The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents Guy Kibbe, Wendy Barry, and Dick Foran in The Purple Heart Comes to Free Meadow. Before we begin our play, here is a helpful suggestion for homemakers. Redecorating this spring can be done more quickly, easily, and economically by using Speed-Easy wall paint, one of DuPont's better things for better living. Speed-Easy is quicker because it dries in an hour, easier because it goes on so fast, more economical because only one coat covers most soiled walls or dingy wallpaper. This year, save time and money with Speed-Easy, made by DuPont. Tonight, our DuPont Cavalcade play, written by Halstead Wells, tells the story of a young sergeant returning to his New England village. Most of all, it's the story of Uncle Caleb, eager to honor this sergeant, Charkey, who is the first local boy that's won the Purple Heart. On the eve of Washington's birthday, this is a timely story because the award of the Purple Heart was originally created by George Washington on the 7th of August, 1782, at Newburgh, New York. This award was to acknowledge and encourage distinguished military acts. After the play, we shall hear from a soldier in the Army of the United States, aware of the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for gallantry. DuPont brings you Guy Kibbe as Uncle Caleb, Wendy Barry as Jill, Dick Foran as Charkey, and the Purple Heart comes to Free Meadows on the DuPont Cavalcade of America. It's a crisp snow and sun Saturday morning. The houses are white. The winter trees are dark against the sky. It's a blue sky. Uncle Caleb is driving his cutter through Free Meadows, a village on the Dover Road, four miles out of Exeter, New Hampshire. Jill Emerson, the new schoolteacher, is with him. I'm glad you're coming to supper tonight, Jill. Getting it up for my boy Charkey. I've never been to a potluck supper before, Uncle Caleb. Mmm, young and pretty. My, you'll be like decorations in the church basement. Here, read this list for me. Mrs. Jerry Harvey, scallop potatoes. Mrs. Meryl Hopkins, scallop potatoes. Mrs. Lynn Arthur, scallop potatoes. That's bad. Mmm, too bad for Charkey. And him a sergeant coming back from North Africa on the 211 train. Mrs. Tyler lives here. Easy, Dolly. We'll stop a minute and see what she's fixed. Whoa, careful now. I can jump. No, it's been a driftin'. Of course, Charkey isn't really my boy. Never had a boy. I'd always kept a lookout for Charkey. Now, with that soldier coming home from war, would you feed him ten pans of scallop potatoes and no pot roast? Hey, would you, Dolly? Even the horse thinks it's terrible. Oh, mornin', Uncle Caleb. Mornin', Mrs. Tyler. Come in. This is Jill Emerson. Oh, Uncle Caleb would bring you to the kitchen door. Everything smells cooking, Mrs. Tyler. Oh, that's just for the potluck at the church tonight. Could you open the oven for us to look? Unless it might spoil what's cookin'. Oh, you couldn't spoil this. It's just scallop potatoes. Oh. There you are, Uncle Caleb. Look. Yeah, I can see from here. Where? Mrs. Tyler, Charkey's coming back with one of them awards for extra special bravery and being wounded in action. Yes, sir. He's got himself a Purple Heart Award. Can't wait to go to church to see him. I was sayin' to Miss Emerson how you can fix, take my sweet potatoes, the finest in three counties. Oh, Uncle Caleb, didn't you have a letter from Charkey hoping for a good dish of sweet potatoes? Tell you what I'll do. I'll fix a dish of those sweet potatoes and I'll cover it with melted marshmallows browned on top. Bless you. The scalloped ones I'll give my husband this noon. He's been eatin' them for 25 years. One more dish can't kill him. This is Miss Thompson. Well, let's get out. She's the sourest old girl on the eastern seaboard. She's just like her to being plain lemon gelatin. Better not stand there under the eaves. The icicles is drippin'. Uncle Caleb. Hey. Look what's coolin' outside the kitchen window. What? Lemon gelatin. Any bananas cut in? No. Oranges, maybe? No. Cherries? Not even nuts? It's just plain gelatin. You said it, Dolly. What are you after, Caleb? This is Miss Emerson. Saw you snoopin' at my dessert, Miss Emerson. Didn't it take your fancy? I was admiring how clear it was. Hattie Thompson, are you planin' to bring that for Charkey? That's plenty good for Charkey. What's he done in the war, huh? Now, Hattie. Is he a captain of a PT boat? Is he a pilot on Obama? No. He's been sittin' under a palm tree, that's all. He has been fighting. Fighting in Tunisia. Fighting in Sicily. Hattie, there's just one thing that could make up for all he's done. What? Mint spy. I've only one job, mint meat left. And you won't get