Battle Cry

They call me Mac.

The name's not important.

It's January 1942.

Marine outposts around the world

have fallen to the Japanese.

Our ranks are empty and ill-equipped.

We need help.

From every part of the country,

kids are answering our call.

This is Baltimore, Maryland.

Detail, halt!

Left face!

You men have got a few minutes

to see your folks. Fall out!

Ma and Pa's over here.

Hey, lady, my brother's a Marine.

If your father had listened to me,

you wouldn't be going to war at 19.

- Mom, let's not go over that again.

- I'm proud of you, son.

Danny!

Hi, Danny. I'm sorry I'm late.

- Scared?

- A little.

Look, suppose I'm gone a year or two years.

Suppose you want to change your mind.

Well, we'd both be awfully hurt then.

I won't change my mind.

I just want to go on being your girl.

Kathy...

I guess this kind of makes us engaged, huh?

Yes.

All right, Section 5, all aboard!

Section 5!

Let's go, on the double, come on!

- Good luck, son.

- All right, all aboard, let's go.

If they don't treat you right, you come right back.

How long can we go on like this,

sneaking around, meeting in cheap joints?

- You'd get to hate me.

- I could never hate you.

But your old man hates me. I won't be

able to get a decent job in this lousy town.

Sue, can't you see I'd rot here?

I couldn't take it!

Ski, what's gonna happen

if you can't get me to California?

Baby, I'll save every nickel, and I'll send for you.

We'll be away from Philly

and your old man.

- All aboard!

- Oh, honey!

All right, men. Get aboard.

Come on now, hurry up!

- I've got to go, baby.

- Get aboard!

Scenes like this are played all over the land...

... as boys from the cities and from

the farms rush to fill our ranks.

All trains head west.

Destination, San Diego.

This bunch looks like any other group we're getting.

Politics and wars make strange bedfellows.

In almost every car,

you'll find a Texan with a guitar...

... an all-American boy...

... the farmer...

... the pride of the Navajos.

Then there's the slum kid...

... the bookworm...

... the lumberjack.

And there's one in every outfit.

And you'll usually find a troublemaker.

- Put it back. You didn't make your point.

- What do you mean?

- You accusing me of something dishonest?

- Put it back.

I was only kidding.

Let's be buddies.

- Spanish Joe's a troublemaker.

- Yeah.

He'll learn. The hard way.

- I wish we were in San Diego already.

- We'll be there soon enough.

You're a couple of nice guys.

I hope we stick together.

Be okay.

- Got a gal, Marion?

- No.

How about you, Andy?

Do I got a gal?

I got hundreds of them.

Every broad in the north woods knows old Andy.

Not me. I got one, that's all I need.

One?

This guy's nuts.

San Diego, the end of the line.

As they arrive at boot camp,

the door to their past shuts behind them.

Get off that truck. Get off.

Quickly.

Get back in there!

Get going.

All right, you guys,

follow that white line over there.

- My head feels like a prickly pear!

- I've been scalped!

Gonna let my eyebrows grow out

and throw them back!

Move it in, you guys!

Come on! Move out!

Over there, you skinheads!

The rest of you get in there

and get deloused.

All right, you people.

My name is Sergeant Beller.

You guys are going to hate the day

you met me.

As far as I'm concerned,

you are not human beings anymore.

And don't get the idea you're Marines!

You're recruits! Meatheads!

The lowest form of animal

in this here universe.

You will refer to me as "sir."

All right.

You'll eat no candy,

read no papers, hear no radios...

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