It's Your America (1948)

[Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] yes sir I'm going home I guess you think I'm pretty lucky getting back so soon well I think so too but I'm not going to apologize I had a l number coming in I've been thinking about a lot of things tonight I was thinking about how much a guy can learn in 4 years I'm not the same guy that left home four years ago I feel like a bigger guy I feel that I'm coming back to a a bigger kind of home and that's a pretty good feeling it's funny guy kind of mopes his way through life he think he's living and he's he's really sleeping and then all of a sudden something happens to him like going into the army and fighting a war maybe and he wakes up he begins to see things he begins to hear things no I never used to shoot my mouth off that's what this damn Penny's done for me was 4 years ago next month I found it they used to call me Mister in those days I guess I was the average kind of a slap happppy guy you know the kind that's got everything and doesn't know what he's got y I was the All American jerk he doesn't even know what he got up for now he knows see how happy he is why should he be happy his country wants him to fight fight for big words like democracy Freedom Liberty hell he doesn't even know what they mean he's got a job he's got a girl he's got a mother he's got friends what are they dragging him off at 6:00 in the morning for [Music] this is the kind of a morning and the kind of a day that makes a man feel lonely sure there's a war going on somewhere millions of people are being killed or starved or tortured that's tough but that's far away Europe Asia China those people don't really mean anything to [Music] [Applause] [Music] them that's how we began that Penny and me I figured if I hadn't gone back to pick it up that truck would have hit [Music] [Music] [Music] me we must all be in the same part of town same draft board but outside of Mike Simmons over there the rest of the guys are strangers guys from my own neighborhood but I don't really know any of [Music] them [Music] heads heads Heads Tails that's me third from the left you know a thing like this makes you stop thinking yourself different from everybody else [Music] 1918 hey that's year I was born maybe that's good luck let's see what else is on a penny Lincoln a man with a [Music] beard reminds me of that statue we saw on the trip to Washington when we were kids in school was a Whopper of a statue Miss Anderson said Lincoln was a savior of our country but he was just a hell of a big statue to me liberty well that's another statue ebus yum oh yeah that's Latin dead language United States of America Oregon is bounded on on the south by California on the North by Washington on the east by Idaho that's right United States was a map different colors for the states and crooked lines for the rivers that was the United States of America wonder what those things are on the side looks like a couple of leaves or feathers Maybe get moving Bud you're in the Army I was in the Army all right and I didn't like it to me it was just drill and March and KP and more drill they tried to tell us what we were fighting for but that was just words to me and then we March some more [Music] come all right man all out on either side of the road watch you smoking oh my feet they're killing me yeah mine too why do they have to March us all over the St I know how to walk I suppose if we're going to do some fighting we might as well get in shape for it I wonder when we'll get to the top of this mountain this isn't a mountain it's a hill yeah what makes you think so I've seen a mountain this is one hell of a country isn't it huh you know the other day a guy asked asked me what I was fighting for and I wanted a laugh right in his face what's that a lucky penny it's just a regular Penny it's got the year I was born on it yeah 1918 it's got a lot of other things on it too hell it's got everything on it it's got America on it say um when this guy asked you what you were fighting for the the one you laughed at what did you tell him what do you say to a guy like that just tell him to take a good look at this Penny you mean those words on it no not just the words tell them to find out what they mean what they really mean so they're not just words anymore you know I don't know what the the hell you're talking about fire when you understand what's on that Penny you'll know America when you know America you'll know what you're fighting [Music] for I was pretty sure that dog face was crazy but some of the things he said kept bothering me he sure loved this country but but how can a guy love America except in a song or a speech you can't fall in love with a map then our outfit started to move around that [Music] map we really saw America and I got to know fellas from all over the country from the north south east and west we trained together ate together griped together drank together Oregon became Joe Higgins and Washington which bounded it on the North became Sam Collins and Illinois was George Franklin and Alabama was Henry Baxter and then America was wasn't a map anymore it was a real country made up of real people and real people's homes I remember the night the Convoy pulled away from this country on the way over I suddenly realized I was leaving my country and I was lonesome for it maybe that's that's what that dog face was talking about and maybe he wasn't so [Music] crazy now if you don't like that stuff I can get you some beer no no thanks how much is it i''ll be six mon this is my first day in