it. But this is Jubilee potluck with speeches. Charkey's gonna tell about how he won the Purple Heart. And I'm gonna tell about the very first Purple Heart. The only one in all existence that General Washington gave when he started the award way back in Revolution days. Caleb, I'm all alone in the world, and I've only got one job, mint meat. And who do you think owns this one and only Purple Heart? The Cincinnati Society, right next to it, just four miles away. Yes, sir, and I got permission to bring that Purple Heart to the church. You told me it was like this, I might have, but now I haven't time. Not even an hour? No, there's Menden and Donnen for all afternoon. Miss Thompson, if I came next Saturday to help you, so couldn't you? Would you work all day? Yes. Would you expect me to give you lunch? No. Then I'll bake the pie. Hello there, Frank Champney. When's Sharkey coming? On the 211. Been shaving, ain't you? You seen the Reverend? Yeah, he just passed, and he was going into his bar and set the milk, looked like. Miss Emerson to me has been figuring out how to ask him a delicate question. What's that? We want cider tonight. Darn if I know how to ask the Reverend if he'll allow cider in the church. Mr. Caleb, you're going to need diplomacy. Ah, well Frank, you'll be coming yourself tonight. Yeah, I reckon the Mrs. and me will bring a rib roast. That'll be wonderful. Well, you see Miss Emerson, we had a boy overseas. That is, until we got a telegram from the war department. I bet you anything he'd have a purple heart too. Not that it matters, he couldn't wear it now. So what I mean to say is we're counting on coming tonight. As long as we can't do anything for our boy, we like to do it for Sharkey. That's what I mean. Didn't know you did your own milking, Reverend. Oh, you milk real nice. Yeah, what's on your mind, Mr. Caleb? We've been talking about all the wonderful things the Lord has created. That's good talk. About maple trees and birds and cranberries and peaches. And apples. And about all the wonderful things that man can make with what the Lord created. Like apple sauce, apple cobbler, baked apple, even squeezing apples for the juice. Well, what's the matter, Reverend, did I say anything for you to take exception to? Uncle Caleb, reach that jug on the wall back of you. What, this one? That's right. And that's the finest cider that the Lord and I ever created. Reverend, we'll see you tonight at six. Next stop, next stop, next stop, next stop, next stop, next stop. Hey Bungie, you better head down to booty. Be a good boy and have Fanta. Every night when I get through this lousy job and get home to the missus here, the kids and her yelling, it makes me want to fight. Too old. But I like to hear about it. Machine guns, bayonets, killin'. Yes, sir. The iron jade is a dime. The dime is ten cents. The next iron jade is... Can you imagine that? It isn't bad enough to kill over there. You've got to come back and do it all over again for the folks back home. Yes, sir. Yes, sir. Well, here's home. When I get home, I just want to sit, sit, and sit. Well, all I want to do is see my Uncle Caleb, and maybe spear me an eel through the ice on Great Bay. If the roads are blown clear, I'm going to ride my motorcycle. But this Patalkin war, not for me, not by alongside. Shaki! Shaki boy! Jill, before I forget it, I wouldn't say anything about that potluck tonight. Keep it like a surprise. Hey, Uncle Caleb! Oh, boy, boy, boy. Let me take your bag. Oh, that's all right. Shaki, I want to carry your bag. Hey, what's the matter? The ragweed bothering you? Huh? Well, you've got tears in your eyes. Oh, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. You're safe and home. Oh, I just can't wait to get back to the quiet of free meadows. Not to have to talk to anyone except you, Uncle Caleb, and... Oh, this is Jill Emerson, our new teacher. Pleased to meet you. Pleased to meet you. Hey, you know, you add up to something pretty nice I hadn't counted on. Thank you. Well, cry me and Jill, and Shaki. I'll tell you what we'll do this evening. What's that? You and Jill and me will come into Exeter and we'll have us a time at the cozy corner. Three hours of ice cream and jukebox. What do you say, Jill? Well, I... Good. I know you'll come, Uncle Caleb. I just can't wait to see you dance. Shaki, I'm dancing right now. Well, look who's home. Hello, Miss Thompson. Made yourself the big hero, didn't you, Shaki? Oh, no. I just tried to do my job. Well, I'm coming to the church tonight to see you. What? Shaki, we're just having a potluck for you. Not for me you aren't. Oh, come on, boy. Folks are counting on seeing you. Look at him. Just itching to come and tell all about it. How's