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heavyartilleryI re-watched “Bastogne” this weekend all fucking week because, well, originally I needed to get BoB back in my ear so I could write, but that turned into a burning need to copy out all of Gene’s dialogue so I could understand how he speaks. And what started out as an analysis of how he speaks turned into an overall character study. This post is mostly just about his speech patterns, but stay tuned--there may be another post in the future where I dissect out the emotional arc of the ep.
Tl;dr: Gene is shit at conversation. He’s not a chatty guy, and as soon as he steps outside his comfort zone he turns into an awkward dork really quick.
Okay so, bare bones. Gene, of all the characters, has the most broken speech, in the sense that he hesitates over what to say most. He says “uh,” a lot. Everyone says one or two “uh”s, Guarnere’s got a couple, and Buck, on the edge of breakdown as he is, doesn’t have tidy speech, either. But Gene is constantly stumbling over his words:
“I got, uh, I got this, and… got myself a Kraut bandage.”
“Sergeant Guarnere. Did you, uh, keep your morphine from Holland?”
“Well, I, uh… It’s Edward, right?”
“Gordon, I--I need scissors. You got scissors? Sharp scissors.”
[in reference to Toye’s missing boots] “Wh-what happened?”
[when Martin tells him to sit the patrol out] “Uh… Yes, Sergeant.”
(By a similar token, he's the only character--at least in “Bastogne”--who uses the filler words “Uh-huh,” “Uh-uh,” or “Mm-hm.” Everyone else verbalizes a full “Yeah,” “No,” “Okay,” or etc; Gene is the only one who doesn't always bring the full word out of a noise.)
These are only the verbalized stumbles. There's plenty more times where Gene visibly searches for words, or his expression is the “processing” dial, or has to stop and pull himself together before he speaks. Everybody stumbles over their words in real life, our dialogue isn't scripted and sometimes things come out wrong or the brain takes a moment to process. For it to happen this often in a scripted show, though, it means that it's telling us something about the character. It means Gene isn't comfortable with words. It means he's often left searching for what to say. And this is backed up by his overwhelming preference for nonverbal communication.
If something can be communicated without words, Gene usually goes for it, especially if it's at the beginning or end of a conversation. In “Carentan,” when Dick looks to him for an explanation for why Blithe can suddenly see, Gene gives a wordless shrug and goes back to business. At the beginning of “Bastogne,” when Dick tells him to scrounge whatever he can because he's going to need it, Gene just nods in reply. In the same episode, when Renée tosses him the chocolate bar, he smiles his thanks rather than saying it out loud. Later that evening, after he walks away from Guarnere/Lt. Foley, he tosses Foley a thumbs up to make sure his message was received. Gene finds actions easier than words.
This carries into his bedside manner, as well. Gene uses touch frequently; he puts a hand on Dick’s arm in “Carentan” to urge him toward getting his leg bandaged, and again in “Crossroads” when he gives him the coffee; he pats Joe Toye on the knee when he gets up to leave after talking to him about trench foot; he pats a random background dude when approaching Lt. Dike.
On the other hand, when it comes to words, he uses them rarely and often very badly. When Skinny is wounded, Gene doesn’t actually say a whole lot of reassurances. He issues an order immediately, but only says “Okay, Sisk, it ain’t that bad, ain’t that bad” after the pain starts really getting to Skinny.
Then there’s the bit in the foxhole with Babe and Spina. When Gene first rolls into the foxhole, he says “Gotcha!” in a light upbeat way--but one speaking glance with Spina, and he alters his approach. He drops words and goes for the chocolate, which was the reason he went in anyway. He's very confident with this treatment: give chocolate, make Babe eat it, everything will be fixed. Only, Babe isn't fixed. He starts explaining the root of his emotional upset (Babe is very good at externalizing his emotions), and Gene gets overwhelmed/awkward very quickly. He looks away, clearly is at a loss for words, looks to Spina for help (Spina is no help, lol), and eventually tries a very bland platitude in his Calm Medic Voice: “Hey, no, it’s okay--” which Babe immediately shoots down: “It’s NOT. It’s not ‘okay.’ I should’ve got to him.” Words having thus proved useless, Gene returns to actions and goes to tuck Babe in better.
Compare this to how Guarnere responds to Buck’s confession that his girlfriend dumped him: instead of going for a generic platitude, Guarnere says “Just in time for Christmas, huh?” which is not only a situation-specific observation, but communicates that he understands the emotional implications, and is commiserating with Buck. Gene, on the other hand, did not reply with specificity. He inadvertently dismissed the severity of Babe’s pain (it’s okay--it's not bad as all that), and he didn't really indicate he commiserated or shared Babe’s pain (even though from his expression he's sharing it a little too much, and is desperately uncomfortable). Somebody help this poor fool, he’s trying very hard despite not knowing what the fuck he's doing.
Of interest, while I didn't pay especial attention to Babe’s dialogue in this ep, I did notice one significant difference between how he and Gene talk: Gene frequently repeats himself, most notably with the scissors:
“Penkala, loosen your fingers, goddamn it! Loosen them now!”
“Penkala, scissors. I need scissors. You got scissors?”
“Gordon, I--I need scissors. You got scissors? Sharp scissors.”
“Alright, here. This is what I want you to do. I want you to take someone and work your way over to the third battalion, alright? You know what we need. Bandages, plasma, whatever you can beg, you beg. Alright? And get me some goddamn scissors, I can’t get any. And you get yourself a hot meal too, huh?”
The bit with the scissors may just be the equivalent of muttering something over and over to yourself so you don't forget it as you walk into another room, but the way he keeps saying “alright” when giving orders to Spina (or his verbal tic, “huh?” at the end of a lot of his sentences) is interesting. It implies he's subconsciously(?) unsure if he's being understood, so he has to keep checking in and making sure the other person is listening. By extension, the same could be said of him repeating “scissors” over and over: he wants to make sure his listener gets the picture.
By contrast, Babe repeats what other people say. Gene says “Hey, it's okay” and Babe replies “No, it's not ‘okay’.” Or later, when he mimics Gene saying his name, again, he's repeating back Gene’s words. This is a way of him indicating as a listener that yeah, he's heard what the other person said, and he's now gonna say it back to prove it.
I suspect Babe comes from a conversational culture that emphasizes audience participation. You indicate your engagement as a listener by talking over the speaker, repeating what they're saying, and announcing your agreement or disapproval. Gene, by contrast, waits for the other person to stop talking, and usually pauses to collect his thoughts before he speaks (this gets worse over the course of the ep, as the existential questions and trauma hit harder). I can easily see a conversation between them where Babe is chattering away, getting more and more uncomfortable because Gene isn't contributing--is he listening? Is he bored? Is he annoyed with Babe?--but meanwhile Gene’s desperately waiting for Babe to stop talking so he can pause to think and formulate a reply. In Gene’s culture (not speaking for Louisianans generally; it could just be his family culture), listeners are respectfully quiet until the speaker indicates they're done.
Going back to Guarnere, though, something else I noticed--Guarnere looks fairly steadily at Buck’s face during his confession. His eyes flick away to the picture, but they go right back to Buck. Guarnere is connecting with Buck, witnessing and internalizing Buck’s emotions, and it's such a stark difference from how Gene handles eye contact. Gene almost never looks people in the eye for any long period of time, and often avoids looking at faces altogether. The notable exceptions seem to arise in two contexts: in periods of high emotion, or when he needs to communicate something. Examples: when Dick helps him up before the Normandy jump; when he verbally shreds Dick and Harry in “Crossroads”; when he takes Penkala’s aid kit after Penk was being a ninny; when he has a silent Medic Confab with Spina over Babe’s head; that blistering look he shares with Renée; when he looks up to Babe after Jackson died. They all seem, as far as I can tell, to function either as straight communication (“Do not do this again”/”How’s he doing?”) or as an emotional release valve (see: sharing a man’s death with your hands literally inside his body). It's clearly a powerful gesture to Gene, one that he doesn't like using very often.
And that's another thing--despite all this reticence with other people, Gene doesn't tolerate bullshit lightly. He’s not shy, just reserved; he mostly keeps his opinions to himself, but he’s perfectly ready to defend his boundaries or his patients if the situation calls for it. When Dick says “Stupid” under his breath in “Carentan,” Gene looks sharply up at him, ready to cut a bitch if he has to. When Harry OD’s Moose on morphine in “Crossroads,” Gene does cut a bitch. When Gordon gives him shit about looking for scissors in the sewing room, Gene interrupts with a relatively mild “Alright.” Same with Toye’s feet--Gene is incredibly unimpressed with Toye’s self-care, but he doesn't take it out on him, and instead reiterates what Toye already knows. He also doesn't say outright “you fucked up,” he says (or uses his expression to imply) “can't you see why this is bad? you should know better.” He expects people to use their brains, and is disappointed/exasperated (or occasionally enraged) when they don't.
He also tends to use questions to call out people’s lapses in logic. He says, “You don’t think it might be important to let me know how much medication the man has had, huh?” He says, “You don’t want to go out in this shit and you’re yelling ‘medic’?” He says, “What, do you got a drugstore in here?” And then there’s the times he outright ignores stupid people/questions, like when Dike asked what would happen if he and Spina got hit, or when Alley asked if Gene was using all the morphine personally.
And with two exceptions, the first with Harry and the second with Penkala, Gene generally keeps his temper to himself. He’s incredibly inwardly-directed; he doesn’t take his anger out on others unless the situation is dire.
That scene with Penkala is interesting in a couple of ways. First, outside of the “Jesus Christ!” in “Crossroads,” it's the first time we hear Gene curse in the whole show. And even more interestingly, he's actually echoing back what Penkala says:
“It’s the artery, I can feel it--”
“Penkala, let go--”
It’s the goddamn artery!”
“Penkala, loosen your fingers, goddamn it! Loosen them now!”
To my recollection, this scene and “three syrettes, maybe?” are the only times Gene echoes what someone says, and they’re both in times of high emotion. Gene’s just made a run through artillery or mortars or whatever the heck the Germans are lobbing at them, he's tightly wound and riding the sharp edge of adrenaline. Then when he gets to Penkala, Penk’s freaking the fuck out, and Gene doesn't have time to collect himself. He does with Skinny--there’s a little moment after he jumps into Skinny’s foxhole where he takes a deep breath before getting to work--and he does while he waits for the reconnaissance patrol. And later, when his BSOD starts, he needs longer and longer to collect himself before the action begins. It looks as though if Gene doesn't have time to get into a Medic frame of mind, he ends up feeding off the panic of whoever he's trying to help. And it sticks with him, too--when he dumps himself back in the hole with Spina and gives him the order to go find 3rd Battalion, he swears again: “And get me some goddamn scissors, I can't get any.”
That's not particularly unusual human behavior--we’re empathetic creatures for the most part, and it's extremely easy for us to panic each other. But look at Guarnere again: when Buck comes up half in a panic about Liebgott and Alley singing, Guarnere doesn't feed into it. He talks Buck down, reassures him he’ll address the problem, and presumably does. He doesn't get caught up in an emotional feedback loop strong enough to carry him through a whole nother conversation.
So, Gene is highly susceptible to the emotions around him. Not to say that Guarnere isn’t, he wouldn't be half as good at dealing with people if he wasn't, but Gene either feels them more strongly, or his coping mechanisms aren't as good (that second post I mention will deal heavily with Gene’s coping mechanisms, if I ever write it). Either way, since Gene isn't good at handling people’s emotions, and since war is basically an explosion of the nastiest emotions people can have, one of his coping mechanisms is to avoid people.
Hot take here, I know. Gene Roe isolates himself: news at 11.
Now, I personally feel that Gene is an introvert, and that his keen awareness of/sensitivity to other people’s emotions feeds into/is exacerbated by it. It would explain why he's so bad at conversation: he doesn't get much practice. So when he's tossed into war, he becomes even more reserved, not only because war is hell, but because Gene is in a position of basically non-stop exposure to the pain, fear, panic, and death of his friends. Take all that together, and it's just easier for Gene not to get close.
So, he generally doesn't speak unless spoken to, first. When he does venture first, it's almost always work-related, and generally only ventures into personal territory when he's explicitly asked, like when Spina asks about traiteurs. He tells exactly one awkward, doofy joke, and he doesn't shit-talk the others, save the very last line of the show, when he tells Babe to watch the line.
Other nuts and bolts about his speech: he frequently starts sentences with hesitators like “Well” or “Alright,” to buy himself time to come up with a sentence. He also frequently ends his sentences with “huh?”, a verbal tic that could be a genuine need to make sure his listener’s paying attention, or just a turn of phrase he picked up from others. His grammar is fairly informal--Renée asks if he's a surgeon and he replies that they “don't got no surgeon”--but his word choice can sometimes be stilted and very formal:
“You don’t think it might be important to let me know how much medication the man has had, huh? Because I do not see one syrette on the man’s jacket!” (an interesting combo of “don’t” and “do not” in this one, plus the length of the sentence is much longer than casual sentences tend to be.)
“No, I don't recall.” (a more old-fashioned or stilted way of saying it than “No, I don’t remember.”)
Maybe he’s self-educated through books, or possibly he spent a lot of time with an older relative who talked old fashioned (I like the idea of him inadvertently mimicking his grandmother’s speech patterns). He definitely isn't picking up the speech patterns of his fellow soldiers, which is something most people do when they spend time around each other--a symptom of his self-isolation.
