human army butler. Come on, we've got to get moving fast. We've got two miles of tough jungle that cut our way through and then we'll reach the river. Once across the river, we should be safe. It doesn't sound like a very long distance to go, but that two miles of hacking our way through jungle so thick that we moved in half darkness was a nightmare to me. I couldn't get the picture out of my mind of an entire hillside turned black and seeming to move and flow like a great ugly wave. I tried to tear my thoughts from such horror as we moved slowly, oh, so slowly toward the safety of the river. The other men hadn't seen the ants. It was hard for them to conceive. Only the Lieutenant and I knew, only we knew how imperative speed had become. You on the point up there! Either pick it up or fall back in the rear and let the next man take a crack at it. What's all the hurry here? Running from a bunch of ants. It's so bad you weren't there to see them. Oh, Malachi. Even the animals knew enough to take off, but Marata says Malachi. How do you know they were running from ants? Because I saw them. So hurray for you. These aren't like other ants' meathead. They're soldier ants. They're organized like an army and they move and fight like one. I'll cut it out. When you're Jim next, you'll be telling me they got scouts out. They have! They have, you dog! Sure, they got air support from the bus. They don't need it. They come through the trees too. Yeah, what's their general's name? Well, you get about a million of them on you. You can ask them. Lieutenant! The river's just ahead! Oh, will you look at that? Yeah, how are we ever going to get across? Lieutenant, those two rubber rags we got wouldn't stand a chance in this. On the way across is for someone to swim it with a rope pattern on it. I don't know anyone who could swim a river moving that fast. I'll give it a try. Lieutenant, why don't we move down the river until we come to a better place to cross? We couldn't move fast enough. They'd flank us. Will the rope reach, Sergeant? Sure, Lieutenant. Not more than a hundred yards across this thing. Okay, butler, you and Hobart handle this end. Play it out slowly. You see, I can't make it. Hold me in. I'll walk as far as I can. All right, the rest of you men start clearing the jungle around here like you're life-dependent on it. Three times, Sergeant Ward tried, and three times we had to haul him in before he got 20 feet. We gave it up, then, and joined the others in clearing out the jungle around us just as fast as we could. Under the lieutenant's orders, we leveled a semicircular perimeter and dug a narrow ditch around its outer edge. This we filled and piled up with the undergrowth and trees we cut down. We knew the undergrowth would burn easily and that it would ignite the slow-burning jungle wood. This, then, was our fort in which we hoped to hold off the invaders. Pile all that extra wood and brush near the perimeter. They've got to keep the home fires burning. I'll bet them crazy ants never come this way at all. Maybe I better pray that they don't. Here, help me lift this. Marata, the lieutenant wants you to go out and see if our friends are coming. Me? Yeah, you. Go on back up the trail. We cut and find a spot where you can see what's going on. Now, when you spot them, don't hang around to argue. Just get back here on the double. Boy, if this don't beat all. What did you do in the Army, son? I went out and I warned the troops that are coming at the ants. The ants. Sure, we licked a whole lot of them. All right, comedian. Hit the trail. Maybe it did sound scruy. Trained soldiers getting ready to stand off a horde of insects. That isn't exactly what we'd been trained for. Our carbines were useless. Our knowledge of infiltration, of camouflage, of a hundred other techniques and methods in the business of offense and defense were of no use. A couple of flamethrowers might have solved the problem in a hurry. Box of explosives would have helped, too. But we had none of these things. Only our own intelligence. And so we prepared to defend ourselves with one of the most primitive, yet effective of all weapons. Fire. Hey! Hey, they're coming! They're coming! The whole jungle's black with them! Holy, suffering catch fish! Calm down, Marotta. Could you tell how big an area they covered? I couldn't see far, but one minute I was sitting there and then I heard a funny kind of sound, like rain on a leaves. And I looked up and the whole jungle was crawling at me. Even before I could get up, a bunch of them dropped off a limb on my arm. How far up the trail were you? A couple hundred yards, maybe. Sergeant, time to get the fires going. Okay, Lieutenant. All right, guys, light it up! They came then. One moment the edge of jungle around the perimeter was as usual a lush green, and the next to turn black and moving and float out to meet the fire. For a horrible moment, we thought the wave would come right through the flames. And