that? Your speech. Everybody's coming to hear you tell how you won that Purple Heart. Hey, did you say I'd give a speech, Uncle Caleb? Yes, but not... Shaki, wait. Don't go, Shaki. Thanks for thinking of me, Uncle Caleb. But if you'd have been on the beach at Salerno, you wouldn't want to talk about it either. Wait a minute, Shaki. Shaki, don't go. Thanks for the band. I'll see you tomorrow. Well, man to Goshen. The boy's right. I should have thought of it. Of course he wouldn't want to talk. But what can we do? Blind old Grandma Everett coming out in the cold. The Champney's coming with a roast for Shaki instead of their boy. Young Dave Peterson's coming to play the harmonica. The Snyder's coming. And Shaki ain't a-coming. I guess it won't be much of a jubilee. Not without Shaki. We've got to find him. Whoa, girl. See that fish shack out on the ice? Yeah. You wait here. I'm going out there. Look, someone's coming out of the shack. That's right, there is. But it isn't a soldier. Maybe Shaki's inside. Hello. Hello there. Hello. Shaki there? Huh? Is Shaki there? No. Has he been there? Yep. Where did he go? Back in the Exeter. Caught three eels and went to heaven cooking. What time is it, Jill? Oh, four o'clock. What time is it? Why didn't we pass him on the road? It's four o'clock. We must have passed him on the road to Statham. How about it, Dolly? Two miles to Free Meadows and then four miles to Exeter. Oh, you shouldn't begrudge it, Dolly. Never made you plow, did I? Then just figure this is your war effort. You are listening to Guy Kibbe, Wendy Barry, and Dick Foran in The Purple Heart Comes to Free Meadows on the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry. As our play continues, Uncle Caleb and Jill, played by Mr. Kibbe and Miss Barry, are searching for Shaki. They want him to come to the Potluck Supper in his honor at the church because he's the first boy from the village of Free Meadows who have won a Purple Heart. Shaki, played by Mr. Foran, has been dodging them because he's afraid he'll have to make a speech. But right now, Uncle Caleb and Jill come looking for him at the Cozy Corner Cafe. Can you see him in there? He's at the table alone. Let's think of the jukebox. I knew he'd come to the Cozy Corner. Five o'clock. Got to kind of work fast. Got to figure out how to handle him. He can't drive him. I'll explain to him nice and careful like an ox. Let's go in. Hello, Shaki. Hello, Shaki. Well, where do you look here? In the press? Oh, no, no. I've been driving around to show Jill the countryside. You weren't hurting for me, were you? No, just looking at all the ice. You should have come earlier. I've just finished a fine mess of eels. Too bad you weren't here, Jill. Yeah, I'm crazy for eels. Aren't you going to the church supper? No, we gave that up. Too many people coming. Well, then we can all spend the evening together. Oh, sure. Sure thing. Well, there's only one little thing that... Yeah? I've got to stop by the Cincinnati Society Museum and pick up a soldier's coat from Revolution Time. What for? It's got a purple heart on it, sewed out of cloth. Only one in the world. You see, I promised to bring it to the church. But we won't stay. No, no, no, no. Want to ride along with us? Might as well. Then we'll all come right back here to that ice cream and jukebox you were tanking for. It's an old place. George Washington used to come here. Don't bump your head on the ceiling. This is the tap room where he ate. And in here, in here is the desk where he sat. Getting dusk, isn't it? Oh, we can see it all right. Isn't it a beauty? We've got to sit a bit. My leg's just kind of... Sit down, Dale. Jackie, don't you want to sit? Okay. Dale, isn't it? There's nothing as still as early evening in an old house. Think of my elbow right where George Washington's was. He must have had elbows, mustn't he? Did you know that Washington started the first Purple Heart? Yeah, I guess so. This old coat they found up in the barn was laying over a spinning wheel. Don't know whose coat it was. Don't know whose spinning wheel it was. But I always figured it was a story of something like this. A soldier and a girl. Soldier, maybe like you, Sharkey. Girl like Jill, maybe. I figure he was wounded, staying in bed two months in a farmhouse and not getting better. And every afternoon the farmer's girl used to come up and spin by him. Of course, he liked to hear the click of the spinning wheel. Sizzling, keeping his mind from wandering far away and bitter. Just like that click, click, click in the dust creeping up like this. Oh, I hate lying in bed. Two months on my back, forgotten. You aren't forgotten? Who cares? Who cares for a soldier once he's fought