The DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware, makers of Better Things for Better Living through Chemistry, presents the cavalcade of America. Tonight's star, John Hodiac. Tonight's story, The Green Wall. This is how it happened. It was the 4th of July, 1944, and the fireworks had been popping all right, only these fireworks weren't for fun. The skyrockets turned out to be ack-ack, and the Roman candles were 105 that screamed over your head on their way to a Nazi target. The place, Normandy. And me? Well, I'm Curtis Culin, a 102nd Recon, a sergeant in the turret tank in the middle of a war. We'd been moving forward, and suddenly I stopped. I called Joe Dobson, who was in the tank next to mine on the quadrant net. Fox 2-5, Fox 2-5, this is Fox 2-1. Sergeant Dobson, can you hear me? Fox 2-1, this is Fox 2-5. I got your cut. What are you breaking for, a child call? Hedgehog, you dope. At the end of this field, Sam. So what? This is Normandy, Sergeant Culin. I want a couple of hedgerows to attack you. Look, Joe, don't be a wise guy. Get hung up in one of those traps, and the Germans will open you up like a tin can. They're on the other side of the hedgerows. There ain't a Nazi in the neighborhood. Flatfoot's gone through. Flatfoot. That's what Joe Dobson called his M-5. I watched him gun her till the track screamed. He was going to try to ram his tank through a Normandy hedgerow, and that was no good. A hedgerow is a solid green wall, made out of leaves and roots and stalk and dirt, and on top of it all, a thick leafy mass of large shrubs and small trees. The whole thing may be six feet high and four feet thick. And ever since we hit the beach after D-Day, those babies have gone in our way, but good. I got back to Dobson on the net. Joe, don't be a goon. Cut back. I tell you, the Germans are on the other side. Come on, sweetheart. I'll be seeing you. Flatfoot pushed downhill like an elephant, and I held on to my breath. She was maybe 100 yards away when she hit the hedgerow's solid head-on, and then she stopped dead. That tank was hung up, helpless as a kitten, belly 45 degrees up in the air. I signaled my driver to give our tank the gun to get down there fast. But I was a lifetime too late. From behind that hedgerow, a Nazi hand grenade got there first, right in the open hatch. Those guys in Flatfoot never knew what happened. When you blow up inside a tank, you do it fast. Yes. That's the way it was on the Fourth of July, 1944. When they pulled us out of the line the next day, I had a lot of time to think about it. Faroti, the mechanic, had been working on the turret of the Falcon. That was the name of our tank. Gus, my driver, was inside, and I was standing by. Okay, Culeman, this turret ain't never had it so good. Hey, Sarge. What? What's the matter, Faroti? I said I got your turret working like it's tough. You dreaming or something? Get off my back, will you? Okay. Go ahead, dream away. You guys grabbed the turret, don't pick, so what do I do? I fix it, and then what? Uh, hey, Kurt, you want I should turn it over? No, come on out, Gus. Okay. Is this ground big enough for two? Sure. Sit down. You look rotten, Kurt. I feel rotten. Still worrying over Joe Dobson, Eddie? What do you think? Look, pal, I know how you feel, but what's grieving going to get you? Joe Dobson and I lived across the street from each other. Cooch, we used to call him. Don't ask me why. He sure got sore every time we did. Yeah? Where does cooch wind up? Dead. Murdered. By a hedgerow. Kurt, you've been acting a little squirrely these last two days. Get it straight. The Nazis finished off that tank. That's your enemy, pal, not no hedgerow. We've got to lick those hedgerows. Well, look, it took them farmers hundreds of years to grow the darn things. You figure on getting rid of them overnight? We've got to. Here? Or how? If I knew how, I wouldn't be marking time here. Okay, you're the mechanical genius. You're the guy that's always dreaming up gimmicks. You'll get crack and do something about it. I wish I could. I only wish I could. I'm late, Major Olds. I was over at maintenance, sir. Okay, Culem, sit down with the others. Yes, sir. All right, men, let's have it quiet. All right, quiet down, boys. I called you squadron officers and non-comms here because you've got a problem. It's more than four weeks since we hit the beach here in Normandy. They were hot as firecrackers. The Nazis were on the run. And we got tangled up with the Green Death, these Normandy hedgerows. Now this invasion is going nowhere. And it's not going to move again until we get our tanks through. We've got to get through somehow. Now you all know we can't use the roads. The Nazis are squatting up there at