And last of all: French. When does this Cajun boy speak his second language? Answer: pretty infrequently. He does with Renée because he's trying to connect with her; he's curious enough that he's willing to step outside his self-imposed reserve and connect to another person. That was a deliberate choice on his part, nothing unconscious. The other time he uses it is when he's speaking to Guarnere about his biroute. There's a couple possible reasons he says this--he's fucking with Guarnere (unlikely, given his tone), or maybe he learned it in French first, and that's what he reached for first (perhaps adults in his family said dirty words in French to keep small, primarily-English-speaking ears from learning them. Too bad for them, children are language sponges). ALSO, given that he calls his grandmother a traiteurs instead of a traiteuse, i.e. he mixes up plurals and gender on his noun cases, it could be said he's not very fluent in French at all (from a Watsonian standpoint, anyway; the Doylist explanation being that the writers done fucked up and Shane Taylor, not being a French speaker, didn't know better. This is held up by how Gene can apparently yell in frustration that he can't reach the artery, which is Advanced Second Language Skills, so pick your poison). He does all his cursing in English, though, so that's clearly his primary, instinctual go-to tongue.
In conclusion, Gene Roe is a disaster child who doesn't know to make the words go. (For those interested, I included a transcript of all his significant scenes below.)
Carentan
ROE: There she is. You’re lucky it was a ricochet. You just caught a piece of it.
WINTERS [to self]: Stupid.
ROE [looks up at WINTERS]: What?
WINTERS: Nothing.
ROE [in a warning tone, but not hopeful]: Now you gonna be able to stay off it?
WINTERS: Doesn’t look that way.
ROE: Well, you gotta try, huh?
[Interim dialogue where WINTERS talks with COMPTON]
WINTERS: What’s wrong with Blithe?
ROE [making a confused face]: Well, nothing. ‘Cept he can’t see.
WINTERS: He can’t see?
ROE: So he says.
[Interim dialogue where WINTERS talks with BLITHE. BLITHE is rendered sighted once more, both WINTERS and ROE look on in bafflement]
ROE [reaches out to lay a hand on WINTERS’s arm]: Now can we get that bandage on?
***
Crossroads
WINTERS: Stretcher!
ROE [supporting HEYLIGER’s upper body]: I got him, Harry. You give him morphine?
WELSH: Yeah.
ROE: How much?
WELSH: I can’t remember, two, three syrettes, maybe?
ROE [expression going sharp, tone going sharper]: ‘Three syrettes, maybe’?
WELSH: Yeah.
ROE [furious, incredulous]: Jesus Christ, were you trying to kill him?!
WELSH [defensive, harried]: I think it was two.
ROE: You don’t think it might be important to let me know how much medication the man has had, huh? Because I do not see one syrette on the man’s jacket!
WELSH: Sorry, Doc.
ROE: Sure is a good thing he’s a big man, maybe he’ll stand a chance.
WELSH; He was in a lot of pain, Doc. We didn’t know what to do.
ROE: Yeah, well you oughta! You are officers, you are grownups, you oughta know! Alright, let’s go! C’mon, move it!
***
Bastogne
ROE: Can I scrounge a bandage from your aid kit, sir?
WINTERS: How’re you fixed?
ROE: Uh, no plasma, couple of bandages, practically no morphine. Fact, I tried to find my way up to third battalion looking for supplies, but… lost my way.
WINTERS: If you can’t hook up with third, go see Doc Ryan. See what he has to spare.
ROE: Thanks, Captain. [starts walking away]
WINTERS: Eugene? Get everything you can, you’re gonna need it.
[ROE nods silently in reply]
***
ROE: Spina. What’s happening?
SPINA: We’re digging in right along the line.
ROE: Yeah?
SPINA: Yeah, this is it. What’d you get?
ROE: I got, uh, I got this, and… got myself a Kraut bandage. [jumps into the foxhole with SPINA]
SPINA [incredulous]: This is it?
ROE: Yeah. That’s it, that’s all you got. [pulls out a syrette and looks at it] You know, first battalion’s pulled out of Foy. Heavy casualties.
SPINA: So if they’re pulling back, what the hell are we doing sitting here?
ROE: We need morphine. This is all I got. You got extra scissors?
SPINA: Uh-uh, just the one.
DIKE: 1st Sergeant Lipton!
LIPTON: Sir!
DIKE: What’s this, two medics in one hole?
SPINA: Yes, sir.
DIKE: Well, what’s gonna happen to us if you take a hit, huh?
[ROE ignores DIKE; LIPTON approaches and scene shifts away from ROE]
***
ROE: Sergeant Guarnere. Did you, uh, keep your morphine from Holland?
GUARNERE: No. Hey, hey, uh, Doc, I gotta talk to ya--
ROE: How’s that leg?
GUARNERE: To hell with the leg, I’m pissing needles!
ROE: Later.
GUARNERE: Shit.
ROE [approaching GORDON and MORE]: Seen ‘em?
GORDON: No. But they’re out there. Depend on it. Cuppa joe, Doc?
ROE: Gordon, I--I need scissors. You got scissors? Sharp scissors.
GORDON [smiling]: Scissors?
ROE: Uh-huh.
GORDON: Well, let’s see, I’ll have to check the sewing room. Might be upstairs in the study, that skinny old drawer in the middle of the desk--
ROE [in a quelling manner]: Alright. What about an extra syrette in your aid kit, huh?”
GORDON: Hide your morphine, guys!
[shells start landing, someone shouts for a medic, ROE runs]
MALARKEY: Muck, you alright?
MUCK: I’m good!
ROE: Muck, Malarkey, take cover!
MALARKEY: We’re okay!
MUCK: Look at this shit! They peppered my helmet! Hey Doc, Doc, morphine! [throws a syrette] Here, take it!
ROE: Where’s Penkala?
MALARKEY: Christ knows!
[in the distance, PENKALA starts yelling for a medic]
ROE: You guys hit? [falls on top of JULIAN and HEFFRON]
HEFFRON: Hey Doc, how ya doin’?
JULIAN: Are you crazy?!
HEFFRON: What are you lookin’ at him, for? Watch the goddamn line!
ROE: You got a syrette?
HEFFRON: No--
PENKALA: Medic!
HEFFRON: Go!
[ROE runs toward PENKALA’s foxhole]
PENKALA: Doc!
ROE: Penkala!
RANDLEMAN: Doc!
PENKALA [panicking]: It’s the artery, I can feel it--
ROE: Penkala, let go--
PENKALA: It’s the goddamn artery!
ROE [frustrated, frantic]: Penkala, loosen your fingers, goddamn it! Loosen them now!”
PENKALA [whimpering]: I’ll bleed to death!
RANDLEMAN: Relax your arm, Penk! Come on!
ROE [firmly]: It’s not the artery!
PENKALA: I ain’t going back, Doc!
ROE: What?
PENKALA: I ain’t going nowhere, not in this shit!
ROE [very sharp]: You don’t want to go out in this shit and you’re yelling ‘medic’?
PENKALA: I don’t need to go back to no aid station!
ROE: Well, you’re in luck, Penkala, we don’t got no aid station!
[shelling stops]
ROE: Penkala, scissors. I need scissors. You got scissors?
PENKALA: The hell I need scissors for?
ROE: Got your aid kit?
[PENKALA hands it over]
ROE: Right, well you don’t need this. Not yet. I do. [Leaves the foxhole]
***
SPINA: Who got hit?
ROE [sliding into the foxhole]: Penkala. Alright, here. [pulls the loot out of his medic bag and hands it to SPINA] This is what I want you to do. I want you to take someone and work your way over to the third battalion, alright? You know what we need. Bandages, plasma, whatever you can beg, you beg. Alright? I get me some goddamn scissors, I can’t get any. And get yourself a hot meal too, huh?
[SPINA takes a moment to get his stuff together]
ROE [jerking his thumb away]: Go.
[SPINA goes]
[ROE settles himself in the foxhole, takes a breather to recover from the adrenaline rush]
***
[MALARKEY, MUCK, PENKALA, HEFFRON, and JULIAN jabber while eating. ROE sits on the fringes and listens, smiling occasionally at their jokes. He doesn’t join in.]
HEFFRON: Hey Eugene, Lieutenant Dike’s got a full aid kit, try him.
[ROE looks surprised at being addressed, but nods]
MALARKEY: Yeah, I’m sure he’s not using his.
JULIAN: Maybe Hinkle’s got a syrette for you!
[ROE huffs a laugh, but doesn’t respond further]
***
[ROE claps a rando on the shoulder before approaching DIKE’s foxhole]
ROE: Lieutenant Dike! Lieutenant! Can you spare something from your aid kit, sir? I’m real short, I need syrettes.
DIKE: What, morphine?
ROE: Yes, sir. [as an afterthought, barely audible] Please.
DIKE [digging through his coat]: What happens if I get hit?
ROE: I’ll be there. Sir.
DIKE [looking at the aid kit]: Syrette’s in here, right?
ROE:Yes, it is.
DIKE [holding it out]: Here. I don’t plan on getting hit.
ROE: Thank you, sir.
[HEFFRON walks past, coughing up a lung]
ROE: Heffron! Hey, Heffron, you okay?
HEFFRON [yanking off his gloves to button up his fly]: Gene, what is with the Heffron bullshit, huh? You know my name, why don’t you use it?
ROE: Well, I, uh… It’s Edward, right?
HEFFRON: Edward, are you serious! Only the goddamn nuns call me Edward! [starts walking off]
ROE: Hey, listen, I need to know whether you kept your morphine from Holland.
HEFFRON: No, y’asked me already, remember?
ROE [small, mostly to himself]: No. I don’t recall.
[ROE stands for a moment, then runs to a nearby foxhole and climbs in.]
ROE: Hey, hey. Gordon, you want me?”
GORDON [looks up from clasped hands]: Oh yeah, morphine. 3rd platoon ponied up the contraband. [hands vials to ROE] You still looking for scissors?”
ROE: Yes, I am.
GORDON: Perconte.
ROE [in a thinking tone]: Perconte.
GORDON [offering a kidney cup of coffee]: Doc.
ROE [accepts it]: Thank you.
GORDON: Oh, and you better check on Joe Toye out in the OP. He’s missing something.
ROE [takes a drink, hands cup back]: Thanks.
***
[ROE approaches OP, TOYE pulls a pistol on him until he sees who it is.]
ROE: You guys okay?
MCCLUNG [pissy]: They got hot food, can you smell it?
ROE: Toye, you missing something?
TOYE: Home.
MCCLUNG: Ask him to dance, Doc. [TOYE shoots MCCLUNG a look of betrayal; ROE catches the byplay.]
ROE: Toye, show me your feet.
TOYE: You watch the goddamn line, McClung. [holds up his blanket-wrapped feet]
ROE [appalled]: Where are your boots?
TOYE [turning back to face the line]: In Washington, up General Taylor’s ass.
ROE: I don’t believe this.
TOYE: I can move better in bare feet, Doc.
ROE: Wh-what happened?
TOYE: Took em off to dry my goddamn socks. They got blown to hell, okay?
ROE: Well, what’s your size?
TOYE: Nine. Just like everybody else.
[ROE pulls back from the line before trotting away]
***
SPINA: Frank, you keep cleaning those teeth, the Germans’ll see you a mile away. Shoot you dead!
PERCONTE: That’s right, peewee, you keep laughing.
[ROE jumps into PERCONTE’s foxhole]
SISK: Hey, Doc.
ROE [grabbing PERCONTE’s goodie bag]: Hey.
PERCONTE: My stuff!
[ROE upends the bag and dumps out the contents]
PERCONTE: Aw, c’mon, Doc!
ROE: What, you got a drugstore in here?
PERCONTE: No, I own my stuff! What are you looking for?
ROE [holds up a pair of scissors]: Scissors. Thank you, Perconte. [climbs out of the foxhole and starts walking away]
PERCONTE: My goddamn scissors!
[ROE walks away in silence, no shit-talk, unlike SPINA moments before]
ROE [passing GUARNERE’s foxhole]: Sergeant Guarnere. [said in an upbeat tone; relieved from having found scissors, I think]
GUARNERE: Marlene, that you? Hey Doc--Doc, c’mere!
ROE [approaching LIEBGOTT and ALLEY’s foxhole]: U.S.O., pickin’ up syrettes! Alley, Liebgott, you got any?”
LIEBGOTT: No, got used in Holland, Doc.
ALLEY: You ain’t using this stuff, are you, Doc? I mean, personal-like? [hands off a syrette]
LIEBGOTT [laughing at ALLEY]: Come on. [ALLEY and LIEBGOTT go back to singing]
[ROE doesn’t respond to the question, moving on]
GUARNERE: Hey Doc, Doc, I still got the itching. Every time I pee, it’s murder.
ROE: Yeah, I know, I’m sorry, but I just don’t have penicillin for your biroute.
GUARNERE: My what?
ROE [to FOLEY]: Lieutenant, make sure you move around a little, get your blood flowing.
FOLEY: I can’t feel my feet.
ROE: Yeah, well, that’s why you gotta move around, you know, so you don’t get trench foot.
FOLEY: Should I take my boots off?
ROE: Uh-uh. All you gotta do is just loosen em up, keep moving. [goes back to GUARNERE] Sergeant, I’m sorry, I know it must be hell, but I can’t help you, alright? Just… drink lots of water.
GUARNERE: Water! It’s pissing that hurts!