London I'm not sure about the money yet oh well this is six this is an American penny isn't it yeah I carried around with me as a lucky piece ah I never seen one of these before it's a good picture of Mr Lincoln yeah I guess so you Americans are great Believers in luck aren't you well we English are too for that matter I was talking to my son the other night he's out of the war now now he lost the sight of his eyes in Africa and he was saying how lucky we are to have Mr Churchill when he speaks now this is what my voice is it's Shakespeare speaking and Milton and Nelson and Israeli and all the great poets and Statesmen and soldiers in English History and so if Mr Churchill seems a little uh Grand and eloquent and proud it's because we've got a grand and proud history my son's a great talker now will you have a glass of beer with me sure thanks come to think of it we've got a pretty good history ourselves guys like Washington Lincoln Jefferson lots of people Mark Twain and Will Rogers I can't think of all right now but we've had some pretty fine men too yes you've had some of the finest here I've been carrying a picture of Lincoln around with me in my pocket and I forgot that my own grandfather saw him that he was a real live man like uh well like your Mr Churchill A House Divided Grandpa used to say when sis and I get in a fight A house divided against itself cannot stand yeah how did you know that why a man like Abe Lincoln belongs to the whole world that's what Grandpa used to say only he thought that Lincoln belonged especially to him like he was a relative or an Anor or something Father Abraham I guess it's the same way you feel about Mr Churchill and Mr Shakespeare and the rest like they belong to you yes and they do belong to me too they're as much a part of England as as this Pub it's funny isn't it how a war starts a guy thinking a man never knows what's his what really belongs to him until someone tries to take it away from [Music] [Music] this was his Pub this was their Church their Library their City their country like we here highly resolve that these dead shall not not have died in vain Mr Lincoln said that how does the rest ofic go I used to know I I guess I forgot great words great [Music] words it took me a long time to remember the rest of that speech it was over a year before we got to [Music] Italy this was one of his cities all of a sudden for no reason my mind went back to Lincoln some jump musolini to Lincoln and then I remembered the rest of what he said that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the People by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth of the People by the people for the people from the people where without the people against the people that guy Lincoln grows on you on the beach at anio I forgot to duck and I got hit in the arm with a hunk of shrapnel H Soldier no sir I didn't know a surgeon could be left-handed did you ever see a picture named Lefty Grove yes sir I saw him walk three men in a row one time well I'll try and do better than that say major yes what does urbus yum mean eus Unum that's Latin yeah but what does it mean well it means out of many one one what well one One Nation one people out of many people well sure our country is made up of many kinds of people isn't it yes sir people from many different countries different religions different colored skins even left-handed people perum haven't thought of that in years out of many one that's where we get our strength it's a scientific reason for it too like these instruments here they're not pure steel they're an alloy a mixture of different Metals that's why they're strong and sharp it's the same with America all these people have helped make the country Freer and stronger and America has made each of them Freer and stronger that's it all right that's the American idea we give our best each of us we get back the best that everybody has to offer that's freedom and democracy that's what e means e pluris yum not a bad [Music] idea I got sent back to the rear for a couple of weeks rest we stopped at a heiney prison camp one day and I I picked up a Frenchman his outfit was on our left at [Music] cassino they look much different than the day they marched into Paris then they were arrogant unconquerable these guys don't look like Supermen to me were you in Paris when they came yes I was there they put me in a concentration camp we tried to get out six of us two of us made it Where'd you go I joined the underground seee that must have been pretty rugged you know I mean hard what'd you do in the underground all bridges factories things like that once a German Troop Train you guys really got around but I like better to fight like this in the open with a French army with other men a man does not feel so lonely he feels more free free in the Army you have never been in a concentration camp there you eat the Nazi's bread and do his work in safety and that is slavery but to fight and go hungry and destroy the Nazi that is freedom Liberty when we were kids we never thought much about freedom and liberty maybe it's because we had so much of it they killed my wife but you'll get even with him we'll be in Rome in a couple of weeks no for that I can never get even well um uh what are you going to do after this is over after the war I don't know what would you like to do well first I will visit the G of my wife sure and then then I think I would like to vote again vote well that is the test is it not that is how I will know no what that I am free I have fought for a long time and I want to