although thousands of the ugly devils tried it, we stood with the river to our backs and the fire arching around us and watched the black waves stop flowing and move back a bit. And then with the jungle black as far as we could see, they patiently settled down to a state of siege. They weren't moving on. Somehow they knew when we ran out of wood and the fire went out. They'd have us. Buddy, I don't mind telling you. I don't like this. I may have seen an ugliest sight, but I don't know when. What are we going to do when I... Get around a minute, man, will you? Hurry it up. Now, Sergeant Ward and I have been studying this map. About two miles below us, the river forks narrows out and can probably be crossed. We've got to take that chance anyway. Sergeant Ward and one other man will take the rubber raft and go downstream to that point. They'll cross and cut their way back up the other side to their opposite, this point. In the meantime, we'll have gotten the line across the river. They'll make it fast, and we'll get out of here. How are we going to get the line across, sir? We'll rig a big bow and shoot it over. The question is, who's going with Sergeant Ward? I'll go, sir. Okay, everybody agree? Now, we're all in this together, so if you have any ideas... All right, let's get at it. If we get swept out into the main current... I know, I know. She's starting to spin backward. What a yacht. I can hold her here. We'll miss her. Blast it! Can't you see we're being carried out? Hey, there's the fork ahead. We're going to hit that rock! After capsize, the current swept us to a sand bar at the river's fork, and there, after getting our wind, we swam the narrow channel to the far side. Once on the other side, we began the grueling job of cutting our way back through the growth that came right to the river's edge. We hacked and slashed until it seemed our arms would fall off that our lungs had burst under the strain. We're ever going to get there. Got it. Got it. Time. No time. Save your breath, Jim. We got to save a lot more than that. Now, if I could only walk across a rope and make it fast over there, we wouldn't have to wait for Jim and Assange. The wood supply's about shot. Yeah, I know. What are we going to do if they don't make it in time? Well, like the lieutenant said, we'll have to take to the river, let it carry us downstream. Yeah, yeah. That chance we'll have. I don't swim so well. Jim and Assange will make it. I keep telling myself. Look at those things. Straight from hell. Millions of them sitting and waiting. We ain't through yet. Almost there. See smoke from the other side. Got to rest. No. Rest later. Come on. My arm's dead. Got to rest. Come put out the fire. Got to hurry. The rest of the woodmen won't go out quite so fast when the rain hits. Look at them, will you? They know it's going to rain. Here she comes. All right. Everybody to the river's edge. Nobody in until I give the order. Then stick close to the shore and let the current carry it. Yeah. That's fine for the guys that can swim. Only I never learned. The gentle rain. Hey, hey, look. Look, it's Jim. Hey, Lieutenant. They made it. The rope's dirty or left. Make it fast. Pick as you can. Hey, Lieutenant, look. The ants are starting to move. They're trying to come through. Don't mind that. The fire is still too hot. All right. Come on, Lieutenant. Waller's your first. Then you won't kneel, morados. Come on. Start over. Just keep holding that rope. Lieutenant was the last man to come across. He'd hardly started when the ants began pouring through right down and into the water. They tried swarming out on the rope after the Lieutenant, but the sards thought fast and let some slack into the rope. The Lieutenant took a mean ducking and we thought for a second he'd be swept away, but he held on and kept coming, and the ants kept piling into the water, trying to form a bridge, but unable to. After we'd hauled the Lieutenant out, we just sat where we were for a while, getting our wind back. Okay, guys. Time to hit the road. Still got a long way to go. Everybody on their feet. Waller's take the point. Hey, Lieutenant, what kind of campaign ribbon are we going to get out of this one, huh? Morata, I've been thinking about that. I'm going to recommend you all for a lovely jungle green one with an athlete cluster. R&D, research and development, they call it. We test everything under all kinds of conditions. First choice for freedom. That's the United States Army's Airborne Infantry, and it's open today for direct enlistment for volunteers. Investigate service in the airborne right now, and you'll keep company with America's finest. Check at your local United States Army Recruiting Station today. 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 for the United States Army and United States Air Force Recruiting Service. This is Mark Hamilton speaking, inviting you to tune in this same station next week for another interesting story on Proudly We Hail.