Sanlo, just itching for us to try. We're going to have to make it through the fields. That brings us smack up against our problem, the hedgerows. We don't lick them, they're going to lick us. Somewhere in this army there's a man who knows how to get our tanks through those hedgerows. Maybe it's one of you. That's all you're dismissed. You too? Well, where to next, Hanson? Oh, I don't know, Major. My maintenance men aren't getting anywhere with it. A whole trouble it seems to me. Major? Yes, what is it, Culem? Sir, I've been thinking a lot about these hedgerows. Seems to me we've been ramming our tanks against them like a bunch of stubborn billy goats. And everybody knows a goat can't butt down a stone wall. Now go on, Sergeant. Well, sir, we've got to punch our way through. So why not a kind of thing attached to the front of the tank? You mean like a bumper? No, sir, like a snow plow maybe. Snow plow? Yes, sir. You got any ideas on how to make it, Culem? I think so, sir. Could we go over to maintenance? I'll show you what I mean. Snow plow, huh? Well, you may have something, Sergeant. Maybe if we can give it a try. At this point we'll try anything. Let's go. All right, Culem, let's hear about this gimmick you dreamed up. Well, it's like this, sir. Can we move over by that tank? All right. Now, look here, Major. Get the shape of the final drive on this tank. She's round, nothing sharp about her. What happens when we're tearing along and busting into a hedgerow? That tank just bounces off. Or gets hung up. I know, sir. I've seen it happen. But maybe if we put something on the front of the tank, sir, something that's sharp, it'll cut in. Like a knife blade, you mean? No, sir. More like a fork, Major. You see, this fork contraption will bite into the hedge, loosen those darn roots from the dirt, maybe tear a hole right through. Well, that sounds all right, Culem. I'm sure it'll work, sir. I'm positive it'll work. Well, maybe. Why don't we make them try and work with a blueprint on it? Sir, if we make a blueprint of this thing, it'll have to plow through a lot of red tape. Maybe even have to go to the big brass in Washington. And that'll take too much time. We've got to do something fast. Well, I'm in just as big a hurry as you are, Sergeant. I'm sorry, sir. Don't be sorry, because you're right. We don't have time to be going through channels. In this war, you're either quick or you're dead. I know all about the dead, Major. We'd better be quick. You want to try and make one of these forks of yours? I've got a crazy idea that'll work, sir. Then hop to it, Culem, on the double. Thank you, sir. On the double. ... ... ... ... ... With a green light from the Major, I figured this hedgerow assignment ought to be a breeze. But that's where I flipped my track. I needed heavy metal to make that fork. Big, tough hunks of steel. And there wasn't anything like that in this man's army. I tried every ordnance depot in Normandy. Not a prayer. Find me, I got a brainstorm. Gutsen and I drove our tank out in the field. It was almost midnight. The big hedgerows threw black, ugly shadows. Right in front of us, we could just see the burned-out hulk of an empire. Is that it, Kirk? Yeah, stop right here. All right, just dismount. Yeah, sure is quiet. Now, keep it down, will you? What's the matter? The Matthews are back at that hedgerow. They'll have a field day. You sure this is Joe Dobson's tank? Yeah, I'm sure. You don't forget things like this. What's the sense of putting a toe to it trying to get her back to maintenance? She's all burned out. We'll cut her up for scrap. Use it for the fork. I figured maybe Joe would like to be in on this. Well, how'd you know it'll work? I don't. Here, let's get the toe cable off. All right. Hold it. What's up? I thought I heard something. Wait a minute. Sure is one bright moon. Anybody's on the other side of that hedgerow, he's got a couple of sitting ducks on this side. Wait a minute. Let's get to it and scram out of here. It's a plane flare. There it is. Hey, he's pretty low. Is it ours? I don't know, but he's coming back. Drop the toe. Come on, get in. Let's pull out of here fast. Okay, give her the gun. There he is, coming in a straight. He's got to go over straight to the left. Pull him in there. He's going to die, he's got to move it. Whew, just made it. What happened? He straked Dobson's tank out there. Looks like he got to it about five days too late. You think he got a bead on us too? I don't think so. Well, let's go hang around here to find out, huh? We better stick under these trees a while. Them Germans, making it tough on us all the way from the beaches on end. They sure don't want us to win this war. They never figured we'd get this far. That's