 Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the enemy lines knowing you may never return alive? What you have just heard is the question asked during the war to agents of the OSS Ordinary citizens who to this question answered yes This is Cloak and dagger Warfare espionage International intrigue these are the weapons of the OSS Today's adventure the kutchin story tells of an agent an American agent dropped behind Japanese lines in Burma a story Suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the office of strategic services a story that can now be told The sky hangs low over Burma In 1944 it was more than just the smoke and dust haze that blankets it in the dry season It was the tension in the air that weighed the clouds down so that they almost seem to be pressing against the wings of our plane You got to reach your objective in a few minutes Mike good. I'll tell you when to hit the cell You got everything. Yep radio supplies. I'm all set Boy, that's thick jungle down there thick with jazz. That's what I mean. I Looked down in the towering jungle-colored mountains of North Burma Thought of the small band of kutchin natives were waiting me I Thought about how pitifully outnumbered they were behind the enemy lines now. They hated the Japs Then all of a sudden ah, I didn't have time to think anymore Lousy Jap fighter what clouded he crawled out of it's too late to run. We're in for it Sorry, you're gonna be late for your appointment Brother what I could do with a tail gunner now Hold on to your stomach Mike gonna see if I can loop and get behind him. Hi still on our tail. Yeah, he looked right behind me Nice work you got him How better we hit we all make it better try to belly land can we jump pull up for that? Hold on I was thrown from the plane when we crashed I Got off with nothing more than a leg that was bleeding pretty bad When I crawled back to the wreck I found the pilot he wasn't so lucky I Started to run I didn't know where I was going But I started to run anyway through the bamboo thickets my leg was throbbing with pain and I tripped The pistol dropped out of my holster and disappeared into the high grass. I didn't have time to look for it Somewhere to the north with the kutchins. I had to get to them. This was headhunter country In those days Japs paid high prices for American scalps After a while my breath came out I couldn't go any further My imagination put Japs and headhunters behind every tree. I told myself I had to stop I told myself I didn't have enough wind to take another step But I changed my mind when behind me. I heard a twig snap There was someone following a quiet stealthy someone unpadded cat's feet Kept on running into the river. I didn't bother to look first for crocodiles The numbness for my bad leg spread all over me You could hardly swim All I wanted to do was get away from that shadow behind me When I reached the opposite shore, I clambered under a sandbar safe safe When I look back I saw the tireless shadow emerge from the bushes and flipped silently across the river on a fallen tree trunk My lungs were ready to burst Pulled myself up again and follow with some roots And waited Waited for that shadow to catch up with me. I just lay there and waited Okay Okay, you win Where do we go from here? We'll say something. We'll just stand there Probably won't be able to understand you but Say something anyway. I have to make it worry. I just Stood there staring at me saying nothing. I Don't give anything to have had me gone back again and All of a sudden I did He just reached down and handed it to me Hey, I Don't get it. What's that? What's a card you're holding Follow this guide He will lead you to safety Well Well now you're talking I Sure, and you couldn't look more surprised captain than if the tall grass parted and you came on a field of four leaf clovers I feel that way father like you turned over a stone and there we were What's about it? I thought that native following me was a head hunter I know they'd turn any American over to the Japs for a two pound bag of salt. Yeah, you're right there On the holy sabbages that they are We saw your plane fall and I sent yin here after you with that message written on the card He's the fastest runner in the Cushing village. I'm sorry. He puts which is scared into you Forgive me captain Shay. Did I pull the bandage too tightly then? No, that's okay. I don't mind it too much When I think of what happened to the pilot I was lucky Yes Was a pity about the pilot Ying this is as if you don't mind Thank you There oh Now almost done now Then we'll go out and you'll meet the villagers The women have prepared a special banquet for you. That's very nice of them Have you been a missionary here in Burma long father? Oh for almost 12 years now. I Hardly remember any other life These good natives have all become sons and daughters to me We've taught each other I speak their