and broken and the war is over? Don't talk. The battle where I fell and bled isn't even a mark on the map in the war office. The men I fought with passed me by in a rush to Wides and home. The country I fought for, I can't remember. Please lie still. You need to rest. I'm an egg in a stink in a land happy again and greedy again in peace. You're wrong, wrong. They'll remember. God and General Washington? They're busy playing games. I can't answer the things you say from fever, the bitter things, but I still hope. All these weeks as the slow days passed, one and then another, another dragging by like wounded soldiers. I have hoped and believed that you wouldn't be forgotten. I still do. Oh, go on, Spinning. I'd rather hear the dry click of the wheel. The wheel is honest. It just says life passes. Life passes to nothing. Come in. I'm looking for a soldier, John Stevens. Here he is. He has a visitor outside. Bring him in. Bring him in. You seem excited. I just want to look out of the window. Oh, it's snowing again. It isn't always winter. You'll be up by spring. Come May, you'll sit out in the sun. Come June, we'll walk by the river. Come in. General Washington. Sir, I greet you with the gratitude of myself, Congress, the nation. What you did, we knew at headquarters, but where you were we didn't know until a letter came from you are the girl. I took the liberty. It seemed right. Right and due. I have come, sir, to award you the badge of military merit, the Order of the Purple Heart. Thank you. I shall read the statement. In order to cherish virtuous ambition in a soldier, as well as to foster and encourage every species of military merit, the Commander-in-Chief directs that whenever any singular meritorious action is performed, the author of it shall be permitted to wear on his facings over the left breast the figure of a heart in purple cloth or silk, edged with narrow lace or bindings. The road to glory in a patriot army and a free country is thus open to all. John Stevens, do you accept? Thank you, sir. Is there a piece of purple cloth in the house? My best dress is purple. Perhaps from the hem of it you could... From the whole of it. I'll cut a heart as big as the flag. Yeah, then the spring came, the soldier got well, got the girl. His bitterness went with the earth turning green. And knowing that folks remembered. It's a good thing, that purple heart, a proud thing to wear. And even to talk about. People like to hear. For instance, most of the free meddlers worked over in the shipyards now, and if a sailor comes home, they want to know how the sailing was on the ship that they built. Could she take it and give it back double? They've got a right to know. Some folks are foolish, but they can't hold back the many for the few. At least that's the way I figure. Uncle Caleb? Yes? What time is it? Almost six. Six? Mm-hmm. Thought not to keep them waiting. Huh? Shock! If we're going to that church supper, we'd better stop talking. Thank you, Guy Kibbe, Wendy Barry, and Dick Foran, for your performances in tonight's story about the purple heart. On the eve of Washington's birthday, DuPont salutes the thousands of Americans, the living and the dead, and the heroes of the purple heart from 1782 to the present day. Guy Kibbe will return to the microphone in a few minutes to present to us Corporal Emile Epony, member of the military order of the purple heart. And now, Clayton Collier, speaking for DuPont, tells us of some new and unusual wartime uses for nylon yarn. A few years ago, farmers driving along the country roads around Wilmington, Delaware, would stare an amazement as a red coupe rumbled past with four or five pieces of rope dangling behind it. The ropes didn't seem to be there for any purpose. They were just hanging loosely, whipping and lashing the road surface as the car rolled over the back road. That was the first wear test of nylon rope. More severe tests followed. Manila and nylon ropes of the same diameter were rubbed back and forth over a smooth steel bar. The Manila wore out after 200,000 rubs. The nylon rope was still good after a million. Because rope made of DuPont nylon yarn passed its tests so well, soon it was being used for nonstop pickups of airmail. Ordinary rope, braided materials, rubber rope, even steel cable had been tried for nonstop mail pickups, but all that were tried snapped or fouled the control surfaces of the plane. Nylon took the enormous strain, gave a little like a well-tempered spring, and lifted the mail sacks into the air so smoothly that the pilot of the plane didn't even feel a jar. And when snow kept regular mail planes from landing at Pittsburgh for 10 days, the pickup service using nylon rope functioned