why we've got to be... ...beaches. Holy cow, that's it. What's what? They never figured we could get this far in the Normandy because they knew we'd never get to the beaches. What? Because 50 yards off every beach in this country, the Nazis loaded the ocean with underwater obstacles. Sharp metal spikes to rip our LSTs to pieces. So? So there's our fork, ready-made for us. All we've got to do is go down and get those spikes. Yeah, well, what about the tank out there? We don't need it, Gus. I've got a better idea. Tomorrow, you and me, we're going to find us a boat and go fishing. Captain Hanson. What is it, Cullen? What about this weather? Oh, it's getting worse. As soon as Perodi gets this demolition shard set up down there in the water, we'd better get this boat to shore. You mean not wait to go down, sir, for those metal spikes after they blow loose? We don't even know if they will, Sergeant. Those prongs are buried in concrete blocks the size of a room. In fact, if this wind gets any higher, none of us will be around to use those spikes. Hey, over here. It's Perodi, sir. There he is. He's swimming to it. Hold him in past, Admiral Hawley. All right, Perodi, can't hold you. Okay, here you come. Watch it. The demolition is set, Captain. It should blow any minute. All right, let's get this boat out of here. You took long enough, Perodi. What were you looking for, a mermaid? I'm a tank maintenance man, wise guy. I ain't no deep sea diver. I'm good, Captain. Yes, Perodi did a good job. Now what about it, sir? Can we take a chance on this wind? You mean go after that stuff now? Yes, sir. Why not wait till this winds the side, Sergeant? How do we know when that'll be, sir? We've got to get those metal spikes, Captain. Well... It's going to be what we're looking for, sir. I know it is. Okay, Sergeant. We go back there and get them. And after that, what? After that, sir, I start playing. If those babies work like I think they will, I've got a heavy date coming up with a hedgerow. In the Battle of the Capricade of America, John Holiak is starring as Sergeant Curtis Culin in the story of The Green Wall. In Normandy, it was the 13th of July, and in my battalion's maintenance outfit, it was a race against time. Our problem was to weld a sawtooth fork on the front of a tank so it wouldn't break off the first time we hit a hedgerow. I was standing around outside the maintenance area. Me, Sergeant Curtis Culin, 102nd Reconnaissance Squadron. I was thinking and I was worrying. Hey, Kirk, what's with the disappearing act? Me and Feroli looked around for you. You were gone. I took five, that's all. Two whole days I've been watching those guys slip in their tracks. I thought I'd blow my turret if I didn't get out. Now move over. You've got company. Anything new over there with the tanks? No, same old rat race. What's the matter with those guys? Are they mechanics or cream puffs? Now wait a minute. This ain't no push-pull-click-click. Yeah, I know. It's not their fault. There's a lot of angles to this thing. Feroli's working at a new angle of yours. Well, how's it look? Who knows? Yeah, who knows? Look out there, Gus. You see that steeple up on the high ground? Yeah. How far down is Sanlo? How far away do you think it is? Maybe five, six miles. That's where we've got to get. This army's not going to go anywhere until we take that town. And you know something? What? There's maybe 10,000 hedgerows between us and this. Yeah. Well, here comes Major Olds. I'll beat you back and see what gives with Feroli. Anything happens, I'll send you a flag. Okay. Hello, Kulin. How's it going? Good afternoon, Major. Nothing new to report. You look like you haven't slept in a week. Not quite that long, sir. I was at the call all morning, Sergeant. They're in a stew about this hedgerow mess. General wanted to know how we were coming along. What'd you say, sir? Oh, I told him we had a natural-born mechanic on the job. But you? Looks like maybe you stuck yourself way out on a limb, Major. I don't think so. Funny thing about us Americans, Kulin, we're a bunch of backyard engineers. Tinkering with the car, fixing the lawnmower, and we're not going to get thrown by a hedgerow. No, sir. I guess we're not. Yeah, but the question is, how soon do we lick it? I don't know, sir. But I'd better get back to work on it. Maybe this afternoon I'll be able to have some... Hey, Sergeant, Kulin! Kulin! It's Gus. Maybe something's up. Let's find out. He's getting call me if anything. This way, Major. Feroli's got it, Major. That angle of yours, Curtin, it worked like a dream. How about it, Feroli? Major, this here is the baby. We got her welded on so she can't crack off. Brace with this bar. You see what I mean? Holy