language They all speak English now. They do as well as I Almost then I have a question for there. Yes I'll come yin over there took 10 years off my life chased me through the jungle. Why didn't he say something? well Ying didn't speak to your captain Shay because he wasn't able to what? He was a prisoner of the Japanese some time ago They cut out his tongue Yeah, that that other all a bandage pleasing Thank you Colleen put more wine in the bamboo cup for our guests. Yes, I will be happy to here you are What did you call her father Colleen to make it easier for me? I've renamed many of the villagers that woman star in the big kettle is Kathleen and the other beside her Bridget I get the general idea and your name is Shay Mike Shay a good Irish name of whatever hard one. Well, actually father. It's Michael Sikolnikov Would you mind repeating that? Sikolnikov Polish I shorten it because everybody has trouble pronouncing it Sometimes I have trouble myself spelling it I see No matter no matter Tell me more about your mission Well, I was sent by the OSS to establish radio contact father with the northern area combat command in Bermont Give them any information and help I can that is with your help of course. Oh, yes Well, you'll find us of great assistance Immediately after the banquet you can find a place to set up your radio. Yeah, how are you enjoying your meal? My wife never made anything of taste it like this. Do you like it? Well, let me fill your plate some more. Mmm. Thanks. Mmm. It's very good What is it? We make it special for you today Quite bees we bought for hours I Guess I've had enough I don't feel right moving you out of your hot father. It's quite all right. I can easily find another basher This is the best spot for your radio. I'll even leave you that the decorations on the walls to inspire you Ginger Rogers, huh? That's your favorite pinup. Well, she's a fair lass. All right She brightens up the basher. Oh with your permission then I'll Stick a snapshot of my wife up with the rest of these pictures Yeah, that does it You know when I think of my wife a few little guilty Why is that mission? Oh, I don't know thought of her going blind squeezing all the news from home into female Wearing herself sick about me And all the time I never felt more free in my life. Yes, I know just what you mean I love this life in the jungle as well as the people my people here. I Don't think I could ever leave now. She could She could Bither by do you mind if I call you or she? No, not at all father-in-law to him not at all This jungle home was a far cry from the third floor walk up in New York and the job behind the desk in the insurance office The cut your warriors aren't imposing figures. They're short and squat with long matted hair and teeth worn to a black stub by beetle nut They led a simple village life eating rice trapping wild pigs The technique they also used in trapping wild Japs But they were friendly happy people and life for them was pleasant Until one afternoon when a report came in on the radio North area combat command to agent Chakalnikov Agent Chakalnikov of the OSS to North area combat command. You're coming in clear a waiting message. Come in over Capture of jungle town of Michena and its airstrip is vital to aid allied advance in Burma Battalions of American marauders will attempt capture They will rely on your help to get them through the jungle over Agent Chakalnikov to headquarters have small band of kitchens organized. We will do what we can Waiting further instructions over Other native armies under OSS leadership have been alerted stand by stand by this is imperative over and out Well, what oh father or tool I I didn't see you standing there You heard I heard oh shit This is a big push all right that airport at Michena could mean success or failure of the whole American campaign in Burma I'll get our warriors ready in the meantime. There's nothing we can do but wait for orders That's always the worst part of it Wait, my children quiet Now It is as I have told you when the order comes from the Americans We will advance upon the enemy. We leave now father catch enemy officer. No, no, no, no That's not the way we must work from now on The American will be our leader. We will do as he says We will follow captain or say Chakalnikov in Burma a battalion of marauders on the way to Michena has been cut off from the main body of the column and lost in the jungle Radio contact gone find them and supply reinforcements over Agent Chakalnikov to headquarters. We'll do the best we can over not Well, we've waited two weeks for an assignment, but when it came it was a beauty The problem or she is locating that battalion now it occurs to me Yes, yes father it occurs to me that if they're surrounded by the Japanese somewhere in the jungle the Japanese themselves would know Exactly where that spot is father. I don't get you Well, there's a Japanese