Fighting Men: Keep It Clean (1940s)

[Music] well it's just like I was telling you we were swinging around this hill mopping up after the first wave the hinies were throwing everything but Ma's kitchen stove at it and the lieutenant sent me on a reconnaissance job down this [Music] [Music] road I'm getting along fine when this heiney comes along we see each other about the same time and we both hit the dirt fast I fall with my rifle under [Music] me well I know that if this guy throws anything it ain't going to be a cream puff and here I am trying to scrape the mud off my rifle I'm thinking about the skipper and how he'd give me hell for falling on it when all of a [Music] sudden they know what they're talking about when they tell you to keep your rifle out of the mud and how to keep it up when you fall I got off lucky that time the heiney must have been scared and pitched a wild ball but the concussion knocked me cold I guess he thought I was dead ma wrote me that you joined up and it made me feel kind of proud kid but I want a live Soldier for a brother not a dead one that's why I'm telling you this stuff you take that rifle I give you it's a honey it's a killer if you use it right and treat it right you've got the best friend a soldier can have but if you don't know how to handle it or if you start kicking it around it's going to let you down just when you need it plenty I remember when I was in the replacement Center they gave me a rifle so what you point the damn thing and it goes bang and that's all there is to it it gave me a pain the way the noncoms used to hammer away on this preliminary stuff I wanted to get out and kill some Germans and [Music] Jabs I'll take this blindfold business I used to think that was kid stuff like riding a bike with no hands I found out we were in rest billets one night and I was cleaning my rifle after 2 days of pretty tough going so I said to the sge sge I don't like drinking out of a river but that canteen of mine just won't hold enough water You' think that had have shut him up but it didn't no wonder you had a belly ache last night I wish I could get this damn thing back together here she comes there she went okay you guys on your feet outside hey you out that light yeah we were moving out and me with the guts of my rifle all over the bench so you see that blindfold business wasn't kid stuff there's a reason for everything in the [Music] Army you got to know how to fall with a [Music] rifle [Music] you got to know how to lay it downright to keep it [Music] clean those things aren't just something else to learn they're how to save your life you take Joe for instance Joe's a swell guy field artilleryman he was telling tell me one time yeah I was telling him one time I was telling him what a damn fool I am I'm Joe field artillery and there's our battery we were sitting pretty and getting ready to go into action then this German plane comes along and spots us well all hell breaks loose up in the down the front and right off the bat we get orders to load up and [Music] move first I couldn't find my gas mask like a dope I'd put it down someplace you know the place [Music] well there I am loping along like a low Cod Buffalo and planam I do a [Music] broing naturally the guys all laugh and I'm mad as hell the sergeant don't help any first thing he says is clean up that rifle not how are you Joe or did you hurt yourself just clean up that [Music] rifle clean up my rifle he says and me with mud running out of my ears the hell with [Music] that so anyway we get the battery into the new [Music] position [Music] [Music] I'm out in a foxhole wishing I was back in Chicago when I hear a noise three hinies out on patrol there they were like ducks in a shooting gallery somehow they'd wriggle through the line but now I had them where I wanted them boy did I have him 1 2 3 that's what I [Music] figured I picked the second one for the next slug only I never got him see why that's a pretty looking mess isn't [Music] it I know what the sergeant was talking about [Music] now I'm telling you I never would have gotten out of that spot alive if our machine guns had to cut the tails off those monkeys I want you to to be smart kid not like Joe and me if I'd have been half smart I wouldn't be writing you from here I'd be up with my outfit Where I Belong here's what happened the sergeant had rolled me out at 5:00 in the morning for guard Duty it's cold and rainy and half dark and I'm a pretty unhappy guy I knew that rain wasn't doing my rifle any good I got to thinking about Joe and how he snafued his detail and I figured I'm not going to get caught that [Music] way so I get out some oil and I pour it down the [Music] barrel then I plugged her up to keep the oil inside [Music] okay I guess you're ahead of me right now but here's how it was I've been out there a long time and I was getting [Music] pooped I was beginning to think those guys would never come out to relieve [Music] me okay Hennessy go back and get yourself some Java and get dried off you know Corporal what this outfit needs is an all night dog wagon go on fresh air is good for a guy like you yeah I know make a man out of here it's a 109 let him have it I'd seen one of those measure schmits tear hell out of be company I drew a bead and tracked him the plug in my Barrel hell I forgot about that this was the long shot that might pay off squeeze the trigger like they told you slow don't jerk that's [Music] it jeez look at that rifle look at that face stretcher bear well kid I guess you're not so proud of your big brother now I guess you think I'm pretty much of a dope okay so I'm a dope the point is let's not have two of them in the family it's so simple kid that I want to holler it at you just keep your rifle clean and use it right if you do you've got a great chance but if you don't I don't know what I'm going to look like they don't take the bandages off till tomorrow but we got to keep one guy in this family that the gals will go for well so long kid good luck keep your rifle clean