catfish, Major. I think we got it. I think this is it. How soon will we be ready to test, Feroli? Well, the welding ain't all done, sir. Maybe tonight, but for sure tomorrow morning. All right, Kulin. We'll try it on the hedgerow in the morning. I'll get word back to Core. The General will want to be in on it. The General, sir? That's right. You worried about it? No, sir. I think this fork will do the job. And if it doesn't? That's what then. We'll just come right back here, Major, and start all over again. I didn't get much sleep again that night. Kept asking myself over and over again, will it work? Will it work? One morning finally came with a dark gray day. The General pulled into our CP right after breakfast. He looked like he hadn't had much sleep either. When we got down to the field for the big test, he called me over. Sergeant, Major Olds tells me this idea of a hedgerow fork is yours. Yes, sir. But lots of other guys have been working on it, too, sir. Where's the tank you're using for this experiment? Up there, sir, on the rise. You know the driver? It's my tank, sir, and my driver, Corporal Gus Aberholley. He's the best driver in the office. He's going to smash into his hedgerow in front of us? Well, that's the plan, General. Major Olds figured we ought to station ourselves behind the hedge, just like the Germans would be. That way we'll know exactly how good it is. That looks good to me, Sergeant. I think it'll work. I hope so, sir. I hope so. I was holding my breath tight when I said that. But it was even tighter when Major Olds signaled my tank and gave Gus the go-ahead. This was it. I watched Gus give myself and the gun 100 yards away and she barreled downhill full speed. Gus was driving that thing like a madman. And when she hit, something was going to have to give. I knew that. This thing had to work. It had to. And it did. That sawtooth fork cut into that hedgerow like a knife in the butter. She ripped out a whole section of hedge. The next thing we saw was a Falcon busting on past that hedgerow with an open gap behind her big enough to march an army through. But the army wasn't ready to march through yet. There was still a big job to be done. It was less than an hour later that I got a message to report to the General, by the way. All right, Culin, here it is. Yes, General? We're convinced that hedgerow fork of yours is the key to San Low. But we need duplicates of that key, lots of them, to get this army on the move again. Now you know why I sent for you. We've got a man-sized job for you, Culin, and ten short days to do it in. What is it, sir? Sergeant, by the 24th of July I want every tank in the U.S. Army, M5s and Sherman's boats, fitted up with one of those hedgerow forks. In ten days? But General, that means maybe more than 500 tanks. You're wrong. It means more than a thousand. I'm putting you and those other men who worked with you on special orders to first arm the ordnance. They're going to make these contraptions for you. This job's got top priority. Anything you need, you get. I'll see to that. Is that all, sir? I think that's enough. No truth, Sergeant? Well, I can't say yet, sir. I'll let you know in ten days. No, Gus, no. Take a left. You turret happy or something? Sherberg's that-a-way. We're not looking for Sherberg. I know it's a big concrete bunker half a mile down this way. Concrete? And loaded down with steel supports. We need that metal, Gus. We need it bad. Hey, Sarge. What is it, Parody? Look, children, what do you say we break for the night? All this welding lights up the place. It's brighter than Times Square. You out of your mind? We got work to do. Yes, so work in the daytime. What are you trying to do, invite them cherries to a strafing party? Okay, go out and round up some canvas, Parody. We're tenting up this whole area. Tent? You heard me. This job's going to take 24 hours a day. It's just tough. We ain't got 25. How many tanks have you got set up, Culin? Got maybe 200 more to go, Captain. How about metal? They're going to be enough? We got demolition teams up and down the beaches, sir, blowing up those obstacles in the water. We'll get enough. But what about time? We got three more days, sir. Three days? Without their hedgerows on their side, those Nazis don't know what they're in for. What about the second? It was the 25th of July, 726 in the morning. I had a feeling in my stomach like there wasn't any bottom. Standing up there in the turret of my tank, I could see San Luis out there. That's where we were headed. Gus Aberholly and me, our tank falcons, and the whole U.S. Army. Hey, Kurt, how much more time? We sure are planting that plan low. Air Force is softening it up. After that, we go in and take it. Fox 