COMPTON [runs up, looking spooked]: Shut it! Shut it! Shut the hell up! What’s going on here, Bill? Who the hell’s singing?
[ROE pulls back from the conversation]
GUARNERE: Well--I--I’ll find out, Lieutenant, I’ll find out. I’ll shut ‘em up, I’ll shut ‘em up.
[ROE turns to leave, but exchanges a thumbs up with FOLEY before he does. Jumps in his foxhole]
ROE [winding paracord around his fingers]: Oh Lord, grant that I shall never seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, or to be loved as to love with all my heart. With all my heart.
***
SISK [offscreen, in a long wail]: Medic!
PERCONTE: Medic! Medic!
[ROE runs to their foxhole and slides in. He visibly takes a moment to muster himself before speaking.]
SISK: Oh, Christ!
ROE: Perconte, you getting a jeep?
PERCONTE: I’m on it, Doc.
SISK: Look what they did to my leg!
[ROE starts cutting SISK’s trouser leg with PERCONTE’s scissors]
PERCONTE: Easy CP, Easy CP, Easy CP. This is Perconte. Sisk has been hit and we need a jeep. I say it again, I need a jeep now!
ROE [in a low, soothing tone]: Bear with me, bear with me. [I think; the audio was low and muffled on this]
PERCONTE [yelling into the radio]: They’re moving, goddamn it, we need it now!
[SISK’s whimpering increases]
ROE: Okay, Sisk, it ain’t that bad, ain’t that bad.
SISK: Ain’t that bad?!
ROE: Okay, and pull. [tightens the bandage; pulls out a syrette]
SISK: No, Doc, save the morphine, I can make it, I can make it, save it, okay?
ROE: Okay, alright, let’s get him out of here.
[PERCONTE and ROE pull SISK out of the foxhole and start a two-man carry to the pick-up point]
ROE: Where’s the goddamn jeep?
PERCONTE: I don’t know, but I hear it.
[They stumble and drop SISK; he yells very loudly]
SISK: Jesus Christ!
PERCONTE: Aw, Skinny, you got blood all over my trousers!
SISK: I’m really sorry, Frank!
ROE: Get him up!
PERCONTE: Damn it, Skinny!
ROE [to PERCONTE]: Tell Spina I went in for plasma. Get him up! [They lift SISK onto the jeep]
[The jeep driver gives a long spiel about the military situation at Bastogne, I’m not copying all of it because Gene doesn’t say anything]
[ROE helps offload SISK onto a stretcher, SISK yells muchly]
ROE: He took a mortar hit, watch the leg.
SISK: Yeah, watch the leg!
ROE: Get him in.
STRETCHER CARRIER: Move it!
ROE: Coming through!
[They go down the stairs, ROE pauses when he sees the improvised ward.]
LEMAIRE: Oh, no no no! Here, put him here.
STRETCHER CARRIER: Yes, ma’am.
LEMAIRE [to ROE]: Is he bad?
ROE: No. Lower leg wound, no morphine.
[LEMAIRE checks SISK’s bandage, nods, and turns away to collect soiled bandages from another table]
ROE: Nurse, have you got plasma I can--
LEMAIRE: Wait, please.
[ROE waits, assesses his surroundings. He watches ANNA clean a wound, and LEMAIRE boil bandages. He turns back to JONES, another medic in the ward.]
ROE: Hey, what’s going on here? Why ain’t these men evacuated?
JONES [bleak and exhausted]: We can’t evacuate, we’re cut off. This is as far as it goes.
[ROE watches him leave, appalled]
LEMAIRE [offscreen]: Faites attention des plasma.
[JONES applies a bandange to a man with a severe abdominal wound. ROE’s expression grows grim]
[LEMAIRE approaches SISK with a bottle of alcohol. She pours him a glass to drink. ANNA approaches his other side, to check his wound]
ANNA: Ça va?
LEMAIRE: Ç’est n’est pas grave, ç’est n’est pas urgent. [she brushes a hand gently over SISK’s brow]
SISK: I’m in heaven, Doc.
[ROE smiles tensely but otherwise doesn’t reply]
LEMAIRE: Pas encore, de merci.
[LEMAIRE turns to leave]
ROE [makes to follow]: Nurse.
LEMAIRE [looking back at him]: This way.
[ROE pauses to touch SISK’s shoulder before he goes]
ROE [to LEMAIRE’s retreating back]: I need morphine, I need bandages, whatever you’ve got.
LEMAIRE: Okay, I can give you a little, but not a lot. [Hands him off a box] You can have this, do you want that?
ROE: Oui. You got plasma?
LEMAIRE: A little. Are you a surgeon?
ROE: No, we don’t got no surgeon. What’s this?
LEMAIRE: Uh, from the bed.
ROE [appalled again]: What, sheets?
LEMAIRE: Yes, for bandages.
ROE [very quiet, mostly to himself]: Okay.
LEMAIRE: Voilà.
ROE: Merci.
[LEMAIRE begins walking away. ROE follows]
ROE: Comment vous appelez-vous?
LEMAIRE [giving him a side-eye]: My name is Renée.
ROE: I’m Gene. Eugene Roe.
LEMAIRE: Where are you from?
ROE: Louisiana. Half-Cajun. Et tois, d’ou viens tu?
LEMAIRE: Bastogne.
[They part ways]
***
ROE: [to jeep driver] Can you get me back to the line?
DRIVER: Sure.
[ROE hands off box of medical supplies, goes to get boots for TOYE]
LEMAIRE [coming out of the church]: Eugene! [tosses him a chocolate bar] Chocolat. Pour vous. [ohhhh my god it should be tu, TU]
[ROE takes it with a smile, nods a thank you, but he doesn’t look back as they drive away]
***
[The jeep approaches the line as MALONEY finishes holding mass]
MUCK: That’s it, guys. Nothing more to worry about. We’re gonna die now, we’re gonna die in a state of grace. Isn’t that right, Babe?
SPINA [to ROE]: Battalion want a reconnaissance patrol. Kraut hunting.
ROE: Alright, I’ll go. Take these. [hands off the box of medical supplies] Give the boots to Joe Toye, tell him they’re a nine. [goes to catch up with the patrol]
PEACOCK [to MARTIN]: Keep going until we make some kind of contact.
HOOBLER(?): Peacock’s leading, right?
LUZ: Right. Asshole couldn’t find a snowball in a blizzard.
PEACOCK: That’s what’s happening, that’s the order.
JULIAN [to MARTIN]: Sarge!
MARTIN: Julian.
JULIAN: Let me be the lead scout.
MARTIN: Back in line, Private.
PEACOCK: Alright, that’s it, let’s move out!
MARTIN: Tactical columns, gentlemen!
[ROE comes up; MARTIN stops him with a hand on his chest]
MARTIN: Doc, Doc. It’s a combat patrol. Why don’t you, uh, stay back and keep your ass out of trouble, huh?”
ROE: Uh… Yes, sergeant.
MARTIN: Yeah.
[ROE watches them leave, a indefinably upset expression on his face. He pulls up a tree and looks intent/worried/idk, fuckin upset and doesn’t talk at all, therefore no dialogue]
[Gunfire starts. ROE’s expression goes more intent/grim. PEACOCK comes running up]
ROE: What’s happening, sir?
PEACOCK: We’re pulling back, we made contact. I gotta get to the CP.
[ROE watches him pass in dismay, before turning back to the sounds of gunfire]
[Interim bits where HEFFRON tries to reassure JULIAN and MARTIN orders the patrol to retreat]
[ROE watches them approach, syrette in hand; a redshirt gets shot and ROE runs to him]
MARTIN(?) [helping LUZ drag the redshirt to ROE]: Doc! Doc!
LUZ: Easy CP, Easy CP, Lightning, over. I need an “A” jeep standing by at the CP. Okay, I got you a jeep, Doc.
NIXON: Martin! Martin!
MARTIN: Sir!
NIXON: What’s going on?!
MARTIN: They got Julian!
HEFFRON: He’s still alive!
MARTIN: We don’t know that!
HEFFRON: We gotta go get him, sir!
NIXON: Did you hit an OP or their line?
MARTIN: Their line, sir!
HEFFRON: We gotta go back, sir, get Julian out of there!
NIXON: No, fall back!
CHRISTENSON(?): We lost Peacock.
NIXON: No, he’s back at the CP. Come on, Martin, fall back! Get ‘em out of here!
LUZ: You ready, Doc? We gotta go back, Doc.
MARTIN: Let’s up and go!
LUZ: Doc, we gotta move now, Doc, come on, let’s go!
[ROE ignores him and injects the syrette]
NIXON: Martin, move ‘em, move ‘em!
LUZ: Doc, now, let’s go! Up!
[ROE and LUZ two-man carry the unlucky redshirt away]
MARTIN: Move! Let’s go! Fall back!
[Everyone hightails it out of there]
***
[Interim scene with interesting character dynamics, but ROE doesn’t speak, so it is skipped]
***
[Nighttime. ROE approaches HEFFRON’s foxhole, but HEFFRON isn’t in it. ROE looks around, sees someone sitting on a log. He goes up to them.]
ROE: Heffron. [He sees it’s TOYE, not HEFFRON] Toye. What you doing out here?
TOYE: Thanks for the boots, Doc. Doing fine.
ROE [points at TOYE’s feet, says in a disappointed tone]: Are you still having trouble with your feet? [kneels down beside the log] Show me, let me--let me see it.
[TOYE pulls his foot up. It’s white. ROE reaches out to touch it; TOYE jerks back in pain]
ROE: It’s trench foot, Toye. If it turns gangrene, you could lose it.
TOYE: I ain’t coming off the line, Doc.
ROE [looking frustrated]: Well, you gotta stay dry. Massage your feet, change socks every day, and dry the wet ones around your neck.
TOYE: M’trying.
ROE: Do it.
TOYE: I’m working on it.
[ROE claps him on the knee, pats him on the shoulder, then stands and starts to walk away. He turns back]
ROE: Oh, you seen Heffron?
TOYE: No. Why?
ROE: He ain’t in his hole.
***
[ROE rolls into SPINA’s(?) foxhole, sees HEFFRON and SPINA CUDDLED TOGETHER I CANNOT, LET BOYS BE GENTLE WITH ONE ANOTHER 2KFOREVER]
ROE [smiling]: Gotcha!
[ROE exchanges a glance with SPINA; he sobers and pulls out the chocolate. He offers it to HEFFRON]
ROE: Heffron.
[HEFFRON doesn’t respond. ROE breaks the bar up and offers a piece]
ROE: Edward.
[HEFFRON looks at the chocolate but doesn’t move further; ROE puts it in his hand and moves it toward his mouth]
ROE: Eat it.
[HEFFRON reluctantly bites down]
ROE: Good. Perfect. [He lays back]
HEFFRON: I promised him if he got hit I’d get his stuff and bring it to his ma, you know? Now the fucking Krauts will strip him.
ROE [in a quiet voice]: Hey, no, it’s okay--
HEFFRON: It’s NOT. It’s not “okay.” I should’a got to him.
[ROE scrapes for smth to do or say, looks to SPINA, but SPINA’s also clueless. ROE turns to actions instead--tucking HEFFRON in better. HEFFRON hacks miserably.]
***
[A flare goes off overhead. ROE watches it. Beside him, HEFFRON has fallen asleep]
SPINA: Hey, what do you call those people again? Those Cajun healers?
ROE: Traiteurs. You know, my grandma was a traiteurs. [traiteuse. traiteuse. *weeps tears of blood*]
SPINA: Your grandmother?
ROE: Uh-huh.
SPINA: No shit.
ROE: Well, she was. Laid her hands on people and cured ‘em. Took away sickness, cancer, you name it.
SPINA: Your grandma did that? Ha, you’re shitting me.
ROE: I remember she used to pray a lot.
SPINA: Ha, yeah, I guess she had to.
ROE: Talked to God about the pain she pulled out. Asked Him to… carry it away. [He’s distant for a moment, then smiles at SPINA] That’s what she did.
SPINA: Jesus. I’m still trying to figure why they picked me for a medic. God knows. Snap of a finger and just like that, you’re a medic. I’ve had enough playing doctor. How about you?”
[ROE doesn’t respond]
***
[ROE crawls out of the foxhole to a clear morning, with no fog. He hears planes overhead; it’s not until others start running and cheering that he realizes they’re American planes. They run into the no-man’s land between the American and German lines; the fighters lay a field of suppressing fire, nearly hitting their own side. LIPTON yanks ROE back before he gets hit. The men start returning small arms fire.]
LIPTON: Cease fire! Cease fire, goddamn it!
ROE: Sergeant I don’t understand! It was our own planes!
LIPTON: Shh! [the engines of many larger planes become audible] C-47s. They’re bringing supplies, it’s a drop. It’s a drop, come on!
***
[ROE, LIPTON, and others ride into Bastogne on a jeep to collect supplies from the aid station. ROE leads the way into the church]
LIPTON: Alright, help the Doc. The rest of you, come with me.
[ROE picks up boxes of supplies; he stops to watch LEMAIRE comfort a wounded man.]
MULTIPLE VOICES: Medic! Medic! Someone give us a hand, here! Help! Help!
[LEMAIRE and ANNA go to help]
LEMAIRE: This one through here. Now! Vite!
[A wounded man is brought into the side chapel. ROE puts down his boxes and goes to assist. They strip the man’s shirt and start wiping away the blood, to find the wound]
LEMAIRE: La pression est se trouve a l’artère.
