"Missing in Action" - Recap and Review

Combat!

Season 1 Episode 6: Missing in Action

The opening begins on a hunk of a German plane heavily decorated with bullet holes and some chalk writing…indicating the 465^th Bomber Wing. I would guess that pilots are going to play a big role in this episode. A colonel explains a mission to assembled pilots—the same railyards they’ve been trying to bomb. We learn that they will pick up a fighter escort in Rouen.

A Lt. wants to know when they’ll be moving off this milk run. The colonel segues into an invitation to a dance that the nurses will also be attending…with heavy drinking and no curfew. As another Lt. explains the details of the air mission, we become privy to the colonel’s thoughts.

He lights a cigarette…he’s reminiscing about another mission (or is it this mission? I’m not sure.). It started out as a milk run. At Rouen, the Germans began hitting them. 109’s took out the bomber on his right. Two of his engines were on fire. He couldn’t keep the plane in the air. He bailed out...last. He was about to descend into the midst of the war.

Cut to the usual super cool opening sequence. The guest star, or featured NPC, is Howard Duff (whose birthday was November 24). I’m guessing he is the colonel. The episode is directed by Byron Paul.

There is combat, or at least gun fire. It’s night. A layer of fog clings to the ground like a fluffy negligee. Caje has to stop another soldier from firing after a cease-fire order. The soldier says he thought he saw something. Someone fires a flare. We see Saunders…he’s sneaking. When the flare burns out he moves to his men, and startles them with a beckoning hiss. Based on all the episodes that I’ve seen so far, I must say that Saunders is the king of sneak…at least for sneaking up on his own men. Also, I have a vague memory of some episode of Combat! Where the Germans kept firing flares that descended on parachutes which brightened the night, and Saunders standing motionless to avoid detection. The flares in this episode are not as bright and don’t last as long as those that I seem to remember from another episode.

The trigger-happy soldier is called Fergus. Maybe he did see something. There have been infiltrators captured recently. Another flare goes up. Someone…a civilian…takes cover…then scrambles toward the Americans. They fire on him. He goes down, but struggles up to them, muttering, “American,” before falling unconscious. Saunders checks his dog tags. He’s an American officer. Saunders yells for a medic. Fergus feels terrible.

The wounded man gets attention. He says he’s with the 465^th bomber group. He’s concerned about someone else…at the farm…it’s 2 kilometers away. He dies. Fergus feels worse. (I’m wondering if this was the same Lt. at the mission briefing who was tired of the milk runs—I believe that it is—but it can’t be, if the colonel was remembering a previous mission).

Next we see Lt. Hanley under the camouflage netting. He’s receiving orders. He’s not happy about it. He’s complaining that his men have been on the line for three weeks and are coming apart at the seams…as evidenced by what just happened. Too bad. The orders come from high up. They’ve got to go find Colonel Jabko (our featured NPC). The word was to send the best man available—Hanley’s it.

Back at the squad camp, Caje is explaining how stupid the airman was, bumbling into their gun emplacement in a combat area. Saunders squelches the debate. “It’s over.” Speculation turns to why they were pulled off the line. Braddock suggests it’s because they need a rest. Caje laughs at the idea. Hanley rolls up in a Jeep with a French partisan beside him. He brings news from the DM. The side quest is on. They’re moving out tonight…but Hanley is only taking Braddock, Fergus, and Caje. Hanley doesn’t care how bad the men feel about the airman having soaked up their friendly fire. They’ll move out with light packs, but extra ammo and grenades. I have to wonder about Hanley’s choices. Caje is an obvious choice; he’s a great soldier, and he speaks French…just the guy one might need for working with the French underground. Braddock? In previous episodes, he nearly blew up Saunders three times within a period of a couple minutes; his attachment to the chicken in the most recent episode nearly gave away the squad’s location to the Germans. Fergus? The trigger happy guy whose only act of which we are aware was the killing of the American air Lt. What was Hanley thinking? That he would look good by comparison? That the mission was bound to take at least one casualty, might as well take the depressed guy and hope it’s him?

 The team is assembled. Hanley explains it to them. A farmhouse 18 kilometers away is where the colonel is supposed to be. The partisan Gallarde knows the way. They will ride in the back of his truck, behind the crates of cabbages.

They arrive at the first checkpoint. We get to see our first live German of the episode. Gallarde speaks German. The German seems congenial…right up to point at which he empties his MP 38 into the back of the truck. Apparently those cabbages look dangerous.

It looks like Fergus took a hit, but doesn’t scream out. The guards let Gallarde pass. Soon he pulls off, and the back of his truck gives birth to our American soldiers. The men fan out to secure the area (I suppose), while Hanley attends Fergus. Gallarde informs him that the farmhouse is another two kilometers farther. He provides Hanley with a pack of cigarettes with a black feather. That will get him into the farmhouse.

