The DuPont Cavalcade of America, starring Louis Calharn and MacDonald Carey. Good evening. This is Louis Calharn. Tonight, as our nationwide commemoration of Memorial Day weekend comes to a close, Cavalcade brings you a story of an American soldier whose spiritual conquest equaled any victory on the battlefield. MacDonald Carey plays this part, and I'm honored to portray a great American general, Leonard Wood. Our play is called Who Walk Alone. Now, an original radio play, Who Walk Alone, starring MacDonald Carey as Ned Langford and Louis Calharn as General Leonard Wood on the DuPont Cavalcade of America. Our story begins following the Spanish-American War at the close of the year 99, in the office of a warehouse in a small southern town one hot summer day. This dining window seems to be stifled. Oh, my great big strong hero. Never mind, Jane. I'll get it open. Brains over brawn. In a case like this. There. See? Oh, just in time, too. Another minute in this black hole, and we both have suffocated. How do you get any work done in this office? Well, Brother Tom and I are out in the warehouse and stable most of the time. Taking care of the horses, checking deliveries. What I want to know is, after we're married, are you going to be handy at fixing things around the house? I'm not going to be. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. I'm going to be a good husband. Tell me, Ned, you were sure you weren't knit by one of those Philippine bolos during the Spanish-American War. Of course not, Doctor. Why? It's the strangest thing. You feel pain only in the hand. Yet the arms burn very severely, too. Must be some reason for those numb spots in that area. Doc, the only casualty I had in the war was the time I was kicked by an army mule. My arm was not the area affected. Well, it's very odd. I frankly don't know what to do for you, Ned. Why do anything? My hand seems to be healing nicely. My boy, that numbness ought to be investigated by an expert, a specialist. You ought to go up to Washington. Now, I know of a very fine dermatologist there, Dr. Thompson. All the way to Washington just for that? Oh, Doc, I'm going to be married next month. Well, I said, I have to warn you, that numbness may be a danger signal. Now, if you don't have it looked at now, you may be sorry later. Very sorry. Oh, now let's don't worry about it, Doc. It'll be all healed and forgotten by the wedding. You watch. It's delightful to be married, to be, be, be, be, be, be, be married. Hey, Ned, Ned. We're going to get out of that bathtub. One of these days, sure. You'd better come on in if you want to shave. It's delightful to be married. Pretty happy, huh? Oh, why shouldn't I be? I'm marrying the prettiest girl in the world. Yeah, if you hadn't seen Jane first, I'd be marrying her. Providing she'd have you. All right, all right. Hey, you, you better use a little elbow grease on that spot above your ankle. Huh? Where? Oh. Hey, that's funny. It won't come off. I'll get you some tar soap. Tom. Huh? Never mind me. Tom, I... What's the matter? Tom, it's a, it's a numb spot, like my arm. What? There's something wrong. The doctor tried to tell me, and I, I wouldn't listen to him. He thought I might have the numbness because of some old injury I'd forgotten about. But neither one of us reckoned on its spreading. Now it's in my leg. Oh, what, what can you do if the doctor doesn't know how to cure it? I'll go see some other doctor who does know. There's one in Washington. The doctor, Dr. Thompson. Well, that'll be a fine honeymoon. There won't be any honeymoon or wedding. Oh, no, no. Wait a minute. Are you out of your mind? What'll Jane think if you just leave her at the church, so to speak? You'd better try to explain it to her. If I do, she'll talk me out of going. I know her. Oh, but what can I say? That, that, that you've got a numb spot on your ankle so you can't marry her because you might trip carrying her over the doorstep? Tom, listen to me. I've tried to laugh at this thing all along, to tell myself it was some freak skin irritation. But if it's spreading, Tom, it could be really serious. I want to know now, for sure. Oh. What are you going to tell Jane? Tell her I was called to Washington. Oh, let's see. Tell her General Leonard would call me to, yes, call me there for a conference on, on veterans problems. Tell her as soon as we get them all settled, I'll be back to marry her. Hello? Yes, this is General Wood. Oh, oh yes, yes, Dr. Thompson. What can I do for you? A Spanish American war veteran? Special case, eh? I see. Well, is it something that'll help army research? Yes, I mean in the field of tropical diseases. I see. Doctor, haven't you any idea what it is? Good Lord. I'll be over, Doctor. Immediately. General Wood, come in, sir, come in. Thank you. This young man is a veteran of the Philippine