bivouac less than six miles from here There are undoubtedly Japanese high command who have the information. We're after I've got you now father But one of the scouts come with me to show me the way through the jungle We'll sneak into that Jap camp and bring one of the officers back with us. We did to over here low Oh sure sure too many of us and we'll happily get caught just a couple of us can make it All right Wait till the moon is halfway across the sky Den go on the Lord go with you When the moon was halfway across the sky the scout and I set up Back through the jungle I've come from Only this time I was a shadow too Slipping behind the bamboo thickets cutting my way through the dense jungle foliage We didn't talk much Only what was necessary Jap camp close Good Jap camp there ahead See two bushes. Yeah, I see All those fires lit Must be some kind of a power going on century Where finger point? We will surprise Sneak in camp From there right behind you. No talk No talk No spring Okay for the bushes What's what's next is that I don't worry about Another time it's wild boars Komodo lizards watch what's Nick snake You move his strike. What do we do? Can you get him with a stick a rock gun best gun they'll hear it's gun best rock no good stick no good If I miss you die Then I stood there like somebody who had been frozen dumb and stiff My heart was pounding like a jungle Tom Tom if he killed the snake the chaps were sure to come running if he didn't He raised his gun slow slow Snake was swaying back and forth much that he killed him all right, but we didn't have time to escape back into the foliage After that nothing's clear in my mind four Japs all around is yelling like crazy and lots of guns Go in the touching scouts fell flat on his face dead Then somebody buttered me from behind with a pistol and the moon went out of the heavens And the sky that hangs low over Burma came down and hit me in the face Wake up What happened? I'm kind of high itchy of Japanese high command I Regret that we were forced to render you such stormy welcome Colonel high itchy, huh? You speak English pretty well my suit says Institute of Technology class 37 DeWitt Clinton High School the Bronx class of 33 we will get along well I think if we make a little trade What kind of a trade your life for little information? I see American marauders I want to know the numbers their positions their objective. I don't know if I did I wouldn't tell you God That whip was sample We have much more in store for you if you do not agree to be more agreeable to our simple requests I Give you 24 hours to think it over American The hut they threw me into was small and dark. There was a century posted at the entrance What I remember most about those 24 hours was the heat Wet sticky heat that made my skin crawl and my lips dry It was a cute trick of the MIT graduate class of 37 to let the water drip from a pipe right outside the barred window After a while it begins to get you when you're thirsty You get up get up Can I eat you see you now? Up American. Oh, okay. Okay. Get your hands off me What what's that? Stumpy stumpy That's one less Japanese to worry about the real where'd you come from? What is this? No time for long explanations now lad Day out number to 50 to one and we needed heavy ammunition Elephant with the heaviest we could find yeah, but how did you well when you didn't come back? I sent a runout we found the body of this come we must leave now. Yeah, but the information I came to get We'll take it with us Cuts in warriors in this village have a grudge against your people Colonel Hayachi Maybe you can tell us why you cannot frighten me American you'll get no information for me Shoes on the other foot now, huh, so it would seem Ying I'd like you to meet Ying Colonel Hayachi Some months ago. He was a Japanese prisoner His tongue was cut out I'm gonna turn you over to Ying. No. No, he can ask your questions his own way Go on take him. No, no, no get him away from me I would tell you what you want to know. I would tell you why we have sir Battalion I'll tell you where they are. That's more like it start talking He's got ready to attack and a great holiday spirit took over the village, but we must come We always come or say when our warriors go ambush Japanese But this is crazy I can't have a lot of women and kids and old men tagging along we go we go Old men carry fin block muzzle loader Women we do our job or so now wait a minute when battle finished Women cook big party Somebody monkey meat what and serve it pipe and hot in the front lines nothing doing I'm gonna see Father O'Toole about this You have your problems. I have mine. Oh, yeah, but we can't let that whole tribe come along This isn't kids play they'll come with your life and pure not or say they always do in the mean Why look at my predicament some son of Satan stole me false teeth What am I to do without me to father