Cut to a new scene. It’s night. Dogs are yapping. A man’s hand holds a pistol aimed at a door. A woman’s hand moves down the arm, pushing the pistol down. “It is nothing,” she says. We see our featured NPC, and some French woman. The first thing I noticed about her is that she has big beautiful eyes that are tinted with more than just a touch of crazy. She tells NPC that Gallarde won’t come tonight, and that she hopes he never comes. NPC is equally smitten.

While our featured NPC is swapping saliva with the mademoiselle (played by Maria Machado), our heroes are lugging the wounded Fergus through the brush, looking for the farmhouse. They’ve found it. Hanley makes his way quietly to the door. He knocks, preparing his best door approach.

 A voice in French asks, “Who’s there.”

Caje has joined Hanely. He answers.

NPC and his brand new crazy main squeeze hear them from the barn. NPC peeks out at Hanley and Caje as the owner opens the house door to them. Hanely gives him the cigarettes with the feather. Owner bids them enter. Caje goes back to help Braddock carry Fergus to the house.

Meanwhile, crazy eyes tries to persuade NPC not to go. He goes anyway. She watches. NPC joins the men in the house as they are about to take Braddock upstairs. Fergus had taken a bullet in the stomach. There are no doctors in town available to come to his aid.

Hanley and NPC are about to discuss plans when the owner’s niece, mademoiselle aux yeux fou amoureux, comes in, startling them. She’s hopeful that they will all stay until Fergus is better. She tells them that the Germans haven’t been there for more than two weeks.

NPC tells Hanley about being found in a field by a farmer who turned him over to the underground. NPC is wondering how long before division moves through here. There’s noise outside. It’s Gallarde. He tells Hanley and NPC that there is a leak in his organization. They may have a traitor. He relates some suspicious instances of men nearly getting out, only to be caught before getting away. He ends with the air Lt. shot by Fergus. NPC wants Hanley to explain what happened to the airman. NPC is upset when he learns that his friend was killed. He’s even more displeased when he learns that it was Hanley’s platoon that shot him…he’s not thrilled about accompanying the men who shot his friend.

Gallarde tells them that everything is on hold right now. He has to see his chief and decide what to do. Crazy eyes takes the opportunity to advocate waiting; she argues that the allies will be here within a week. Hanley reports that his orders call for getting the colonel back as soon as possible. The colonel plays the colonel card; he can countermand those orders. Hanley merely responds that he can’t force the colonel to go with him.

Cut to Braddock taking a bath in the barn. Two boys intrude. They’re cousins of Crazy eyes. Braddock’s French apparently is limited to, “Bonjour.” But he might have understood that the boys were calling him an idiot. Crazy eyes comes in, sending the boys out. Braddock is worried that the boys might talk. She tells him not to worry. She asks to scrub his back. We don’t get to know Braddock’s answer, but we can guess what it would’ve been.

Caje dashes in. He reports that Fergus has just cashed-in. I never expected Fergus to survive the episode. He was a new face; he was trigger happy; he killed or helped kill the airman—he was clearly the designated redshirt of the episode. There will be more room in the truck, now that Fergus is gone. Caje and Braddock both seem anxious to leave.

Cut to the house. Caje is speaking French with the owner’s wife. Hanley approaches NPC, telling him that they need to leave. NPC wants to rely on the judgment of the underground. Gallarde points out that a German counterattack could cut them off completely.

 Hanley goes out to relieve Braddock on guard duty. Crazy eyes approaches him. In her best Marlene Dietrich voice, she tries to persuade Hanley to leave without the NPC. I’m wondering if she is the leak, the traitor, and doesn’t want NPC to die with the rest of them when they leave.

Back inside, with everyone except Hanley around the table, Crazy eyes is promising that after the war she’ll really show NPC some French cooking. There’s a noise outside; it sounds like vehicles, maybe motorcycles, approaching. Hanley runs inside, reporting an extraordinarily bad roll on the wandering monsters table; vehicles are coming. The Americans and Gallarde hurry away. Outside, NPC is hampered by his injured leg, but manages, refusing Hanley’s assistance.

As the Americans slip away, Germans on a motorcycle with a side car, and a truck that looks like something sort of halfway between a truck and Jeep (I’m guessing that it might be a Steyr 1500) drive up to the farm. It looks like there are 6 Germans. They aren’t dawdling. 3 go to the house; 3 search the barn.

The owners and their niece (who is conveniently named “Denise”) put on their best casual innocence act. The Germans roll successfully to disbelieve the act. Two Germans search the house, going upstairs. The other German with the  Luger speaks in English, as it is well known that these particular Frenchmen speak English. Owner professes that no one is there, despite the German’s accusations. Wife won’t admit either but her resistance roll seems to be right on the borderline, as if she just might blurt out everything. Luger man confronts Crazy eyes, wanting to know who the man was that they buried here today. He emphasizes the question by punctuating it with a backhand to the face—Crazy eyes' face, not his own.  His men have made a critically important die roll on their search; they bring down a blood-stained blanket. When owner tries to explain, German leader man awards him with a special recognition of merit delivered from his Luger. One of the other Germans concludes the award ceremony with a 21 bullet salute from his MP40. Owner and wife are dead. Crazy (d)niece is in tears.