21. Fox 21. Captain Culin, this is Major O. You getting me? Over. Fox 21. Fox 21, here, sir. I got you. A message just came down from the general, Culin. He wanted you to get it right away. A message, sir? That's right. He just said, thanks for the key. That was all. Thanks for the key. Did you get it to him? I get it, sir. Ten seconds, Gus. Stand by. Five, four, three, two, one. That's it. Let's go, Gus. All right, you head drones, here we come. At each hour of the morning of July 25, a massive wave of American tanks, every last one equipped with Curtis Culin's hedgerow fork, cut through the barrier of green death, the hedgerow, and moved forward in what history books were to call the Great Sanlo Breakthrough. This was the victory that enabled the Allies to break out of Normandy and under the level French planes beyond in a sweep that didn't slow down until we reached the Rhine. History might have told another story if an ingenious Yank Sergeant with a stubborn mechanical mind hadn't battled the hedgerow of Normandy. Our thanks to John Hodiac and the Cavalcade players for tonight's story, The Green Wall. Mr. Hodiac will return in just a moment, but first, Bill Hamilton speaking for the DuPont Company. If you have a job in industry today, statistics show you are actually twice as safe at work as you are at home. This is because industry seeks constantly to find out why accidents happen and how to prevent them. The low accident rate in industry is the result of continuous training in safe working practices. Danger spots are sought out and eliminated. To recognize these achievements, the National Safety Council each year makes awards to organizations with outstanding safety records. This year, the Award of Honor for the tenth consecutive year was made to the DuPont Company. This is a record of which the 86,000 men and women of DuPont can be justly proud. Their cooperation, their attention to safety has made it possible. This is the first time anyone has won the Safety Council's highest honor ten times in a row. But interest and achievement in safety at DuPont are as old as the company itself. When Eliefer Irine DuPont built his mills on the Brandywine in 1802, he designed the buildings and planned the manufacture of black powder in the safest way possible. For 150 years, the safety of DuPont men and women has been a matter of the greatest importance and the most careful planning. The ten Safety Council Awards are important because of what they signify. They represent the saving of many lives and the prevention of thousands of accidents. They serve as a constant reminder to DuPont men and women in plants, offices, laboratories, and warehouses that an effective safety program is their best insurance. These awards have been won by the men and women who practice safety every moment of their working days as they produce the DuPont Company's better things for better living through chemistry. Once again, here's our star, John Holiak. John, it's good having you back on Cabell Gate again. Thanks, Cy. I especially enjoyed playing the part of Sergeant Curtis Cuen on tonight's show. I'm sorry he couldn't be with us himself, but he asked me to be sure and tell everyone that he was only one of the guys who helped with the Battle of the Hedge Roads. Good night. Thank you. Tonight's DuPont Cavalcade was written by Robert Mason Pollock and was based on the article, Sergeant Cuen Licks the Hedge Roads by W.L. White, which appeared in the recent issue of the Reader's Digest. Original music was composed by Arden Cornwell, conducted by Donald Borey. The program was directed by John Dollar. In support of our star, John Holiak, our Cavalcade cast included Les Damon, Jeffrey Bryant, Bernard Lenro, Bill Zucke, Chuck Webster, and George Petrie. This is Cy Harris speaking. Ladies and gentlemen, on Saturday, Poppy Day, your American Legion Auxiliary asks you to wear a memorial poppy in honor of our war dead from the Argonne to Korea. Made by disabled veterans for the help of disabled veterans and the aid of war widows and orphans, these bright red memorial flowers are the veterans' way to honor the dead as they care for the living. Wear a poppy. Give as generously as you've received. Next week, the DuPont Cavalcade will be broadcast from the DuPont nylon plant in Steepard, Delaware. Our story, The Valley of the Swan, pays tribute to a forgotten pioneer and the lost colony of Delaware. Be sure to listen next week when our stars will be Dana Andrews and Louise Albritton. The DuPont Cavalcade of America comes to you from the Velasco Theater in New York and is sponsored by the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware. Make it the better thing for better living through chemistry.