ROE: Oui, d’accord. The artery, gotta find the artery. [shoves his hand into the wound to try to find and clamp the artery] Moi, je ne la trouve pas! [he shoves his hand in deeper]
LEMAIRE: Anna! Anna!
[ANNA comes and helps hold the man down]
ROE: Je ne la trouve pas!
[Despite ROE’s best efforts, the man bleeds out and dies. There is a beat of shock; then ROE pulls back and throws down the bandage with a yell of frustration. ROE and LEMAIRE share That Look in silence; ANNA walks quietly away]
***
[ROE and LEMAIRE seated outside the church, lost in their thoughts]
ROE: Where does she come from? The black girl?
LEMAIRE: Oh. The Congo.
ROE: How’d she get here?
LEMAIRE: Just like me. She came to help. [She pulls out a half-eaten bar of chocolate and offers it to ROE]
LEMAIRE: Chocolat?
[ROE smiles, but doesn’t reply; she starts breaking it apart. ROE stares at her hands as she does]
ROE: Hmm.
LEMAIRE: What?
ROE: Your hands.
LEMAIRE: My hands?
ROE: Mm-hm. You’re a good nurse.
[LEMAIRE is not impressed by this compliment; she looks upset. Exasperated and tired, even.]
LEMAIRE [scoffing] No. I never want to treat another wounded man again. I’d rather work in a butcher’s shop.
[This confuses ROE]
ROE: But your touch… calms people. That’s a gift from God.
LEMAIRE: No. It’s not a gift. God would never give such a painful thing. [She offers the chocolate again; ROE shakes his head. His expression looks like a 404 error]
JEEP DRIVER: Nurse! Nurse! We need some help over here!
[LEMAIRE gets up to help]
JEEP DRIVER: Got shrapnel through the stomach!
LEMAIRE: How bad is it?
[ROE stares blankly for a little longer, then gathers up his things to go help]
LEMAIRE: Okay, get this one in first.
[From this point, ROE ceases to speak at all outside of the minimum required of a medic]
***
[Interim dialogue between COMPTON, GUARNERE, and HEFFRON in the OP]
[They hear a stick snapping; GUARNERE and HEFFRON turn with their rifles raised]
GUARNERE: Hey, it’s Doc. [They lower their weapons]
ROE [dumping a blanket into their foxhole]: Sergeant. Heffron. Lieutenant. Wrap up. [He crawls away from the OP]
GUARNERE: Never calls anybody by their nickname.
HEFFRON: He once called me Edward.
GUARNERE: Is that right?
COMPTON: Edward? That’s your name?
HEFFRON: Yeah.
COMPTON: Funny. Y-you don’t. Look like an Edward.
[HEFFRON has no idea how to respond to this]
***
[ROE sits in his foxhole, staring at the line. German tanks rumble in the distance]
[Gordon, in the machine gun nest, reaches for his coffee]
LIPTON: Hey, Doc. It’s gonna get busy, pal. Hold your fire, boys. Don’t let ‘em draw you out.
VOICE: Hold your fire!
LIPTON: Stay ready, boys.
VOICE: What the hell we gonna hit those things with, Lip?
LIPTON: Hold your fire. Get ready, Walter!
[GORDON racks his MG, but as he turns, German fire catches him in the shoulder. He groans softly and drops]
VOICE: Medic!
SPINA [sliding into ROE’s foxhole]: Hey, Eugene!
[ROE doesn’t respond, staring fixedly at the line]
SPINA: Let’s go! Come on, let’s go!
ROE: Okay. Go!
[ALLEY and MORE pull a gasping GORDON from the MG nest]
MORE: Medic! Doc!
ALLEY [pulling GORDON’s sidearm from his jacket]: Smokey!
GORDON: Hey, Moe.
ALLEY: I got it, I’m keeping it for you. [tucks the gun away]
ROE: Smoke!
GORDON: I can’t feel my legs, Gene!
ROE: Take it easy. [To ALLEY] My foxhole, get the plasma, now!
LIPTON(?): Here they come!
[ROE and MORE look up from GORDON; German tanks are leaving the trees on approach]
MORE: You got him?
ROE [pointing MORE back to the MG nest]: Yeah, I got him, go!
LIPTON: Machine guns, open fire!
[ROE continues stabilizing GORDON]
ROE: Sergeant Lipton!
LIPTON [helping ROE hold the bandages so he can tie them off]: Doc, we gotta get the hell out of here. [pats GORDON’s cheek] Stay with us, Smokey. Stay with us! Doc, we gotta get the hell out of here!
[ROE says nothing; when he’s ready, they grab the back of GORDON’s coat and drag him away from the line]
ROE [through a mouthful of IV tubing]: Stop, we gotta stop.
LIPTON: Alright.
ROE [handing off the plasma bottle] Take the plasma.
[LIPTON puts it under his arm to keep it warm]
LIPTON: Hey, hey, come on, Walt. Come on, buddy. Hurry, Doc. Come on, Doc, I’ve gotta get back to the line.
ROE: Okay, okay. [Slaps GORDON’s arm to find a vein]
GORDON: Lip?
LIPTON: Yeah, buddy.
GORDON: You’re standing on my hand.
LIPTON: Sorry, bud. [Hears the jeep coming] Look, I’ll get you another purple heart for it.
[ROE inserts the needle and tapes it down so it won’t move]
LIPTON [to the JEEP DRIVER]: Hey, hey! Give us a hand! I got you a ride, doc!
***
[In town, ROE helps the medics and driver pull GORDON off the jeep and onto a stretcher. They bring him into the church]
JEEP DRIVER: Jones!
JONES: Give it here. Okay, put him here.
[ROE watches at a remove]
JONES: Where’s his tag? Where’s his tag? What’s wrong with him?
ROE [after a pause]: Paralyzed.
JONES: What?
ROE: He’s paralyzed. Can’t feel a thing.
[ROE hears Last Rites being performed; he wanders toward it and watches with a grieving, lost expression on his face]
LEMAIRE: Eugene?
[ROE turns to look at her]
LEMAIRE: Eugene.
VOICE: Renée!
LEMAIRE [to ROE]: Are you--
VOICE: Renée, I need some help here.
LEMAIRE [still to ROE]: Are you alright?
[ROE says nothing; he’s standing stiffly, leaning slightly back from her; to me, his expression reads as closed off, almost betrayed, as well as hurting]
VOICE: Renée!
[LEMAIRE finally leaves; ROE watches her go, but does not follow]
***
[Back at camp, Easy’s lining up for chow.]
DOMINGUS [filling HEFFRON’s kidney cup]: Here you go, man.
HEFFRON [holding out another cup]: One for the Doc.
DOMINGUS: Sure.
[A hilariously cold-looking WINTERS watches HEFFRON go. He sees ROE sitting apart from the men, doing a thousand-yard stare]
HEFFRON [holding out the kidney cup of rancid-ass beans]: Doc?
[ROE blinks and takes it. He says nothing. HEFFRON walks away. SINK’s jeep approaches. Interim conversation about MCAULIFFE’S nuts; the men laugh, but ROE doesn’t react at all. He doesn’t eat, either.]
***
[WINTERS walks up to ROE’s foxhole; ROE is bundled up, presumably sleeping. WINTERS watches for a bit. The Germans start singing “Stille Nacht.” In another foxhole, COMPTON is looking at a picture of himself and an unnamed woman.]
COMPTON: Bill.
GUARNERE: Huh?
COMPTON [showing him the picture]: Picture of me and my girl.
GUARNERE [looking between the picture and COMPTON’s face]: Good-lookin’ broad, Buck. [Goes back to uneasily listening to the Germans]
COMPTON [tucking the picture into a fold in GUARNERE’s coat]: She’s… she’s finished with me.
GUARNERE [taking the picture out, attention focused back on COMPTON]: Yeah?
COMPTON: Yeah. Yeah, she’s uh… [laughs to hide his emotions; covers his face when it doesn’t work]
GUARNERE [staring intently at COMPTON’s face, reading him]: Just in time for Christmas, huh?
COMPTON: Just in time for Christmas.
[Interim dialogue with other members of Easy, celebrating Christmas as best they can. Scene cuts to WINTERS approaching WELSH and ANOTHER OFFICER(who???) beside a small woodfire]
WINTERS: Harry? Fire’s not a good idea.
WELSH: Just a couple of minutes. We’re in a dell.
WINTERS [kneeling down]: A dell? Like where fairies and gnomes live?
NIXON: I swear I thought I could smell a fire. I did smell a fire. Are you out of your mind?
WINTERS: Well, we’re in a dell.
NIXON: Huh?
[Shells start landing; WELSH gets hit by shrapnel]
WINTERS: Medic!
NIXON: This is Captain Nixon, I need an “A” jeep to 2nd Battalion CP--
WINTERS: Stay still, Harry!
NIXON: Hey Doc(??????), put that out!
[A person, presumably nicknamed “Doc” but who is apparently unable to perform first aid, stomps out the fire]
NIXON: Repeat, “A” jeep to 2nd Battalion CP.
WINTERS: Medic! Doc!
[ROE is huddled in his foxhole, very much awake, frozen and unmoving. HEFFRON and SPINA run up to him]
SPINA [holding out his hand]: Come on, Doc!
[ROE doesn’t react]
HEFFRON: Is he hurt?
SPINA: I don’t know!
HEFFRON [shoving SPINA out of the way to climb in the foxhole]: Move!
[More shells land, more voices start calling out for a medic]
SPINA: I gotta go!
HEFFRON: Yeah, go! [to ROE] Eugene, come on, get up! [bodily hauls him out of the foxhole] The captain’s yelling, come on, get up!
ROE [sounding breathless and strained]: Okay.
HEFFRON: Okay, okay get up! Not okay, lie down, okay, get up! Come on, move! [ROE starts to sluggishly move under his own power] Jesus Christ! Augh! [falls back, clutching his bleeding hand] Oh, my hand! My goddamn hand!
WINTERS: Roe!
[ROE runs up, but freezes at the sight of WELSH]
WINTERS: Roe.
[ROE takes a breath and moves forward to begin treatment]
WINTERS: Stay still, Harry.
NIXON: It’s just a scratch, Harry. You’re not getting out of here this easy.
WINTERS: Jeep’s on it’s way, hang tough. [to ROE] Here’s a towel.
[ROE sets a tourniquet; Harry calms marginally]
ROE: Towel.
WINTERS: Yeah, sure.
[ROE wipes away the blood, then tears open a sulfa packet and pours it on the wound. He snaps open a bandage]
ROE: I’ve got morphine in my pocket, give it to him.
WINTERS: Where do you want it?
ROE: Opposite thigh.
[WINTERS sticks him; WELSH relaxes as it hits]
WINTERS: Okay.
ROE: Elevate his head. [draws an “M” on his forehead, to indicate he’s got morphine on board] Get him up!
WINTERS: There you go, soldier, take that. Eugene, get yourself into town, get a hot meal.
[ROE nods and goes to the jeep]
***
[Bastogne is being bombed. They’re returning AA fire, but a blast nearly hits the jeep; ROE covers WELSH’s body with his own to protect him from debris. They reach the aid station, but the church has been bombed out. ROE runs in, sees that LEMAIRE is dead; he takes her kerchief and goes back to assist with WELSH]
***
[ROE trudges back to the line. He passes NIXON, who is dressing down one of the lieutenants for not checking in when he’s supposed to, and WINTERS, who looks like his name. He approaches HEFFRON’s foxhole and jumps in]
ROE: Everything okay?
[HEFFRON doesn’t acknowledge him]
ROE: Babe?
HEFFRON [still refuses to look at ROE; wipes his nose with the back of his hand]: Yeah.
ROE [seeing the cut on HEFFRON’s palm]: Hey, how’d you do that?
HEFFRON [finally looking at ROE]: You did that.
[ROE looks horrified]
ROE: I’ll fix it up.
[HEFFRON doesn’t reply, just holds his hand out in a salty, “do your job, medic” way. ROE finds the kerchief in his pocket. He looks at it for a second, starts to put it back, then tears it into strips for a bandage]
HEFFRON [starting to smile]: Hey, Gene, you called me “Babe.”
ROE: I did? When?
HEFFRON: Just now.
ROE: “Babe.” I guess I did.
HEFFRON [with gentle mockery]: “Babe.”
ROE [with gentle censure]: Heffron, watch the goddamn line.
[HEFFRON laughs; ROE uses the kerchief to bandage his hand]
***
Points
[GRANT, recently shot, lies on a table in a gymnasium-cum-hospital. A doctor leans over him as SPEIRS, TALBERT, and ROE look on]
DOCTOR: Jesus.
SPEIRS [holding GRANT’s hand]: What?
DOCTOR [leaning back]: He’s not gonna make it.
ROE [holding an IV bottle of really super fake-looking blood]: You can’t operate on him?
DOCTOR: Not me. You’d need a brain surgeon. And even if you had one, I don’t think there’s any hope.
SPEIRS [to TALBERT]: You find the shooter, I want him alive. Come on, help me.
ROE(? Doesn’t sound like him, but the doc’s checked out and Tab’s body language didn’t match): What are you doing?
SPEIRS: We’re gonna go find a brain surgeon.
***
END
Tl;dr: Gene is shit at conversation. He’s not a chatty guy, and as soon as he steps outside his comfort zone he turns into an awkward dork really quick.