campaign, General, Ned Langford. Did you say General Wood? Oh, how do you do, sir? Good morning, Mr. Langford. General, Mr. Langford tells me he was billeted with several different families in the Philippines. And of course, especially during the war, conditions weren't always the best. Are you trying to say I caught some kind of native skin disease out there, Doctor? In a way, yes. It's possible, though not usual. But the war was over nine years ago. Why would it wait so long to show up? This is what I think it is, what I'm sure it is. The period of incubation often takes several years. Why do you say you're so sure, Doctor? Because the symptoms of Hansen's Bacillus are unmistakable. Hansen's Bacillus? What's that? I never heard of it. I'm afraid you have, under a different name. It's leprosy, son. Leprosy. Thus it was that while I was Army Chief of Staff in Washington, the case of Ned Langford, Spanish-American war veteran, came to my attention. It engaged my interest for the rest of my life. Hansen's disease, leprosy. With my own medical background and my military governorship of Cuba, I knew that even those who had devoted their lives to a study of Hansen's disease knew little of it. And in Ned Langford, the small information and the smaller hope that Dr. Thompson and I could give were almost worse than none at all. He left Dr. Thompson's office to walk alone. Hey, buddy, got a nickel for a cup of coffee. No. No, you don't want any money I've touched. You want to get over to I Street? Here, I'll show you. Point the direction, officer, please. But don't touch me. Hey, mister, look out. You'll get run over walking in the middle of the street like that. Yeah, yeah, all right. If I touch anyone on a crowded sidewalk, I may give it to him. I may have already given it to anyone I know or love. Tom or Jane. Jane. Jane. Ned, I've been waiting here at the hotel for so long. Where have you been? What are you doing here? Who told you to follow me to Washington? And you blame a girl when a fellow walks out on her? I want to see what you and General Wood were doing here. General Wood. Oh. Oh, I knew that was just a story Tom made up as an excuse. Oh yeah, yeah. It was just an excuse. What's the matter, Ned? You look so pale and worried. What's this all about anyway? You shouldn't have come here, Jane. Now look, I know there's something troubling you, but I'm going to cure all that. First with a kiss. Oh, no, don't touch me. Tell me, what is it? You must never come near me or touch me again, do you hear? I want you to take a deep breath. Oh, please, don't touch me. Don't touch me. Please, don't touch me. Don't touch me. Tell me, what is it? You must never come near me or touch me again, do you hear? I want you to take the next train back home. I don't understand. Jane, I don't know what to say. I don't know how to tell you. Is it something I've done or said? Please, Ned, tell me. No, no, it's not your fault. What is it, then? You couldn't just suddenly fall out of love with me, could you? Maybe you were worried about getting married on so little money. Did I scare you away by saying we have ten kids? Jane, don't. Then tell me, Ned, please, I have a right to know. Well, I... I can only say... Well, Jane, I... I guess it's true. I've just gotten away to think it over, and... I guess I've fallen out of love with you, Jane. I don't know when it happened or how, but... It seemed to me that a clean break is better than hanging on. Especially when you realize that there's no use pretending. I see. I'm sorry, Ned. I'm sorry. Goodbye. Goodbye, Jane. Goodbye, Di. You are listening to Who Walk Alone, starring Louis Calhurn as General Leonard Wood and MacDonald Carey as Ned Langford on The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by the DuPont Company, makers of better things for better living through chemistry. General Leonard Wood, one of America's great military leaders of the past, is telling the story of a soldier he once knew. Ned Langford, a young veteran of the Spanish-American War, had come into the doctor's office in Washington with his life before him, a life that showed great promise. When he left, he was a man who walked alone, alone with the knowledge that he was a victim of leprosy. I had him followed. He tried to lose himself in the crowds of the city, and because I felt him to be a man of conscience, I was afraid for him. So I went and followed him myself. In the midst of the rubble and discarded trash of the city's dump... It sure is hungry out tonight, Salvation. Fear not. The good Lord will take pity on the humble and heavily burdened and give them bread. Yeah, bread. Uh-oh, there's somebody coming right now, might have to eat us a bite. Evening, Bo. Who are you? In the city dump, we don't ask personal questions like that, Bo. This is the jungle. Sit down. Have a cup of cold jam with Salvation and me. It's dark. Where are you? The good Lord has provided me with a right comfortable, if somewhat crummy, baby carriage to set in. There's a pile of lumber there. Thanks. Thanks. Walked a long way. Got any money on you, Bo? You wouldn't want it. I wouldn't, huh? Just try me. I've got a disease. Don't touch anything I've touched. Come on, give me some. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Yeah, Salvation's right. Stay away from me, I tell you. I got a gun. Hey, put that gun away. Why? Guns to be used when you find there's no place in the world left. Only the city dump wherein is gathered the refuse of a hundred thousand human beings, a heap of broken baby carriages, rusty cans, cracked china, rubbish. Here's where I belong, with the outcast trash, and here's where I'll die. Private Langford! Who's that? Who's there? General Wood. I was afraid you might try to take your own life, Ned. I came to find you as soon as they told me you were headed down here. You think your being here will prevent me from doing it, the only thing left to me? I hope to persuade you, son, that you do have a future. A future? If people knew the truth about me, they'd run from me, crying unclean. I'm untouchable. Human refuse. What future? Ned, my boy, I'm not going to lie to you. There's a lot we doctors have to find out about leprosy. It's only 40 years ago that a Norwegian named Hansen discovered the bacillus. So what? He discovered a disease but no cure. They're using a new treatment in the Philippines. I'm not too sure what the results have been, but it's my understanding that there's much hope for it. My own opinion is that this disease is like any other, and it can be conquered. You think of yourself stricken with a rare illness. The facts are that it's found almost everywhere. The thing I can't understand is this awful fear of it. For at one-tenth as communicable as most people believe, none of your buddies would have escaped it. An insane superstition has grown up around the name Leper. What's the difference what the name is? What am I going to do? Go to Culeon in the Philippines. There's a colony there for people with leprosy, and they need such men as you, Ned. Need me? Why? Only a man who has experienced the worst can help his brothers who suffer as he does. Ignorance and fear are your greatest enemies. I believe you can do a lot in the fight against them. Ned, if you'll go out to Culeon and live there in the colony, you'll discover for yourself the way to help. The good book says, he who loses his life, will find it. This man is right, Ned. You shall find your life again. Alone, Ned Langford set out upon his journey halfway around the world to the island of Culeon. With Dr. Thompson's help, he vanished from all contact with his old life. Now at Culeon, he entered his new life. Mister, mister, you in the house, mister? Yes, what is it? Excuse me, mister, I am Thomas. I'm new here too. They tell me at the infirmary I should come to your shack. They tell me I share it with you. Well, that's all right with me. Hope you don't mind sleeping on the floor and sitting in the dark. We don't have any conveniences. No excuse, but I think it is fine house. We can look out over harbor. When the weather is right, I catch fish for our dinner. And eat it raw, I suppose. We haven't any stove. Oh, I find a stove, mister. I find it's a nab too. You let me stay here with you, huh? How old are you, boy? Twelve, almost. And you're here alone? Yes, mister. They tell me I am sick. I leave two sisters and a brother and Luzon. They say, they say if one comes to Culeon, he never return to his home again. You don't believe that, do you? How can I believe otherwise? What shall I do without them, sir? We must find a way to manage, boy. If no one will help us, we must do it ourselves. Well, listen, you should be able to find a lamp. I built a couple of beds. We'd have the start of a new home, wouldn't we? Oh, yes, sir. And as I tell you, I think I find a stove for us. And I know how to make fishing tackle. We might even go fishing together one of these days. How about it? This is the season, mister. Every day is good for fishing now. And we'll be friends. Oh, yes. Yes, sir. We shall be good friends. The young man, Ned, and the boy, Thomas, did make a home for the shack overlooking Culeon Harbor. But after that was done, there seemed nothing ahead for them but idleness. A few months later, I came to Culeon myself on an inspection tour. Come in. Come in, General. Well, Ned, this is quite an attractive place you have here. Well, thanks, General. Sit down in that chair. It's the clean one reserved for our well guests. I see. And this is Thomas. I am Thomas Aquilizer, Mr. Langford Knight. We are friends. Well, that's fine. Fine. I'm sorry our hospitality is so limited here. We're not allowed