Saving Private Sullivan

(Version 2)

 

Scene 1: (Dan walking through the grave yard at Normandy)

 

VOICE OVER:

            I came here a month after my father died, trying to relieve 40 years of silence.

            Dad had stopped talking to me after I deserted Vietnam and went to Canada.

            He claimed I had betrayed Uncle Jimmy’s memory

            Dad and Jim had hit the beaches together on D-Day.

            While dad got wounded and sent home; Jimmy supposedly died a short time later.

            My father never got over feeling guilty about surviving when Jimmy had not.

            Since Dad went to the grave mute, I came here, vaguely hoping Jimmy might speak to me from beyond the grave.

 

 

Scene 2: (Landing on Normandy Beach)

 

            I got more than I bargained for.

            The tales of dad’s exploits during D-Day had always been a bit fuzzy to me, like a black and white newsreel slightly out of focus in my head, none of dad’s war stories could bring alive for me.

            I never thought I would end up in one of them.

            Men died horrific deaths all around me from the constant barrage of machine gun fire from the hill.

            I figured I was about to die, too, when Jimmy’s hand settled on my shoulder like a guardian angel’s.

 

JIMMY:

            Stick with me buddy.

 

DAN:

            But I don’t belong here.

 

JIMMY:

            None of us do.

            We need to get off this beach. Come on.

 

VO:

            So we rushed to a ridge in the sand and joined the line of other soldiers as death flew inches over our heads.

            Somehow we broke through the German lines and promptly got lost behind them.

 

 

SCENE 3 (the group of soldiers moves up a cobble stone road)

 

VO:

            As much as dad talked about Jimmy’s heroism, he didn’t know much – only what he had seen with him growing up as boys.

            So when Jimmy lead us against a German machine gun and blew it up with a grenade, I began to understand what a hero he was.

 

(troop on a hill fighting a sniper)

 

            Later, when a sniper killed one of our troop, I saw Jimmy cry – and I was just as surprised.

            I began to realize that the Jimmy Dad painted wasn’t the real Jimmy at all.

 

(They come to an old church)

 

            Later, in the ruins of an old church, we talked.

 

JIMMY:

            You called me Uncle Jimmy several times.

            Do I know you?

 

DAN:

            I’m from Jersey City.

            I know your brother George

 

JIMMY:

            Small world.

            To tell you the truth, I’m a little worked about George.

            I know he hit the beach, but I don’t know if he survived.

 

DAN:

            He did.

            He got wounded. The Army sent him home.

 

JIMMY:

            You know an awful lot for someone who doesn’t know much.

            And you seem troubled.

            You want to talk about it?

 

DAN:

            No. It’s not important

 

 

SCENE: 4 (Troop in the fields)

 

 

VO:

            The more I followed him the more I feared death would overtake him at any movement.

            When we encountered the German tanks, I thought he would rush at them the way a bull dog would. But he proved craftier than I thought.

 

JIMMY:

            Come on, JC.

            Let’s get out of here.

            We can’t fight tanks with the pee shooters we got.

 

VO:

            So we scrambled out of the way and back into the woods.

 

(POV of church steeple then approach to ruined village)

           

            But the moment I was the village of rubble, I knew this was where Jimmy would die.

 

(A sergeant approaches them)

 

SERGEANT:

            You men there.

            Why aren’t you with your outfit?

 

JIMMY:

            We don’t exactly know where our outfit is, Sarge.

 

SERGEANT:

            Very well, stick with us.

            We’re short-handed and we need to defend a bridge.

            We expect the Germans to attack at any moment.

 

VO:

            So we followed the sergeant into the heart of that ruined world, walking over the fallen brick as if over human bones.

            Me, Jimmy and others took refuge in an old roofless shop to wait on an assault we all believed would kill us.

 

JIMMY:

            There’s something you’re not telling me, JC

 

DAN:

            You wouldn’t understand.

 

JIMMY:

            Try me?

 

DAN:

            I’m from another time and place.

            At times I need to pinch myself to be sure I’m really awake.

 

JIMMY:

            You’re not exactly making sense.

 

DAN:

            I suppose not.

            I guess I’m here to make amends for deserting when I did and letting the family’s honor down.

            My father always referred to me as Private Sullivan

            He meant it as an insult.

 

JIMMY:

            From what I’ve seen, you’re no coward.

 

DAN:

            It wasn’t a matter of being brave. It was a matter of being morally right.

 

JIMMY:

            You’re here now.

 

DAN:

            This war is different than that one was.

 

SERGEANT:

            The Germans are coming

 

VO:

            And so the tanks came, a relentless march of metal against flesh, unbearably persistent, slaughtering all that stood in its way, slaughtering even Uncle Jimmy, who withered before I could reach him, managing only to mumble as he died.

 

JIMMY:

            Take care of George for me.

VO:

            I yanked his dog tags from his neck and cried.

 

(back before the grave)

 

 

            Some people might call it a dream.

 

(opens his hands to reveal the dog tags)

 

            But I know better