Okay so, bare bones. Gene, of all the characters, has the most broken speech, in the sense that he hesitates over what to say most. He says “uh,” a lot. Everyone says one or two “uh”s, Guarnere’s got a couple, and Buck, on the edge of breakdown as he is, doesn’t have tidy speech, either. But Gene is constantly stumbling over his words:
“I got, uh, I got this, and… got myself a Kraut bandage.”
“Sergeant Guarnere. Did you, uh, keep your morphine from Holland?”
“Well, I, uh… It’s Edward, right?”
“Gordon, I--I need scissors. You got scissors? Sharp scissors.”
[in reference to Toye’s missing boots] “Wh-what happened?”
[when Martin tells him to sit the patrol out] “Uh… Yes, Sergeant.”
(By a similar token, he's the only character--at least in “Bastogne”--who uses the filler words “Uh-huh,” “Uh-uh,” or “Mm-hm.” Everyone else verbalizes a full “Yeah,” “No,” “Okay,” or etc; Gene is the only one who doesn't always bring the full word out of a noise.)
These are only the verbalized stumbles. There's plenty more times where Gene visibly searches for words, or his expression is the “processing” dial, or has to stop and pull himself together before he speaks. Everybody stumbles over their words in real life, our dialogue isn't scripted and sometimes things come out wrong or the brain takes a moment to process. For it to happen this often in a scripted show, though, it means that it's telling us something about the character. It means Gene isn't comfortable with words. It means he's often left searching for what to say. And this is backed up by his overwhelming preference for nonverbal communication.
If something can be communicated without words, Gene usually goes for it, especially if it's at the beginning or end of a conversation. In “Carentan,” when Dick looks to him for an explanation for why Blithe can suddenly see, Gene gives a wordless shrug and goes back to business. At the beginning of “Bastogne,” when Dick tells him to scrounge whatever he can because he's going to need it, Gene just nods in reply. In the same episode, when Renée tosses him the chocolate bar, he smiles his thanks rather than saying it out loud. Later that evening, after he walks away from Guarnere/Lt. Foley, he tosses Foley a thumbs up to make sure his message was received. Gene finds actions easier than words.
This carries into his bedside manner, as well. Gene uses touch frequently; he puts a hand on Dick’s arm in “Carentan” to urge him toward getting his leg bandaged, and again in “Crossroads” when he gives him the coffee; he pats Joe Toye on the knee when he gets up to leave after talking to him about trench foot; he pats a random background dude when approaching Lt. Dike.
On the other hand, when it comes to words, he uses them rarely and often very badly. When Skinny is wounded, Gene doesn’t actually say a whole lot of reassurances. He issues an order immediately, but only says “Okay, Sisk, it ain’t that bad, ain’t that bad” after the pain starts really getting to Skinny.
Then there’s the bit in the foxhole with Babe and Spina. When Gene first rolls into the foxhole, he says “Gotcha!” in a light upbeat way--but one speaking glance with Spina, and he alters his approach. He drops words and goes for the chocolate, which was the reason he went in anyway. He's very confident with this treatment: give chocolate, make Babe eat it, everything will be fixed. Only, Babe isn't fixed. He starts explaining the root of his emotional upset (Babe is very good at externalizing his emotions), and Gene gets overwhelmed/awkward very quickly. He looks away, clearly is at a loss for words, looks to Spina for help (Spina is no help, lol), and eventually tries a very bland platitude in his Calm Medic Voice: “Hey, no, it’s okay--” which Babe immediately shoots down: “It’s NOT. It’s not ‘okay.’ I should’ve got to him.” Words having thus proved useless, Gene returns to actions and goes to tuck Babe in better.
Compare this to how Guarnere responds to Buck’s confession that his girlfriend dumped him: instead of going for a generic platitude, Guarnere says “Just in time for Christmas, huh?” which is not only a situation-specific observation, but communicates that he understands the emotional implications, and is commiserating with Buck. Gene, on the other hand, did not reply with specificity. He inadvertently dismissed the severity of Babe’s pain (it’s okay--it's not bad as all that), and he didn't really indicate he commiserated or shared Babe’s pain (even though from his expression he's sharing it a little too much, and is desperately uncomfortable). Somebody help this poor fool, he’s trying very hard despite not knowing what the fuck he's doing.
Of interest, while I didn't pay especial attention to Babe’s dialogue in this ep, I did notice one significant difference between how he and Gene talk: Gene frequently repeats himself, most notably with the scissors:
“Penkala, loosen your fingers, goddamn it! Loosen them now!”
“Penkala, scissors. I need scissors. You got scissors?”
“Gordon, I--I need scissors. You got scissors? Sharp scissors.”
“Alright, here. This is what I want you to do. I want you to take someone and work your way over to the third battalion, alright? You know what we need. Bandages, plasma, whatever you can beg, you beg. Alright? And get me some goddamn scissors, I can’t get any. And you get yourself a hot meal too, huh?”
The bit with the scissors may just be the equivalent of muttering something over and over to yourself so you don't forget it as you walk into another room, but the way he keeps saying “alright” when giving orders to Spina (or his verbal tic, “huh?” at the end of a lot of his sentences) is interesting. It implies he's subconsciously(?) unsure if he's being understood, so he has to keep checking in and making sure the other person is listening. By extension, the same could be said of him repeating “scissors” over and over: he wants to make sure his listener gets the picture.
By contrast, Babe repeats what other people say. Gene says “Hey, it's okay” and Babe replies “No, it's not ‘okay’.” Or later, when he mimics Gene saying his name, again, he's repeating back Gene’s words. This is a way of him indicating as a listener that yeah, he's heard what the other person said, and he's now gonna say it back to prove it.
I suspect Babe comes from a conversational culture that emphasizes audience participation. You indicate your engagement as a listener by talking over the speaker, repeating what they're saying, and announcing your agreement or disapproval. Gene, by contrast, waits for the other person to stop talking, and usually pauses to collect his thoughts before he speaks (this gets worse over the course of the ep, as the existential questions and trauma hit harder). I can easily see a conversation between them where Babe is chattering away, getting more and more uncomfortable because Gene isn't contributing--is he listening? Is he bored? Is he annoyed with Babe?--but meanwhile Gene’s desperately waiting for Babe to stop talking so he can pause to think and formulate a reply. In Gene’s culture (not speaking for Louisianans generally; it could just be his family culture), listeners are respectfully quiet until the speaker indicates they're done.
Going back to Guarnere, though, something else I noticed--Guarnere looks fairly steadily at Buck’s face during his confession. His eyes flick away to the picture, but they go right back to Buck. Guarnere is connecting with Buck, witnessing and internalizing Buck’s emotions, and it's such a stark difference from how Gene handles eye contact. Gene almost never looks people in the eye for any long period of time, and often avoids looking at faces altogether. The notable exceptions seem to arise in two contexts: in periods of high emotion, or when he needs to communicate something. Examples: when Dick helps him up before the Normandy jump; when he verbally shreds Dick and Harry in “Crossroads”; when he takes Penkala’s aid kit after Penk was being a ninny; when he has a silent Medic Confab with Spina over Babe’s head; that blistering look he shares with Renée; when he looks up to Babe after Jackson died. They all seem, as far as I can tell, to function either as straight communication (“Do not do this again”/”How’s he doing?”) or as an emotional release valve (see: sharing a man’s death with your hands literally inside his body). It's clearly a powerful gesture to Gene, one that he doesn't like using very often.
And that's another thing--despite all this reticence with other people, Gene doesn't tolerate bullshit lightly. He’s not shy, just reserved; he mostly keeps his opinions to himself, but he’s perfectly ready to defend his boundaries or his patients if the situation calls for it. When Dick says “Stupid” under his breath in “Carentan,” Gene looks sharply up at him, ready to cut a bitch if he has to. When Harry OD’s Moose on morphine in “Crossroads,” Gene does cut a bitch. When Gordon gives him shit about looking for scissors in the sewing room, Gene interrupts with a relatively mild “Alright.” Same with Toye’s feet--Gene is incredibly unimpressed with Toye’s self-care, but he doesn't take it out on him, and instead reiterates what Toye already knows. He also doesn't say outright “you fucked up,” he says (or uses his expression to imply) “can't you see why this is bad? you should know better.” He expects people to use their brains, and is disappointed/exasperated (or occasionally enraged) when they don't.
He also tends to use questions to call out people’s lapses in logic. He says, “You don’t think it might be important to let me know how much medication the man has had, huh?” He says, “You don’t want to go out in this shit and you’re yelling ‘medic’?” He says, “What, do you got a drugstore in here?” And then there’s the times he outright ignores stupid people/questions, like when Dike asked what would happen if he and Spina got hit, or when Alley asked if Gene was using all the morphine personally.
And with two exceptions, the first with Harry and the second with Penkala, Gene generally keeps his temper to himself. He’s incredibly inwardly-directed; he doesn’t take his anger out on others unless the situation is dire.
That scene with Penkala is interesting in a couple of ways. First, outside of the “Jesus Christ!” in “Crossroads,” it's the first time we hear Gene curse in the whole show. And even more interestingly, he's actually echoing back what Penkala says:
“It’s the artery, I can feel it--”
“Penkala, let go--”
It’s the goddamn artery!”
“Penkala, loosen your fingers, goddamn it! Loosen them now!”
To my recollection, this scene and “three syrettes, maybe?” are the only times Gene echoes what someone says, and they’re both in times of high emotion. Gene’s just made a run through artillery or mortars or whatever the heck the Germans are lobbing at them, he's tightly wound and riding the sharp edge of adrenaline. Then when he gets to Penkala, Penk’s freaking the fuck out, and Gene doesn't have time to collect himself. He does with Skinny--there’s a little moment after he jumps into Skinny’s foxhole where he takes a deep breath before getting to work--and he does while he waits for the reconnaissance patrol. And later, when his BSOD starts, he needs longer and longer to collect himself before the action begins. It looks as though if Gene doesn't have time to get into a Medic frame of mind, he ends up feeding off the panic of whoever he's trying to help. And it sticks with him, too--when he dumps himself back in the hole with Spina and gives him the order to go find 3rd Battalion, he swears again: “And get me some goddamn scissors, I can't get any.”
That's not particularly unusual human behavior--we’re empathetic creatures for the most part, and it's extremely easy for us to panic each other. But look at Guarnere again: when Buck comes up half in a panic about Liebgott and Alley singing, Guarnere doesn't feed into it. He talks Buck down, reassures him he’ll address the problem, and presumably does. He doesn't get caught up in an emotional feedback loop strong enough to carry him through a whole nother conversation.
So, Gene is highly susceptible to the emotions around him. Not to say that Guarnere isn’t, he wouldn't be half as good at dealing with people if he wasn't, but Gene either feels them more strongly, or his coping mechanisms aren't as good (that second post I mention will deal heavily with Gene’s coping mechanisms, if I ever write it). Either way, since Gene isn't good at handling people’s emotions, and since war is basically an explosion of the nastiest emotions people can have, one of his coping mechanisms is to avoid people.
Hot take here, I know. Gene Roe isolates himself: news at 11.
Now, I personally feel that Gene is an introvert, and that his keen awareness of/sensitivity to other people’s emotions feeds into/is exacerbated by it. It would explain why he's so bad at conversation: he doesn't get much practice. So when he's tossed into war, he becomes even more reserved, not only because war is hell, but because Gene is in a position of basically non-stop exposure to the pain, fear, panic, and death of his friends. Take all that together, and it's just easier for Gene not to get close.
So, he generally doesn't speak unless spoken to, first. When he does venture first, it's almost always work-related, and generally only ventures into personal territory when he's explicitly asked, like when Spina asks about traiteurs. He tells exactly one awkward, doofy joke, and he doesn't shit-talk the others, save the very last line of the show, when he tells Babe to watch the line.
Other nuts and bolts about his speech: he frequently starts sentences with hesitators like “Well” or “Alright,” to buy himself time to come up with a sentence. He also frequently ends his sentences with “huh?”, a verbal tic that could be a genuine need to make sure his listener’s paying attention, or just a turn of phrase he picked up from others. His grammar is fairly informal--Renée asks if he's a surgeon and he replies that they “don't got no surgeon”--but his word choice can sometimes be stilted and very formal:
“You don’t think it might be important to let me know how much medication the man has had, huh? Because I do not see one syrette on the man’s jacket!” (an interesting combo of “don’t” and “do not” in this one, plus the length of the sentence is much longer than casual sentences tend to be.)
“No, I don't recall.” (a more old-fashioned or stilted way of saying it than “No, I don’t remember.”)
Maybe he’s self-educated through books, or possibly he spent a lot of time with an older relative who talked old fashioned (I like the idea of him inadvertently mimicking his grandmother’s speech patterns). He definitely isn't picking up the speech patterns of his fellow soldiers, which is something most people do when they spend time around each other--a symptom of his self-isolation.
And last of all: French. When does this Cajun boy speak his second language? Answer: pretty infrequently. He does with Renée because he's trying to connect with her; he's curious enough that he's willing to step outside his self-imposed reserve and connect to another person. That was a deliberate choice on his part, nothing unconscious. The other time he uses it is when he's speaking to Guarnere about his biroute. There's a couple possible reasons he says this--he's fucking with Guarnere (unlikely, given his tone), or maybe he learned it in French first, and that's what he reached for first (perhaps adults in his family said dirty words in French to keep small, primarily-English-speaking ears from learning them. Too bad for them, children are language sponges). ALSO, given that he calls his grandmother a traiteurs instead of a traiteuse, i.e. he mixes up plurals and gender on his noun cases, it could be said he's not very fluent in French at all (from a Watsonian standpoint, anyway; the Doylist explanation being that the writers done fucked up and Shane Taylor, not being a French speaker, didn't know better. This is held up by how Gene can apparently yell in frustration that he can't reach the artery, which is Advanced Second Language Skills, so pick your poison). He does all his cursing in English, though, so that's clearly his primary, instinctual go-to tongue.
