51
Congratulations, Enders.
52
You saved a lot of marines.
53
I wasn't alone in that, sir. I couldn't have
done it without Private Ben Yahzee.
54
Oh... Right.
55
The, uh, Indian.
56
Begging the colonel's pardon,
he's a Navajo, of the Bitter Water People,
57
born for the Towering House clan1.
58
Of course. Navajo. Towering House clan.
59
You keep up the good work, Enders.
60
Send that to Nellie's wife.
61
You ever not miss mail call, Enders?
62
My mom says somebody
takes the time to write a letter,
63
you should read the letter.
64
Does she let you drink, your mother?
65
No. But she's not here.
66
- What is it?
- Well, it ain't Chianti, I'll tell you that.
67
It's rice wine. It's Jap sake.
But it does the trick.
68
How much of this crap
do you have anyway?
69
You have a little trouble with that ear,
don't you, Joe?
70
Ah, real problem's the inner ear.
It's anvils2 and stirrups and shit.
71
I'm a little out of balance.
72
You done good on that hill today, Yahzee.
73
Yeah, I did, didn't I?
74
I bet I surprised the shit out of you.
75
It was a noble thing that you did, Joe.
76
To give your Silver Star to Nellie's wife.
77
I don't give a shit about medals.
78
The first one they gave me...
79
I threw it into the ocean.
80
What'd you get that one for?
81
For not dying.
82
The 15 men who fought with me
got decorated too. For dying.
83
So...
84
Lieutenant was killed
the night before and...
85
none of the sergeants3 even made it
out of the landing craft, so...
86
that left me in charge.
It was my first command.
87
Orders were to hold some shitty swamp
marsh on the ass-end of nowhere.
88
And I did.
89
All of the men under my command...
90
men who trusted me...
91
who begged me to pull back...
92
not one of them made it.
93
Just one stupid asshole.
94
And for that, they gave me the Silver Star.
95
What were their names?
96
It might be good to tell a story about 'em.
97
You know, who they were
and what they were like.
98
What a magical pile of Navajo horseshit.
What the hell for?
99
To honor them.
100
Their memory.