to serve refreshments to non-patients unless you bring your own. Ned, I've learned a few things about the contagious aspect of Hansen's disease since I saw you last. Somehow the idea that it's easily transmitted must be erased from the public mind. You mean that, General? Because I think I know of one way to do it and at the same time help our patients here. How, Ned? If we could produce such things as rogue materials, bricks, tiles, or furniture which could be easily disinfected, the outside world might begin to forget its exaggerated fears about us. Perhaps. Well, it'd be a start anyway. Son, back in Washington I told you your greatest enemies were fear and ignorance. Yes, I know, General. Well, there are new ideas, young research scientists at work. If we could only raise money in the States, there would be new laboratories. You'll go home cured one day. I'm convinced. No, no, General. My friend Tomas might perhaps, not I. Why not? You'll accomplish your dream. So will I. I want the world to have knowledge, to understand the truth about leprosy, to work for its eradication as earnestly as our doctors have worked to wipe out yellow fever and typhoid. We are beginning to learn, Ned. And you and others, many others, shall benefit from our knowledge one day. Perhaps. But I shall never leave Culeon. Why not? If you're cured. General, do you remember a black night in a city dump years ago? Do you remember the old hobo they called Salvation? I haven't forgotten what he said, General Wood. He that loseeth his life shall find it. Yes, I remember. I have found my life here, General, at Culeon. With my brothers, I shall do useful work as long as I have strength. I shall never leave here as long as I live, for here are my brothers. And Ned never left Culeon. In two years he had fifty fishermen supplying fresh fish to the islanders. With the help of his new friends he enlarged the refrigeration plant. By the time I returned to the Philippines as Governor General, he had wired the houses for electric power. Under his direction, work, productive work, was bringing new life to Culeon. On Memorial Day, when we remember those who died for our country, I think of one who walked alone. The soldier who fought a battle as terrible as any on the battlefield. The story of Ned Langford, struck down by an ancient dread disease, points a challenge. And to us his triumph indicates a great responsibility. It is strange, it has been said, that men should see sublime inspiration in the ruins of an old church and see none in the ruins of a man. I'm sure our radio listeners join the audience in the theater tonight, applauding the performances of Louis Calhurn, McDonnell Carey, and the others in tonight's cast on the Cavalcade of America. And now we present the President of the Leonard Wood Memorial, Chairman of the United States delegation to the recent fifth International Congress of Leprosy in Havana, Cuba. He's the author of the book, Who Walk Alone?, on which tonight's cavalcade was based, Perry Burgess. The last time I saw General Leonard Wood, he was an ill but an unbroken man. He had come home from the Philippines for an operation from which he did not recover. He said then, nothing matters for me but to see that leprosy is conquered. His words constitute for us a heritage and an obligation. Ladies and gentlemen, I returned recently from Havana, where more than 200 doctors from 40 countries attended the fifth International Leprosy Congress. They gave and heard reports of the progress of man's warfare against leprosy, Hansen's disease. And I may tell you emphatically that there is greater hope of victory today than at any time in the history of mankind. Thank you and good night. Next week, Cavalcade presents the popular Hollywood star, Ray Milan, in The Last Frontier. It's the exciting story of the great American artist, Frederick Runnington, and his adventures in painting the colorful masterpieces that depict the last turbulent days of our Western frontier. We hope you'll join us next week for Ray Milan's appearance on Cavalcade. The script for tonight's DuPont Cavalcade was written by Virginia Radcliffe and Milton Wayne. Music was composed by Arden Cornwell and conducted by Donald Bryan. Louis Calhurn can currently be seen as the star of the Broadway stage success, The Play's the Thing, and MacDonald Carey is now appearing in the Paramount picture, Green Girl, co-starring Betty Hutton. This is Ted Pearson inviting you to listen next week to The Last Frontier, starring Ray Milan. And in weeks to come, listen to Cavalcade stories starring William Powell and Gene Tierney. Cavalcade of America is presented each week from the stage of the Longacre Theater on Broadway in New York and is brought to you by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. This is NBC, the national broadcasting company.