In conclusion, Gene Roe is a disaster child who doesn't know to make the words go. (For those interested, I included a transcript of all his significant scenes below.)
Carentan
ROE: There she is. You’re lucky it was a ricochet. You just caught a piece of it.
WINTERS [to self]: Stupid.
ROE [looks up at WINTERS]: What?
WINTERS: Nothing.
ROE [in a warning tone, but not hopeful]: Now you gonna be able to stay off it?
WINTERS: Doesn’t look that way.
ROE: Well, you gotta try, huh?
[Interim dialogue where WINTERS talks with COMPTON]
WINTERS: What’s wrong with Blithe?
ROE [making a confused face]: Well, nothing. ‘Cept he can’t see.
WINTERS: He can’t see?
ROE: So he says.
[Interim dialogue where WINTERS talks with BLITHE. BLITHE is rendered sighted once more, both WINTERS and ROE look on in bafflement]
ROE [reaches out to lay a hand on WINTERS’s arm]: Now can we get that bandage on?
***
Crossroads
WINTERS: Stretcher!
ROE [supporting HEYLIGER’s upper body]: I got him, Harry. You give him morphine?
WELSH: Yeah.
ROE: How much?
WELSH: I can’t remember, two, three syrettes, maybe?
ROE [expression going sharp, tone going sharper]: ‘Three syrettes, maybe’?
WELSH: Yeah.
ROE [furious, incredulous]: Jesus Christ, were you trying to kill him?!
WELSH [defensive, harried]: I think it was two.
ROE: You don’t think it might be important to let me know how much medication the man has had, huh? Because I do not see one syrette on the man’s jacket!
WELSH: Sorry, Doc.
ROE: Sure is a good thing he’s a big man, maybe he’ll stand a chance.
WELSH; He was in a lot of pain, Doc. We didn’t know what to do.
ROE: Yeah, well you oughta! You are officers, you are grownups, you oughta know! Alright, let’s go! C’mon, move it!
***
Bastogne
ROE: Can I scrounge a bandage from your aid kit, sir?
WINTERS: How’re you fixed?
ROE: Uh, no plasma, couple of bandages, practically no morphine. Fact, I tried to find my way up to third battalion looking for supplies, but… lost my way.
WINTERS: If you can’t hook up with third, go see Doc Ryan. See what he has to spare.
ROE: Thanks, Captain. [starts walking away]
WINTERS: Eugene? Get everything you can, you’re gonna need it.
[ROE nods silently in reply]
***
ROE: Spina. What’s happening?
SPINA: We’re digging in right along the line.
ROE: Yeah?
SPINA: Yeah, this is it. What’d you get?
ROE: I got, uh, I got this, and… got myself a Kraut bandage. [jumps into the foxhole with SPINA]
SPINA [incredulous]: This is it?
ROE: Yeah. That’s it, that’s all you got. [pulls out a syrette and looks at it] You know, first battalion’s pulled out of Foy. Heavy casualties.
SPINA: So if they’re pulling back, what the hell are we doing sitting here?
ROE: We need morphine. This is all I got. You got extra scissors?
SPINA: Uh-uh, just the one.
DIKE: 1st Sergeant Lipton!
LIPTON: Sir!
DIKE: What’s this, two medics in one hole?
SPINA: Yes, sir.
DIKE: Well, what’s gonna happen to us if you take a hit, huh?
[ROE ignores DIKE; LIPTON approaches and scene shifts away from ROE]
***
ROE: Sergeant Guarnere. Did you, uh, keep your morphine from Holland?
GUARNERE: No. Hey, hey, uh, Doc, I gotta talk to ya--
ROE: How’s that leg?
GUARNERE: To hell with the leg, I’m pissing needles!
ROE: Later.
GUARNERE: Shit.
ROE [approaching GORDON and MORE]: Seen ‘em?
GORDON: No. But they’re out there. Depend on it. Cuppa joe, Doc?
ROE: Gordon, I--I need scissors. You got scissors? Sharp scissors.
GORDON [smiling]: Scissors?
ROE: Uh-huh.
GORDON: Well, let’s see, I’ll have to check the sewing room. Might be upstairs in the study, that skinny old drawer in the middle of the desk--
ROE [in a quelling manner]: Alright. What about an extra syrette in your aid kit, huh?”
GORDON: Hide your morphine, guys!
[shells start landing, someone shouts for a medic, ROE runs]
MALARKEY: Muck, you alright?
MUCK: I’m good!
ROE: Muck, Malarkey, take cover!
MALARKEY: We’re okay!
MUCK: Look at this shit! They peppered my helmet! Hey Doc, Doc, morphine! [throws a syrette] Here, take it!
ROE: Where’s Penkala?
MALARKEY: Christ knows!
[in the distance, PENKALA starts yelling for a medic]
ROE: You guys hit? [falls on top of JULIAN and HEFFRON]
HEFFRON: Hey Doc, how ya doin’?
JULIAN: Are you crazy?!
HEFFRON: What are you lookin’ at him, for? Watch the goddamn line!
ROE: You got a syrette?
HEFFRON: No--
PENKALA: Medic!
HEFFRON: Go!
[ROE runs toward PENKALA’s foxhole]
PENKALA: Doc!
ROE: Penkala!
RANDLEMAN: Doc!
PENKALA [panicking]: It’s the artery, I can feel it--
ROE: Penkala, let go--
PENKALA: It’s the goddamn artery!
ROE [frustrated, frantic]: Penkala, loosen your fingers, goddamn it! Loosen them now!”
PENKALA [whimpering]: I’ll bleed to death!
RANDLEMAN: Relax your arm, Penk! Come on!
ROE [firmly]: It’s not the artery!
PENKALA: I ain’t going back, Doc!
ROE: What?
PENKALA: I ain’t going nowhere, not in this shit!
ROE [very sharp]: You don’t want to go out in this shit and you’re yelling ‘medic’?
PENKALA: I don’t need to go back to no aid station!
ROE: Well, you’re in luck, Penkala, we don’t got no aid station!
[shelling stops]
ROE: Penkala, scissors. I need scissors. You got scissors?
PENKALA: The hell I need scissors for?
ROE: Got your aid kit?
[PENKALA hands it over]
ROE: Right, well you don’t need this. Not yet. I do. [Leaves the foxhole]
***
SPINA: Who got hit?
ROE [sliding into the foxhole]: Penkala. Alright, here. [pulls the loot out of his medic bag and hands it to SPINA] This is what I want you to do. I want you to take someone and work your way over to the third battalion, alright? You know what we need. Bandages, plasma, whatever you can beg, you beg. Alright? I get me some goddamn scissors, I can’t get any. And get yourself a hot meal too, huh?
[SPINA takes a moment to get his stuff together]
ROE [jerking his thumb away]: Go.
[SPINA goes]
[ROE settles himself in the foxhole, takes a breather to recover from the adrenaline rush]
***
[MALARKEY, MUCK, PENKALA, HEFFRON, and JULIAN jabber while eating. ROE sits on the fringes and listens, smiling occasionally at their jokes. He doesn’t join in.]
HEFFRON: Hey Eugene, Lieutenant Dike’s got a full aid kit, try him.
[ROE looks surprised at being addressed, but nods]
MALARKEY: Yeah, I’m sure he’s not using his.
JULIAN: Maybe Hinkle’s got a syrette for you!
[ROE huffs a laugh, but doesn’t respond further]
***
[ROE claps a rando on the shoulder before approaching DIKE’s foxhole]
ROE: Lieutenant Dike! Lieutenant! Can you spare something from your aid kit, sir? I’m real short, I need syrettes.
DIKE: What, morphine?
ROE: Yes, sir. [as an afterthought, barely audible] Please.
DIKE [digging through his coat]: What happens if I get hit?
ROE: I’ll be there. Sir.
DIKE [looking at the aid kit]: Syrette’s in here, right?
ROE:Yes, it is.
DIKE [holding it out]: Here. I don’t plan on getting hit.
ROE: Thank you, sir.
[HEFFRON walks past, coughing up a lung]
ROE: Heffron! Hey, Heffron, you okay?
HEFFRON [yanking off his gloves to button up his fly]: Gene, what is with the Heffron bullshit, huh? You know my name, why don’t you use it?
ROE: Well, I, uh… It’s Edward, right?
HEFFRON: Edward, are you serious! Only the goddamn nuns call me Edward! [starts walking off]
ROE: Hey, listen, I need to know whether you kept your morphine from Holland.
HEFFRON: No, y’asked me already, remember?
ROE [small, mostly to himself]: No. I don’t recall.
[ROE stands for a moment, then runs to a nearby foxhole and climbs in.]
ROE: Hey, hey. Gordon, you want me?”
GORDON [looks up from clasped hands]: Oh yeah, morphine. 3rd platoon ponied up the contraband. [hands vials to ROE] You still looking for scissors?”
ROE: Yes, I am.
GORDON: Perconte.
ROE [in a thinking tone]: Perconte.
GORDON [offering a kidney cup of coffee]: Doc.
ROE [accepts it]: Thank you.
GORDON: Oh, and you better check on Joe Toye out in the OP. He’s missing something.
ROE [takes a drink, hands cup back]: Thanks.
***
[ROE approaches OP, TOYE pulls a pistol on him until he sees who it is.]
ROE: You guys okay?
MCCLUNG [pissy]: They got hot food, can you smell it?
ROE: Toye, you missing something?
TOYE: Home.
MCCLUNG: Ask him to dance, Doc. [TOYE shoots MCCLUNG a look of betrayal; ROE catches the byplay.]
ROE: Toye, show me your feet.
TOYE: You watch the goddamn line, McClung. [holds up his blanket-wrapped feet]
ROE [appalled]: Where are your boots?
TOYE [turning back to face the line]: In Washington, up General Taylor’s ass.
ROE: I don’t believe this.
TOYE: I can move better in bare feet, Doc.
ROE: Wh-what happened?
TOYE: Took em off to dry my goddamn socks. They got blown to hell, okay?
ROE: Well, what’s your size?
TOYE: Nine. Just like everybody else.
[ROE pulls back from the line before trotting away]
***
SPINA: Frank, you keep cleaning those teeth, the Germans’ll see you a mile away. Shoot you dead!
PERCONTE: That’s right, peewee, you keep laughing.
[ROE jumps into PERCONTE’s foxhole]
SISK: Hey, Doc.
ROE [grabbing PERCONTE’s goodie bag]: Hey.
PERCONTE: My stuff!
[ROE upends the bag and dumps out the contents]
PERCONTE: Aw, c’mon, Doc!
ROE: What, you got a drugstore in here?
PERCONTE: No, I own my stuff! What are you looking for?
ROE [holds up a pair of scissors]: Scissors. Thank you, Perconte. [climbs out of the foxhole and starts walking away]
PERCONTE: My goddamn scissors!
[ROE walks away in silence, no shit-talk, unlike SPINA moments before]
ROE [passing GUARNERE’s foxhole]: Sergeant Guarnere. [said in an upbeat tone; relieved from having found scissors, I think]
GUARNERE: Marlene, that you? Hey Doc--Doc, c’mere!
ROE [approaching LIEBGOTT and ALLEY’s foxhole]: U.S.O., pickin’ up syrettes! Alley, Liebgott, you got any?”
LIEBGOTT: No, got used in Holland, Doc.
ALLEY: You ain’t using this stuff, are you, Doc? I mean, personal-like? [hands off a syrette]
LIEBGOTT [laughing at ALLEY]: Come on. [ALLEY and LIEBGOTT go back to singing]
[ROE doesn’t respond to the question, moving on]
GUARNERE: Hey Doc, Doc, I still got the itching. Every time I pee, it’s murder.
ROE: Yeah, I know, I’m sorry, but I just don’t have penicillin for your biroute.
GUARNERE: My what?
ROE [to FOLEY]: Lieutenant, make sure you move around a little, get your blood flowing.
FOLEY: I can’t feel my feet.
ROE: Yeah, well, that’s why you gotta move around, you know, so you don’t get trench foot.
FOLEY: Should I take my boots off?
ROE: Uh-uh. All you gotta do is just loosen em up, keep moving. [goes back to GUARNERE] Sergeant, I’m sorry, I know it must be hell, but I can’t help you, alright? Just… drink lots of water.
GUARNERE: Water! It’s pissing that hurts!
COMPTON [runs up, looking spooked]: Shut it! Shut it! Shut the hell up! What’s going on here, Bill? Who the hell’s singing?
[ROE pulls back from the conversation]
GUARNERE: Well--I--I’ll find out, Lieutenant, I’ll find out. I’ll shut ‘em up, I’ll shut ‘em up.
[ROE turns to leave, but exchanges a thumbs up with FOLEY before he does. Jumps in his foxhole]
ROE [winding paracord around his fingers]: Oh Lord, grant that I shall never seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, or to be loved as to love with all my heart. With all my heart.
***
SISK [offscreen, in a long wail]: Medic!
