Hail the Conquering Hero Page #2

New Providence, Fort Nassau,

the second Battle of Trenton,

the Bonhomme Richard

and the Serapis...

"I have not yet begun

to fight. "

Tripoli in 1805,

Nuku Hiva in 1812,

the Battle of

Hatchee-Lustee River in 1837,

Veracruz in '46, Chapultepec,

the halls of Montezuma,

Panama in '85,

Guantnamo Bay in '98,

then the Philippines,

the Boxer Rebellion in China,

Nicaragua, Coyotepe Hill,

Fort Riviere and Haiti.

Then Chteau-Thierry, Belleau Wood,

the charge at Soissons, Saint-Mihiel,

and now Wake Island,

Guam, Bataan,

Corregidor, Guadalcanal.

They bled and died.

They gave me a big send-off

when I left home.

Band was playing, everybody hollering,

the dogs barking, my mother crying.

Everybody wondering if I'd come home a

general or just a sergeant like my father.

Well, it's one thing to come home

with things like that on your chest,

and another thing to go home with

hay fever and a medical discharge.

You mean you ain't

been home yet?

I wrote I was leaving

for overseas.

You shouldn't do that

to your mother.

I wrote a couple of letters

to say I was all right,

and I asked a kid to mail them

from overseas for me.

Suppose that he didn't

get a chance to mail them?

Well... That's a terrible

thing to do to your mother.

You ought to be

ashamed of yourself.

You say your father was a

sergeant at Belleau Wood?

That's right.

What was his name?

I was at Belleau Wood.

Truesmith.

Truesmith?

You mean

Hinky Dinky Truesmith?

That's right.

Why, he was my sergeant.

I saw him fall!

Right then I was being born,

in Oak Ridge, California.

Did you know your father got

the Congressional Medal of Honor?

I grew up with it.

They hung it on me.

Is that where she lives,

Oak Ridge?

Who?

Your mother.

Sure. You ought to be

ashamed of yourself.

It's an honor to meet you,

kid. What's your name?

Woodrow Lafayette

Pershing Truesmith.

Go ahead and laugh.

That ain't anything to laugh

at to anyone who knows anything.

Boys, I want you to shake hands with

Hinky Dinky Truesmith's boy, Woodrow.

Corporal Candida.

How do you do?

Privates

First Class Swenson...

Swenson, glad to know you.

Jones...

Jones.

Gillette.

Gillette, how you doing?

My name is Heppelfinger. Julius.

And you can just call me Sarge.

Set them up. Excuse me.

Certainly, Sarge.

I guess you never got to know

your father very well, huh?

Well, not exactly,

as he fell the day I was born.

That's right.

It's hard to realize.

He was a fine-looking fellow.

He didn't look anything

like you at all.

I know. We've got a picture

of him at home and...

This is Bugsy Walewski.

Pleased to meet you.

Can I borrow 50 cents?

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