without interruption. When the Ohio River flooded airports with several feet of water, two men in a boat hung the mail bags in a bullet-shaped container between tall poles, and the pickup plane swooped down for the evening mail like a gull diving for a fish. Today, gleaming white nylon rope picks up mail and air express at more than a hundred nonstop stations in half a dozen states. Towns not on the regular airmail stock. Applications for the service are unfiled from 1,800 other communities. When the war is over, because of the pickup system, it may be possible to mail a letter in a small town in Maine and have it delivered the following day in another small town in California. But that will have to wait until the war is won. For today, the Army is using nylon rope to tow gliders. In a straight tow, such as the trip across the Atlantic, for instance, nylon rope helps to ease the jerks and snatches caused by bumpy air. Most of the glider operations so far, including the transatlantic cargo trip and the Sicilian invasion, have been straight tows, with plane and glider leaving the field together. But nonstop pickups of gliders have been made, and perhaps before the war is over, they will prove to be of value in bringing in troops or removing them from areas where planes cannot land. Nylon rope is one of the many new developments which come to you as DuPont better things for better living through chemistry. And here is Guy Kibbe with Corporal Emile Epinay, wearer of the Ribbon of the Purple Heart and the Silver Star for Gallantry. Applause Corporal Epinay, welcome to Cavalcade. Thank you, Mr. Kibbe. I'm sorry we can't provide the kind of potluck supper to welcome you that the folks in the play got up for sharky. Something else happened to me the same as the sharky, and it's pretty important to me too. And what was that, Corporal? Well, I found out just like sharky did that the first Purple Heart was awarded by George Washington. This medal sure goes back a long way. Yes, son, you are part of a glorious tradition of our country. In what action did you win that decoration? In Tunisia in the African Campaign. And your Silver Star? I got that in the same show. Those are proud things to wear. We'd like to hear more about them, son. And you see I was a liaison between the first aid station and the infantry in the field. The going was pretty hot and thick that day, and I got tagged by an 88-millimeter shell. And I guess, well, I guess that's about all. Well, son, I guess all you fellows are pretty much alike. You just can't get to talking about yourselves. But here, ladies and gentlemen, is the story as told by the War Department. For gallantry in action while under constant enemy fire, Corporal Epinay crawled to the side of a serious wounded soldier. And with the assistance of members of his litter squad, rendered first aid. Later, Corporal Epinay assisted in successfully evacuating this soldier across the range, constantly exposed to enemy fire. Son, we are grateful and honored to have you with us here tonight. Good luck to you, Corporal Epinay. Thank you. Applause. Ladies and gentlemen, this the week in which we celebrate Washington's birthday as being observed throughout America as Brotherhood Week, in order to realize again the spirit of unity among people of different races, cultures, and religions that makes our country strong. Our fight to win the war and establish a real peace will be endangered by any attempt to divide Protestants, Jews, and Catholics by appeals to religious bigotry and hatred. Next week, DuPont presents Virginia Weidler and Jane Darwell in Junior Angel, a friendly, warm-hearted story of young Americans and their part in the war on the home front, with Miss Weidler starred in the role of Ruthie Crawford, student nurse's aide, and Jane Darwell as nurse Boyle. The play concerns in sprightly fashion a teenage girl and her fine and needed contribution toward winning the war by helping in our country's hospitals. It might also be the story of thousands of other young American girls of today who wait only to be told how they may serve. Cabellcade is pleased to remind its audience that Guy Kibbe will soon be seen in the Jack Benny picture, The Horn Blows at Midnight. Dick Foran is currently appearing in the Broadway musical, A Connecticut Yankee. Tonight's DuPont Cabellcade Orchestra was under the direction of Donald Bure. This is Roland Winters sending best wishes from Cabellcade's sponsor, the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, who invites you to join Cabellcade's audience again next Monday evening when Virginia Weidler and Jane Darwell will be starred in Junior Angel. This is the National Broadcasting Company. Thank you.