PERCONTE: Medic! Medic!
[ROE runs to their foxhole and slides in. He visibly takes a moment to muster himself before speaking.]
SISK: Oh, Christ!
ROE: Perconte, you getting a jeep?
PERCONTE: I’m on it, Doc.
SISK: Look what they did to my leg!
[ROE starts cutting SISK’s trouser leg with PERCONTE’s scissors]
PERCONTE: Easy CP, Easy CP, Easy CP. This is Perconte. Sisk has been hit and we need a jeep. I say it again, I need a jeep now!
ROE [in a low, soothing tone]: Bear with me, bear with me. [I think; the audio was low and muffled on this]
PERCONTE [yelling into the radio]: They’re moving, goddamn it, we need it now!
[SISK’s whimpering increases]
ROE: Okay, Sisk, it ain’t that bad, ain’t that bad.
SISK: Ain’t that bad?!
ROE: Okay, and pull. [tightens the bandage; pulls out a syrette]
SISK: No, Doc, save the morphine, I can make it, I can make it, save it, okay?
ROE: Okay, alright, let’s get him out of here.
[PERCONTE and ROE pull SISK out of the foxhole and start a two-man carry to the pick-up point]
ROE: Where’s the goddamn jeep?
PERCONTE: I don’t know, but I hear it.
[They stumble and drop SISK; he yells very loudly]
SISK: Jesus Christ!
PERCONTE: Aw, Skinny, you got blood all over my trousers!
SISK: I’m really sorry, Frank!
ROE: Get him up!
PERCONTE: Damn it, Skinny!
ROE [to PERCONTE]: Tell Spina I went in for plasma. Get him up! [They lift SISK onto the jeep]
[The jeep driver gives a long spiel about the military situation at Bastogne, I’m not copying all of it because Gene doesn’t say anything]
[ROE helps offload SISK onto a stretcher, SISK yells muchly]
ROE: He took a mortar hit, watch the leg.
SISK: Yeah, watch the leg!
ROE: Get him in.
STRETCHER CARRIER: Move it!
ROE: Coming through!
[They go down the stairs, ROE pauses when he sees the improvised ward.]
LEMAIRE: Oh, no no no! Here, put him here.
STRETCHER CARRIER: Yes, ma’am.
LEMAIRE [to ROE]: Is he bad?
ROE: No. Lower leg wound, no morphine.
[LEMAIRE checks SISK’s bandage, nods, and turns away to collect soiled bandages from another table]
ROE: Nurse, have you got plasma I can--
LEMAIRE: Wait, please.
[ROE waits, assesses his surroundings. He watches ANNA clean a wound, and LEMAIRE boil bandages. He turns back to JONES, another medic in the ward.]
ROE: Hey, what’s going on here? Why ain’t these men evacuated?
JONES [bleak and exhausted]: We can’t evacuate, we’re cut off. This is as far as it goes.
[ROE watches him leave, appalled]
LEMAIRE [offscreen]: Faites attention des plasma.
[JONES applies a bandange to a man with a severe abdominal wound. ROE’s expression grows grim]
[LEMAIRE approaches SISK with a bottle of alcohol. She pours him a glass to drink. ANNA approaches his other side, to check his wound]
ANNA: Ça va?
LEMAIRE: Ç’est n’est pas grave, ç’est n’est pas urgent. [she brushes a hand gently over SISK’s brow]
SISK: I’m in heaven, Doc.
[ROE smiles tensely but otherwise doesn’t reply]
LEMAIRE: Pas encore, de merci.
[LEMAIRE turns to leave]
ROE [makes to follow]: Nurse.
LEMAIRE [looking back at him]: This way.
[ROE pauses to touch SISK’s shoulder before he goes]
ROE [to LEMAIRE’s retreating back]: I need morphine, I need bandages, whatever you’ve got.
LEMAIRE: Okay, I can give you a little, but not a lot. [Hands him off a box] You can have this, do you want that?
ROE: Oui. You got plasma?
LEMAIRE: A little. Are you a surgeon?
ROE: No, we don’t got no surgeon. What’s this?
LEMAIRE: Uh, from the bed.
ROE [appalled again]: What, sheets?
LEMAIRE: Yes, for bandages.
ROE [very quiet, mostly to himself]: Okay.
LEMAIRE: Voilà.
ROE: Merci.
[LEMAIRE begins walking away. ROE follows]
ROE: Comment vous appelez-vous?
LEMAIRE [giving him a side-eye]: My name is Renée.
ROE: I’m Gene. Eugene Roe.
LEMAIRE: Where are you from?
ROE: Louisiana. Half-Cajun. Et tois, d’ou viens tu?
LEMAIRE: Bastogne.
[They part ways]
***
ROE: [to jeep driver] Can you get me back to the line?
DRIVER: Sure.
[ROE hands off box of medical supplies, goes to get boots for TOYE]
LEMAIRE [coming out of the church]: Eugene! [tosses him a chocolate bar] Chocolat. Pour vous. [ohhhh my god it should be tu, TU]
[ROE takes it with a smile, nods a thank you, but he doesn’t look back as they drive away]
***
[The jeep approaches the line as MALONEY finishes holding mass]
MUCK: That’s it, guys. Nothing more to worry about. We’re gonna die now, we’re gonna die in a state of grace. Isn’t that right, Babe?
SPINA [to ROE]: Battalion want a reconnaissance patrol. Kraut hunting.
ROE: Alright, I’ll go. Take these. [hands off the box of medical supplies] Give the boots to Joe Toye, tell him they’re a nine. [goes to catch up with the patrol]
PEACOCK [to MARTIN]: Keep going until we make some kind of contact.
HOOBLER(?): Peacock’s leading, right?
LUZ: Right. Asshole couldn’t find a snowball in a blizzard.
PEACOCK: That’s what’s happening, that’s the order.
JULIAN [to MARTIN]: Sarge!
MARTIN: Julian.
JULIAN: Let me be the lead scout.
MARTIN: Back in line, Private.
PEACOCK: Alright, that’s it, let’s move out!
MARTIN: Tactical columns, gentlemen!
[ROE comes up; MARTIN stops him with a hand on his chest]
MARTIN: Doc, Doc. It’s a combat patrol. Why don’t you, uh, stay back and keep your ass out of trouble, huh?”
ROE: Uh… Yes, sergeant.
MARTIN: Yeah.
[ROE watches them leave, a indefinably upset expression on his face. He pulls up a tree and looks intent/worried/idk, fuckin upset and doesn’t talk at all, therefore no dialogue]
[Gunfire starts. ROE’s expression goes more intent/grim. PEACOCK comes running up]
ROE: What’s happening, sir?
PEACOCK: We’re pulling back, we made contact. I gotta get to the CP.
[ROE watches him pass in dismay, before turning back to the sounds of gunfire]
[Interim bits where HEFFRON tries to reassure JULIAN and MARTIN orders the patrol to retreat]
[ROE watches them approach, syrette in hand; a redshirt gets shot and ROE runs to him]
MARTIN(?) [helping LUZ drag the redshirt to ROE]: Doc! Doc!
LUZ: Easy CP, Easy CP, Lightning, over. I need an “A” jeep standing by at the CP. Okay, I got you a jeep, Doc.
NIXON: Martin! Martin!
MARTIN: Sir!
NIXON: What’s going on?!
MARTIN: They got Julian!
HEFFRON: He’s still alive!
MARTIN: We don’t know that!
HEFFRON: We gotta go get him, sir!
NIXON: Did you hit an OP or their line?
MARTIN: Their line, sir!
HEFFRON: We gotta go back, sir, get Julian out of there!
NIXON: No, fall back!
CHRISTENSON(?): We lost Peacock.
NIXON: No, he’s back at the CP. Come on, Martin, fall back! Get ‘em out of here!
LUZ: You ready, Doc? We gotta go back, Doc.
MARTIN: Let’s up and go!
LUZ: Doc, we gotta move now, Doc, come on, let’s go!
[ROE ignores him and injects the syrette]
NIXON: Martin, move ‘em, move ‘em!
LUZ: Doc, now, let’s go! Up!
[ROE and LUZ two-man carry the unlucky redshirt away]
MARTIN: Move! Let’s go! Fall back!
[Everyone hightails it out of there]
***
[Interim scene with interesting character dynamics, but ROE doesn’t speak, so it is skipped]
***
[Nighttime. ROE approaches HEFFRON’s foxhole, but HEFFRON isn’t in it. ROE looks around, sees someone sitting on a log. He goes up to them.]
ROE: Heffron. [He sees it’s TOYE, not HEFFRON] Toye. What you doing out here?
TOYE: Thanks for the boots, Doc. Doing fine.
ROE [points at TOYE’s feet, says in a disappointed tone]: Are you still having trouble with your feet? [kneels down beside the log] Show me, let me--let me see it.
[TOYE pulls his foot up. It’s white. ROE reaches out to touch it; TOYE jerks back in pain]
ROE: It’s trench foot, Toye. If it turns gangrene, you could lose it.
TOYE: I ain’t coming off the line, Doc.
ROE [looking frustrated]: Well, you gotta stay dry. Massage your feet, change socks every day, and dry the wet ones around your neck.
TOYE: M’trying.
ROE: Do it.
TOYE: I’m working on it.
[ROE claps him on the knee, pats him on the shoulder, then stands and starts to walk away. He turns back]
ROE: Oh, you seen Heffron?
TOYE: No. Why?
ROE: He ain’t in his hole.
***
[ROE rolls into SPINA’s(?) foxhole, sees HEFFRON and SPINA CUDDLED TOGETHER I CANNOT, LET BOYS BE GENTLE WITH ONE ANOTHER 2KFOREVER]
ROE [smiling]: Gotcha!
[ROE exchanges a glance with SPINA; he sobers and pulls out the chocolate. He offers it to HEFFRON]
ROE: Heffron.
[HEFFRON doesn’t respond. ROE breaks the bar up and offers a piece]
ROE: Edward.
[HEFFRON looks at the chocolate but doesn’t move further; ROE puts it in his hand and moves it toward his mouth]
ROE: Eat it.
[HEFFRON reluctantly bites down]
ROE: Good. Perfect. [He lays back]
HEFFRON: I promised him if he got hit I’d get his stuff and bring it to his ma, you know? Now the fucking Krauts will strip him.
ROE [in a quiet voice]: Hey, no, it’s okay--
HEFFRON: It’s NOT. It’s not “okay.” I should’a got to him.
[ROE scrapes for smth to do or say, looks to SPINA, but SPINA’s also clueless. ROE turns to actions instead--tucking HEFFRON in better. HEFFRON hacks miserably.]
***
[A flare goes off overhead. ROE watches it. Beside him, HEFFRON has fallen asleep]
SPINA: Hey, what do you call those people again? Those Cajun healers?
ROE: Traiteurs. You know, my grandma was a traiteurs. [traiteuse. traiteuse. *weeps tears of blood*]
SPINA: Your grandmother?
ROE: Uh-huh.
SPINA: No shit.
ROE: Well, she was. Laid her hands on people and cured ‘em. Took away sickness, cancer, you name it.
SPINA: Your grandma did that? Ha, you’re shitting me.
ROE: I remember she used to pray a lot.
SPINA: Ha, yeah, I guess she had to.
ROE: Talked to God about the pain she pulled out. Asked Him to… carry it away. [He’s distant for a moment, then smiles at SPINA] That’s what she did.
SPINA: Jesus. I’m still trying to figure why they picked me for a medic. God knows. Snap of a finger and just like that, you’re a medic. I’ve had enough playing doctor. How about you?”
[ROE doesn’t respond]
***
[ROE crawls out of the foxhole to a clear morning, with no fog. He hears planes overhead; it’s not until others start running and cheering that he realizes they’re American planes. They run into the no-man’s land between the American and German lines; the fighters lay a field of suppressing fire, nearly hitting their own side. LIPTON yanks ROE back before he gets hit. The men start returning small arms fire.]
LIPTON: Cease fire! Cease fire, goddamn it!
ROE: Sergeant I don’t understand! It was our own planes!
LIPTON: Shh! [the engines of many larger planes become audible] C-47s. They’re bringing supplies, it’s a drop. It’s a drop, come on!
***
[ROE, LIPTON, and others ride into Bastogne on a jeep to collect supplies from the aid station. ROE leads the way into the church]
LIPTON: Alright, help the Doc. The rest of you, come with me.
[ROE picks up boxes of supplies; he stops to watch LEMAIRE comfort a wounded man.]
MULTIPLE VOICES: Medic! Medic! Someone give us a hand, here! Help! Help!
[LEMAIRE and ANNA go to help]
LEMAIRE: This one through here. Now! Vite!
[A wounded man is brought into the side chapel. ROE puts down his boxes and goes to assist. They strip the man’s shirt and start wiping away the blood, to find the wound]
LEMAIRE: La pression est se trouve a l’artère.
ROE: Oui, d’accord. The artery, gotta find the artery. [shoves his hand into the wound to try to find and clamp the artery] Moi, je ne la trouve pas! [he shoves his hand in deeper]
LEMAIRE: Anna! Anna!
[ANNA comes and helps hold the man down]
ROE: Je ne la trouve pas!
[Despite ROE’s best efforts, the man bleeds out and dies. There is a beat of shock; then ROE pulls back and throws down the bandage with a yell of frustration. ROE and LEMAIRE share That Look in silence; ANNA walks quietly away]
***
[ROE and LEMAIRE seated outside the church, lost in their thoughts]
ROE: Where does she come from? The black girl?