O'Toole, please we have much time I eat you gave us a map. We know where the marauders and the Jap Attackers are But we won't do the many good just sitting here. I'm not just sitting here. I say I'm trying to find me teeth The whole village went along whether I liked it or not and Father O'Toole came along too without his teeth The kutch and warrior knew the back trails the jungle as well as I knew 42nd Street Yings seem to be the leader and he let us through little known passes along hidden underbrush Closer and closer to the spot where we knew the Jap's had the American battalion cut off helpless just where they wanted No one made a sound and ying held up his hand What is it getting this junction of the two trails? He's not sure which one to take That's it. Isn't it? Why don't we split up half was go one way? No, no There aren't enough of us the kutchings of their own methods Why is ying pointing at me? He's giving you the honor of contributing the hair from your head. Oh, what a hair from your head Here, let me have one. Ah Thank you Here you are ying Was he thrown it on the ground? We'll go in the direction the hair points It's not very scientific. Oh, but it always works It points to the right we'll go to the right Oh Right father old rule it did work here are the chaps never the marauders dug into those foxholes They're surrounded all right for that So wonder they held out this long our business then is to attack the enemy from the rear and give the battalion a chance to hit back We can't attack them. There's too many of them. We'll have to ambush. Yes, it's true Only I had me teeth or you could think that ying some of your others come here Listen I've only chances to draw them off from the left. There's a clearing there They'll give the marauders a chance to get out of that encirclement. It's a chap soldier. Okay. We said trap That's the idea Pansy, what's that? Hey, you want a trap set watch you're about to witness the kutching secret weapon What are they doing? They're witness those bamboo poles to sharp points Then they'll stick them at the slant beneath the underbrush on either side of the trail When the enemy passes our body is your fire and the Japanese are dived to the sides. I get it and cut themselves to ribbons very effect Very pretty The natives work quickly the women helping them whittle the bamboo to razor points When everything was ready, I took a few of our men to the left flank and we fire They ran right into our trap Very effective I committed mass Harry curry all along the trail That's all there was to it Well, I never thought we'd get out of those foxholes alive Captain Shukolnikov Thanks for helping us chase the rest of the Japs off. I'm glad we could help me just The kutchins will lead you the rest of the way through the jungle so you can rejoin the main body of your column Can we leave now? Oh, no major the women would be insulted I'll do it in the battle. They were busy preparing the victory feast Pretty sure of themselves one thing good wives. They have confidence in their husbands. The feast is ready They're even dressed for it. Look at that flowers in the hair and everything all dressed up One of them is over dressed Colleen come here. Yes, father. Don't you? Yes, father me. What do you got around your neck? I bow for the victory my false teeth now you point yourself another necklace and give them back to me No, no, then I have nothing this pretty Colleen listen to me here. Here's something prettier my shop shoot as matter Every American soldier has one to give to the prettiest girl he meets Would you like it? So shiny ribbon pretty too Father or two you have back your teeth Captain Sheikolnikov You're worthy of the name of Oshie The capture of the vital airstrip and the ultimate conquest of missioner was due to the combined efforts of the marauders who attacked it and The kuchen warriors who helped them and harassed the enemy all along the way and Once more the report of an OSS agent closes with the words mission Accomplished a further adventure in black warfare is next week cloak and dagger Third in today's cloak and dagger adventure were Raymond Edward Johnson Karl Weber Bill Quinn Joe Julian Everett Sloan Inga Adams Jackson Beck and Jerry Jarrett The script was written by Winifred Wolfe and Jack Gordon music was under the direction of John Gart Today's true OSS adventure was based on the book cloak and dagger by Corey Ford and Alistair McBain This has been a Louis G. Count production in association with Alfred Hollander It was under the direction and supervision of Sherman marks Robert Warren speaking You enjoy a capricious caper or a melodramatic mystery NBC offers three of the best for your pleasure later today a giant among men the big guy leads off With Vincent Price is the saint close behind Topping off this list is Sam spade license number 137596 in the Elmer longtail caper So listen for three top mysteries on NBC