know for sure that I will have the freedom I have been fighting in for and when a man can vote when men can vote together and decide how they shall live together why why then they are free I could have voted the last time and I didn't do it oh that is too bad many men have died for what you throw away when three men vote together there is nothing they cannot do I remember Before the War I used to go to a little cafe in Paris it was called Cafe the Doom my go someday I shall sit there again with my friends and we will talk about France and what is good for France oh we will not always agree of course and we will argue but that is good and if I get a little drunk and talk too loud and pound on the table I will not be arrested for it because no matter what I say I will be talking about my country and my country will be free yes I want to vote [Music] again hey hey H I picked this up in the last town you want a piece yeah Italian bread but it's not bad hey what are you looking at there's nothing out in that field not anymore this yours if that's a 1918 Penny it's mine it's got a couple of feathers worn out in the back you don't have to identify it besides those aren't feathers they're two heads of wheat wheat how do you know I'm a farmer huh wonder what they put whe on a penny for well maybe because wheat is bread Bread's what people eat people all over the world this used to be a wheat field might have been pretty good too if they'd rotated the crops once in a while and I thought these things were a couple of feathers wheat on a penny hell that's what I'm fighting for for a we yeah and a away people all over the world raise wheat we're fighting for them they're fighting for us you know I never used to think much about those other people English French Russian and Chinese they weren't ordinary folks like us they were different kind of and then I read I saw pictures how the Russian and Chinese Scorch the Earth why they even kill their Liv stock so the Nazis and Jabs couldn't use them well I'm a farmer all of my my family is Farmers I thought about them killing their livestock and burning their crops take something pretty bad make a farmer do that when a farmer fights for something bigger than his crops rather he's fighting for something big I figured it must be their freedom they were fighting for they're on our team so they're fighting for our freedom too maybe they burn burned their wheat so we wouldn't have to burn ours couple of feathers huh come on out and visit us sometime in Nebraska make it in the fall when the wheat's ripe we got a thousand acres out there and it looks like pure gold only it's better than gold it's bread that was Hank Barlo and he died 2 Days Later a German Sniper got him in a wheat field it was 3 weeks later that our guys took Rome but I wasn't with [Music] them I was pulled out and sent back to England everybody said that this was going to be the big push the invasion it sure looked like like it it felt like it too and when the time came they didn't even have to tell us there's some stuff you don't get unless you're going [Music] places you don't get French money either it makes you feel like you really want to [Music] pray in God we trust in God all of us trusted an Episcopalian from Oregon a Jewish boy from Iowa a Catholic from New Jersey a white man from Chicago and a negro from South Carolina in this was one Army out of one nation out of 48 states out of many peoples and many colors and many religions this was e plish unim orite we trusted in God and we trusted in each other we trusted in each other because we needed each other and when you looked around and saw the other guys you knew that nobody could L us we were strong because we were free and equal and we were together that's what democracy means that's what was on the penny that's what we were fighting [Music] for this was the army of Liberation and what an army [Music] [Music] [Music] that guy was right when you know America you know what you're fighting for okay man over the [Music] side [Music] [Music] [Music] well now I'm going home it'll be swell to see my girl my mother my my house but that's not all I'm going back to it took me a long time to discover America longer than it took Columbus I guess and I had to make a long trip too I found out that it belongs to me it belongs to me and you and all the rest of people back home we lick the Nazis together and we're going to lick the future together that's the thing you learn in the army that a bunch of guys can do anything if they work together that's the way democracy works and that's why democracy works I know what that Frenchman was talking about now I want to vote too I want to go back and help run our country and that's a big job it's a job that'll take 130 million of us all working hard you see I want to make damn sure that we don't lose the things that I've been fighting for and learning about because we've really got something brother I found that out and I want to hang on it together we killed the Nazi idea well together we're going to keep on building the American idea we're going to make sure we've got a place where free kids can grow up in a free men where every man is free and strong and equal and where everything is run according to Lincoln that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom and the government of the People by the people for the people shall not perish from the earth that was Lincoln's America and it's my America and and it's your [Music] America how about it Soldier a penny for your thoughts [Applause] Glory world [Music] is I for