LEMAIRE: Oh. The Congo.
ROE: How’d she get here?
LEMAIRE: Just like me. She came to help. [She pulls out a half-eaten bar of chocolate and offers it to ROE]
LEMAIRE: Chocolat?
[ROE smiles, but doesn’t reply; she starts breaking it apart. ROE stares at her hands as she does]
ROE: Hmm.
LEMAIRE: What?
ROE: Your hands.
LEMAIRE: My hands?
ROE: Mm-hm. You’re a good nurse.
[LEMAIRE is not impressed by this compliment; she looks upset. Exasperated and tired, even.]
LEMAIRE [scoffing] No. I never want to treat another wounded man again. I’d rather work in a butcher’s shop.
[This confuses ROE]
ROE: But your touch… calms people. That’s a gift from God.
LEMAIRE: No. It’s not a gift. God would never give such a painful thing. [She offers the chocolate again; ROE shakes his head. His expression looks like a 404 error]
JEEP DRIVER: Nurse! Nurse! We need some help over here!
[LEMAIRE gets up to help]
JEEP DRIVER: Got shrapnel through the stomach!
LEMAIRE: How bad is it?
[ROE stares blankly for a little longer, then gathers up his things to go help]
LEMAIRE: Okay, get this one in first.
[From this point, ROE ceases to speak at all outside of the minimum required of a medic]
***
[Interim dialogue between COMPTON, GUARNERE, and HEFFRON in the OP]
[They hear a stick snapping; GUARNERE and HEFFRON turn with their rifles raised]
GUARNERE: Hey, it’s Doc. [They lower their weapons]
ROE [dumping a blanket into their foxhole]: Sergeant. Heffron. Lieutenant. Wrap up. [He crawls away from the OP]
GUARNERE: Never calls anybody by their nickname.
HEFFRON: He once called me Edward.
GUARNERE: Is that right?
COMPTON: Edward? That’s your name?
HEFFRON: Yeah.
COMPTON: Funny. Y-you don’t. Look like an Edward.
[HEFFRON has no idea how to respond to this]
***
[ROE sits in his foxhole, staring at the line. German tanks rumble in the distance]
[Gordon, in the machine gun nest, reaches for his coffee]
LIPTON: Hey, Doc. It’s gonna get busy, pal. Hold your fire, boys. Don’t let ‘em draw you out.
VOICE: Hold your fire!
LIPTON: Stay ready, boys.
VOICE: What the hell we gonna hit those things with, Lip?
LIPTON: Hold your fire. Get ready, Walter!
[GORDON racks his MG, but as he turns, German fire catches him in the shoulder. He groans softly and drops]
VOICE: Medic!
SPINA [sliding into ROE’s foxhole]: Hey, Eugene!
[ROE doesn’t respond, staring fixedly at the line]
SPINA: Let’s go! Come on, let’s go!
ROE: Okay. Go!
[ALLEY and MORE pull a gasping GORDON from the MG nest]
MORE: Medic! Doc!
ALLEY [pulling GORDON’s sidearm from his jacket]: Smokey!
GORDON: Hey, Moe.
ALLEY: I got it, I’m keeping it for you. [tucks the gun away]
ROE: Smoke!
GORDON: I can’t feel my legs, Gene!
ROE: Take it easy. [To ALLEY] My foxhole, get the plasma, now!
LIPTON(?): Here they come!
[ROE and MORE look up from GORDON; German tanks are leaving the trees on approach]
MORE: You got him?
ROE [pointing MORE back to the MG nest]: Yeah, I got him, go!
LIPTON: Machine guns, open fire!
[ROE continues stabilizing GORDON]
ROE: Sergeant Lipton!
LIPTON [helping ROE hold the bandages so he can tie them off]: Doc, we gotta get the hell out of here. [pats GORDON’s cheek] Stay with us, Smokey. Stay with us! Doc, we gotta get the hell out of here!
[ROE says nothing; when he’s ready, they grab the back of GORDON’s coat and drag him away from the line]
ROE [through a mouthful of IV tubing]: Stop, we gotta stop.
LIPTON: Alright.
ROE [handing off the plasma bottle] Take the plasma.
[LIPTON puts it under his arm to keep it warm]
LIPTON: Hey, hey, come on, Walt. Come on, buddy. Hurry, Doc. Come on, Doc, I’ve gotta get back to the line.
ROE: Okay, okay. [Slaps GORDON’s arm to find a vein]
GORDON: Lip?
LIPTON: Yeah, buddy.
GORDON: You’re standing on my hand.
LIPTON: Sorry, bud. [Hears the jeep coming] Look, I’ll get you another purple heart for it.
[ROE inserts the needle and tapes it down so it won’t move]
LIPTON [to the JEEP DRIVER]: Hey, hey! Give us a hand! I got you a ride, doc!
***
[In town, ROE helps the medics and driver pull GORDON off the jeep and onto a stretcher. They bring him into the church]
JEEP DRIVER: Jones!
JONES: Give it here. Okay, put him here.
[ROE watches at a remove]
JONES: Where’s his tag? Where’s his tag? What’s wrong with him?
ROE [after a pause]: Paralyzed.
JONES: What?
ROE: He’s paralyzed. Can’t feel a thing.
[ROE hears Last Rites being performed; he wanders toward it and watches with a grieving, lost expression on his face]
LEMAIRE: Eugene?
[ROE turns to look at her]
LEMAIRE: Eugene.
VOICE: Renée!
LEMAIRE [to ROE]: Are you--
VOICE: Renée, I need some help here.
LEMAIRE [still to ROE]: Are you alright?
[ROE says nothing; he’s standing stiffly, leaning slightly back from her; to me, his expression reads as closed off, almost betrayed, as well as hurting]
VOICE: Renée!
[LEMAIRE finally leaves; ROE watches her go, but does not follow]
***
[Back at camp, Easy’s lining up for chow.]
DOMINGUS [filling HEFFRON’s kidney cup]: Here you go, man.
HEFFRON [holding out another cup]: One for the Doc.
DOMINGUS: Sure.
[A hilariously cold-looking WINTERS watches HEFFRON go. He sees ROE sitting apart from the men, doing a thousand-yard stare]
HEFFRON [holding out the kidney cup of rancid-ass beans]: Doc?
[ROE blinks and takes it. He says nothing. HEFFRON walks away. SINK’s jeep approaches. Interim conversation about MCAULIFFE’S nuts; the men laugh, but ROE doesn’t react at all. He doesn’t eat, either.]
***
[WINTERS walks up to ROE’s foxhole; ROE is bundled up, presumably sleeping. WINTERS watches for a bit. The Germans start singing “Stille Nacht.” In another foxhole, COMPTON is looking at a picture of himself and an unnamed woman.]
COMPTON: Bill.
GUARNERE: Huh?
COMPTON [showing him the picture]: Picture of me and my girl.
GUARNERE [looking between the picture and COMPTON’s face]: Good-lookin’ broad, Buck. [Goes back to uneasily listening to the Germans]
COMPTON [tucking the picture into a fold in GUARNERE’s coat]: She’s… she’s finished with me.
GUARNERE [taking the picture out, attention focused back on COMPTON]: Yeah?
COMPTON: Yeah. Yeah, she’s uh… [laughs to hide his emotions; covers his face when it doesn’t work]
GUARNERE [staring intently at COMPTON’s face, reading him]: Just in time for Christmas, huh?
COMPTON: Just in time for Christmas.
[Interim dialogue with other members of Easy, celebrating Christmas as best they can. Scene cuts to WINTERS approaching WELSH and ANOTHER OFFICER(who???) beside a small woodfire]
WINTERS: Harry? Fire’s not a good idea.
WELSH: Just a couple of minutes. We’re in a dell.
WINTERS [kneeling down]: A dell? Like where fairies and gnomes live?
NIXON: I swear I thought I could smell a fire. I did smell a fire. Are you out of your mind?
WINTERS: Well, we’re in a dell.
NIXON: Huh?
[Shells start landing; WELSH gets hit by shrapnel]
WINTERS: Medic!
NIXON: This is Captain Nixon, I need an “A” jeep to 2nd Battalion CP--
WINTERS: Stay still, Harry!
NIXON: Hey Doc(??????), put that out!
[A person, presumably nicknamed “Doc” but who is apparently unable to perform first aid, stomps out the fire]
NIXON: Repeat, “A” jeep to 2nd Battalion CP.
WINTERS: Medic! Doc!
[ROE is huddled in his foxhole, very much awake, frozen and unmoving. HEFFRON and SPINA run up to him]
SPINA [holding out his hand]: Come on, Doc!
[ROE doesn’t react]
HEFFRON: Is he hurt?
SPINA: I don’t know!
HEFFRON [shoving SPINA out of the way to climb in the foxhole]: Move!
[More shells land, more voices start calling out for a medic]
SPINA: I gotta go!
HEFFRON: Yeah, go! [to ROE] Eugene, come on, get up! [bodily hauls him out of the foxhole] The captain’s yelling, come on, get up!
ROE [sounding breathless and strained]: Okay.
HEFFRON: Okay, okay get up! Not okay, lie down, okay, get up! Come on, move! [ROE starts to sluggishly move under his own power] Jesus Christ! Augh! [falls back, clutching his bleeding hand] Oh, my hand! My goddamn hand!
WINTERS: Roe!
[ROE runs up, but freezes at the sight of WELSH]
WINTERS: Roe.
[ROE takes a breath and moves forward to begin treatment]
WINTERS: Stay still, Harry.
NIXON: It’s just a scratch, Harry. You’re not getting out of here this easy.
WINTERS: Jeep’s on it’s way, hang tough. [to ROE] Here’s a towel.
[ROE sets a tourniquet; Harry calms marginally]
ROE: Towel.
WINTERS: Yeah, sure.
[ROE wipes away the blood, then tears open a sulfa packet and pours it on the wound. He snaps open a bandage]
ROE: I’ve got morphine in my pocket, give it to him.
WINTERS: Where do you want it?
ROE: Opposite thigh.
[WINTERS sticks him; WELSH relaxes as it hits]
WINTERS: Okay.
ROE: Elevate his head. [draws an “M” on his forehead, to indicate he’s got morphine on board] Get him up!
WINTERS: There you go, soldier, take that. Eugene, get yourself into town, get a hot meal.
[ROE nods and goes to the jeep]
***
[Bastogne is being bombed. They’re returning AA fire, but a blast nearly hits the jeep; ROE covers WELSH’s body with his own to protect him from debris. They reach the aid station, but the church has been bombed out. ROE runs in, sees that LEMAIRE is dead; he takes her kerchief and goes back to assist with WELSH]
***
[ROE trudges back to the line. He passes NIXON, who is dressing down one of the lieutenants for not checking in when he’s supposed to, and WINTERS, who looks like his name. He approaches HEFFRON’s foxhole and jumps in]
ROE: Everything okay?
[HEFFRON doesn’t acknowledge him]
ROE: Babe?
HEFFRON [still refuses to look at ROE; wipes his nose with the back of his hand]: Yeah.
ROE [seeing the cut on HEFFRON’s palm]: Hey, how’d you do that?
HEFFRON [finally looking at ROE]: You did that.
[ROE looks horrified]
ROE: I’ll fix it up.
[HEFFRON doesn’t reply, just holds his hand out in a salty, “do your job, medic” way. ROE finds the kerchief in his pocket. He looks at it for a second, starts to put it back, then tears it into strips for a bandage]
HEFFRON [starting to smile]: Hey, Gene, you called me “Babe.”
ROE: I did? When?
HEFFRON: Just now.
ROE: “Babe.” I guess I did.
HEFFRON [with gentle mockery]: “Babe.”
ROE [with gentle censure]: Heffron, watch the goddamn line.
[HEFFRON laughs; ROE uses the kerchief to bandage his hand]
***
Points
[GRANT, recently shot, lies on a table in a gymnasium-cum-hospital. A doctor leans over him as SPEIRS, TALBERT, and ROE look on]
DOCTOR: Jesus.
SPEIRS [holding GRANT’s hand]: What?
DOCTOR [leaning back]: He’s not gonna make it.
ROE [holding an IV bottle of really super fake-looking blood]: You can’t operate on him?
DOCTOR: Not me. You’d need a brain surgeon. And even if you had one, I don’t think there’s any hope.
SPEIRS [to TALBERT]: You find the shooter, I want him alive. Come on, help me.
ROE(? Doesn’t sound like him, but the doc’s checked out and Tab’s body language didn’t match): What are you doing?
SPEIRS: We’re gonna go find a brain surgeon.
***
END
no subject
Date: 26/01/2020 05:15 (UTC)no subject
Date: 26/01/2020 20:13 (UTC)I'm glad you liked the post!
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Date: 26/01/2020 06:33 (UTC)no subject
Date: 27/01/2020 21:22 (UTC)no subject
Date: 26/01/2020 10:54 (UTC)no subject
Date: 26/01/2020 20:33 (UTC)no subject
Date: 26/01/2020 19:41 (UTC)Also, I hope you don't mind if I plug this challenge, because every time I see meta now it makes me hope more people will take part: https://marchmetamatterschallenge.dreamwidth.org/581.html
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Date: 26/01/2020 20:34 (UTC)no subject
Date: 31/01/2020 12:31 (UTC)Thank you so much for taking the time to analyze all of this!