Against the Sun

1942. The South Pacific.

The New Year finds USS Enterprise

and her crew of 2,000 men

preparing to deliver greetings

to the Japanese

in the form of torpedo bombers

and fighter planes.

With last month's attack

on Pearl Harbor still fresh in the minds

of these American aviators,

they've decided that revenge

is a dish best served piping hot.

Chief, this is Aldrich.

I'm losing her on the ARA.

Come on, where are you goin'?

Chief, I've lost the beacon. Over.

Are we close, Chief?

I'll give him a tap,

maybe his com is down.

Chief, can you hear us? Over.

Loud and clear, boys.

Just waiting for this wind to tell me

which direction she wants to blow.

Pastula, take another drift set.

That's not how I'm reading those wave tops.

Yes, Chief.

15 degrees.

Same read as the outbound, Chief.

If that's correct...

she's off to the east. I had her west.

I'm taking her east.

Blue Base, this is 6-tare-14

requesting an inbound bearing, Over.

- Chief, you've broken radio silence.

- Affirmative. We need a bearing.

Confirm you're on 79.

7-niner confirmed.

I reckon we're still too far out.

Well, keep trying.

Blue Base 6-tare-14, do you read?

Come in, Blue Base, over.

- Chief.

- Go.

On the EMF, I heard Jap talk.

Pulled the plug.

- Roger that. Let's go silent on Morse.

- Silent on Morse, affirmative.

How are we on fuel, Chief?

Low.

Pastula, we need to make altitude.

Drop the ordinance.

Aye-aye, Chief. Bombs away.

- Aldrich, hit that MF.

- But the Japs, Chief.

Do it!

Blue Base, this is 6-tare-14,

do you read?

6-tare-14 to Blue Base.

Come in, Blue Base. Over.

Like hell she's east.

Enterprise, this is 6-tare-14,

do you read?

- Get on it, Aldrich.

- I'm on it.

We're out of range.

Boys, I got to put her down

before we run out of fuel.

Snug up your vests, stand by

for a water landing, understood?

You're kidding me.

- Affirmative, Chief.

- Pastula?

Yes, Chief?

Aldrich, gather the flares,

the smoke candles and the first aid kit.

We're gonna need the flashlight.

Pastula, grab the rations and the water

and ready the life raft.

Keep your heads, boys.

Pass this back!

- Got it.

- Coming through!

Grab a parachute!

- Parachute?

- Prepare to ditch!

Brace for impact!

- Pastula?

- Here, Chief.

- Aldrich?

- Here.

Step lively, boys.

Come on!

Chief!

No, no!

Damn thing won't inflate!

The valve is jammed. Train that beam.

Unship your weapons.

They're dragging us down.

I can't get it.

There goes mine.

Mine too. That makes a difference.

This damn thing.

Here it goes!

It's too heavy to lift.

Maybe if we...

Aldrich!

You get trapped under there again,

just deflate the vest a little bit

swim down and out, understood?

I can't swim much.

You're kidding. You?

Not really, Chief. No!

For crying out...

Okay.

This is gonna be hard to turn over

in these swells.

We take off our vests,

string them together,

tie one on here and throw the other across.

Then we go around and pull.

- Good idea.

- Except neither one of you can swim.

Just have to hold tight

to the handrail, real tight.

- Okay. Let's give it a go.

- Yeah.

Here.

All right. Okay.

Go around, then I'll toss it over.

- Okay. Ready?

- Yeah.

Here it comes!

- You got it?

- All right. We got it.

All right, get a grip

and heave like you mean it.

One, two, three!

Come on.

Hold it down. I'll go around

the other side and climb in.

Come on.

Kippers in a can got more space.

Let's try laying athwart.

Aldrich, I think you already

strapped in when I was on deck.

Didn't get a good look at you.

Harold Dixon.

Gene Aldrich.

You'll get a gander in the morning,

Chief. I'm sure I'll be here.

Pastula, is that Italian?

- Polish, Chief.

- Polish.

I've made a couple of hops

with you before.

Oh, yeah? I don't remember.

We'll be picked up come morning,

you reckon, Chief?

That's what I'm hoping.

- Hoping?

- We got procedures for this.

Come early morning,

they'll be on us like an old hound dog.

It was so damn hot inside that plane.

It's freezing down here.

Cock-a-doodle-doo, boys.

Well, we made it.

I was worried she wouldn't keep us

afloat, but she's still ship-shape.

Thank God.

Gene Aldrich, now I know you.

I couldn't put a face in the name.

In all my glory, Chief.

All right, who's up

for a fresh cup of coffee?

Hen-Ry! I'm gonna put on the pot.

All right, yeah.

- Thanks, Henry.

- Henry? Why Henry?

Oh, it's that show, you know,

off the radio?

Hen-Ry! Henry Aldrich!

No, I never heard of it.

Chief, when you said you were gonna land

in the drink, I thought, boy, this is it.

- Thought I couldn't land her?

- Wasn't that some flying?

I mean, he just laid her right down.

Yeah, he sure did.

You know, Aldrich, I've been wondering,

I don't understand

how you couldn't raise that carrier.

We couldn't have been more

than 20 miles out at one point.

Even at 40,

should have caught something, right?

You tell me, Chief. How far out were we?

We should keep our eyes peeled, right?

That's right. Everybody take a point.

We need to cover 360.

Good visibility.

Yeah, they'll check

every square mile out here.

It'll take a while,

but they'll do it, won't they?

Right, even if it takes all day

or into tomorrow.

Yep. Could take most of a day.

They'll do a box out to 50.

Well, even 100. They got the vis.

Divide that by the number of planes,

heck, it's likely to be this morning.

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