Meanwhile, the 3 Germans outside are searching. Unable to successfully roll up any Americans in the barn, they go outside and start making spot check rolls. NPC gives one of them a piece of his mind delivered by his pistol at 4500 fps. One German down. His buddy runs to the truck to get on the blower to John Gill to tattle on NPC. Hanley tries to shoot the tattler. Hanley’s rifle is jammed. He’s forced to extend his best wishes through his pistol barrel.

Now the three Germans in the house get suspicious and decide to reconnoiter outside. Gallarde, from his hiding place (which sometimes looks like he’s beside a rock near a bush away from any buildings, and sometimes looks like he’s behind some straw covered by a tarp next to a barn), drops the last of the original barn-searching Germans with a shot from his pistol.

German rifleman steps out from the house. He takes aim and fires (and that seems like an awful lot of smoke for that one bullet). I swear that looks like a rifle he’s firing, and it booms like a rifle, but also makes the submachine gun sound, and three bullet holes appear above Gallarde’s head—Gallarde is back beside the barn where he was hiding earlier, not at the rock where he just shot the other guy. I don’t know if that was bad editing or intentional. (I re-watched that segment. The rifle booms three times, and three bullet holes go into the wood. I guess what I thought was the machinegun sound, was supposed to be the bullets hitting the wood.)

Gallarde shoots the rifleman. MP40 man runs out of the house, firing. He does his best to make himself an easy target…and succeeds admirably. No longer burdened by hit points, he collapses like an empty balloon. That only leaves German Luger man in the house. Obligingly, he runs out the door, and pauses to fire. He waits briefly but no one wants to shoot him. He runs again.

Braddock shadows Luger man and confronts him beside the vehicles.  Luger man shoots…rolling well under the to-hit number; he misses. Braddock introduces himself with a number of brief statements punctuated with small metal periods from his rifle. Luger man is so taken by Braddock’s charm, and punctuation, that he does a little pirouette before he falls. This little arm of the Wehrmacht managed only two unarmed civilian deaths while losing 100% of their own number to the French and Americans.

Gallarde gets NPC and tells Hanley that they must leave. Gallarde and NPC go into the house. There’s Crazy (d)niece still upright and breathing. Gallarde is suspicious. Why wasn’t she killed with the aunt and uncle? Now NPC is asking too. He’s serious about getting an answer. As one might guess, she cries that she did what she had to in order to protect NPC. NPC storms out. Gallarde tells her that he won’t give her what she deserves at the moment, but they will find her.

They leave Crazy (d)niece wailing prostrate among the German corpses outside the house. They depart in Gallarde’s produce truck. At the bridge check point, Gallarde drives right through. The guards shoot at the back of the truck. This time the cabbages shoot back. One of the guards falls.

Back at the American lines, a squad of soldiers stop the truck. It’s Littlejohn. The Americans are rebirthed from the truck once more, safe and sound.

Cut back to the colonel at the 465 bomber wing quonset hut. He’s alone until another Lt. comes in. They’ll be bombing another railyard…another milk run.

 What to think about this episode…I’m not sure. There was a fair amount of ammunition expended--always a positive thing. Some interesting vehicles were shown. I got to hear some French being spoken. Some of the German being spoken was simple enough that I could figure it out from the context. The episode touched on the terrible, but too frequent problem of friendly fire casualties. The irony being that pilots hitting soldiers on the ground was more common than American soldiers shooting airmen. The infantry often referred to the fliers as the American Luftwaffe because of the not infrequent casualties inflicted upon them by the airmen.

I had not anticipated that the rescuee might be reluctant to leave because of a romantic attachment. I guess I found that to be a distraction. I’m not sure how long Crazy eyes helped heal NPC’s leg, but the strange romance seems to have developed rather quickly…and he was a colonel. He should have been able to take care of his business, and then make arrangements for the girl. Plus she had those eyes painted in a suspicious shade of crazy—some (but not me, of course) might argue that the same could be said of most feminine eyes.

Hanley seemed less decisive than I expected regarding the colonel…but it was a colonel, and Hanley had the wounded man to complicate matters…so he can be forgiven for that. Caje and Braddock had fairly minor roles in the episode. They got in on the shoot fest, but didn’t get to participate meaningfully before that. It was almost as if they were along just to carry Fergus.

I suppose that’s the solid symbolism of the episode that goes with the theme of friendly fire. Fergus, as the symbol of such an act, became a burden, a weight to be carried by all of the men in the squad, as represented by Caje and Braddock. We also see the contrast between the tragedy of friendly fire casualties, and the twisted self-indulgence of Crazy eyes, almost vicarious murder, in getting everyone else killed to protect herself and her new lover.

Not a bad episode, but it won’t rank among my favorites. Actually, so far, I think that the first episode, and “Rear Echelon Commandos” (which I criticized for relying too much on NPC action, if I remember correctly) are among my favorites so far.