HI! AN: somewhat based on the novel more than the movie. From the novel, there is a jeep scene that never made final cut. That would explain how I got the jeep. And trust me, they All FIT into that jeep even though it was cramped, so i'm just saying what the screenplay said. And Rieben and Wade have a huge argument too. --It's kind of sad...
It was a cold day in France, and a small herd of cows moseyed on by. As the wind picked up more, so did the cows, looking for the nearest tree. The cows didn't give a care in the world of the unconscious man lying yards away in the mud-grass terrain.
Miraculously, the man's hand twitched with alertness and he was soon opening his mud incrusted eyes. He had no idea were he was and how he got there but he only remembered falling. He must have hit his head pretty hard. He could only remember vaguely things here and there.
"What in jesus?"
Total confusion this was. He knew his name was Edward Wade (well, actually called 'Irwin' by the guys) and he was a Corporal in the U.S. Army and at 28, one of the oldest of Captain Miller's boys. He had lived in San Diego, California before he was drafted in the Army and War began.
He remembered riding in the jeep the Captain had got for the little 'mission' to save some nockhead. They came under fire and Horvath drove in a pit hole. Where was every body?
"Jackson! Capt. Miller? Hey Rieben, are you here somewhere?"
He started to remember what Rieben was just saying before they just disappeared...
"I'm tellin' ya, shootin' japs is easier, on account for Nips don't look as much like people as krauts do." Reiben walked in front of Mellish, having his usual 'I now it all, don't kid yourself' discussions.
"I don't have any trouble shootin' krauts,' Mellish said.
"Killing a man is killing a man," Wade said, "no matter what he looks like."
Reiben looked at Wade. "They're all cocksuckers and pricks. Always have been. It's in the blood." He observed.
Miller gazed at Reiben. "So what about Beethoven?"
Reiben smiled. "A prick."
"Martin Luther?"
"Cocksucker."
"Hey," Sarge growled from tail end, "I'm a Lutheran!"
"What about Emmanuel Kant?" Upham asked.
Reiben crinkled his nose. "Who?"
"He was a great philosopher."
"Prick."
"Yeah? Well what about Marlene Dietrich?" Jackson asked.
"Cocksucker," Reiben said. Then he grinned. "but that could just be wishful thinkin'..."
Everybody laughed, even Wade. Upham looked out into the distance,
"Still, they can't all be pricks."
Reiben rolled his eyes at him, "Yes they can." He said.
Wade, being serious, snapped, "Are you listening to yourself?"
"Would you," Mellish poked in, "If you were him?"
Wade took this to seriously now.
"Let me get this straight. You think, Reiben, that there is no decent man, woman or child in their entire country?"
"Aw, now your being to generous, my man. I'd include every dog, cat and squirrel, Wade." Reiben said. "Every sauerkraut snapping, schnitzel munching son of bitches, Hitler lovin' thing that breathes. All pricks."
"Reiben," Wade said, with no humor at all, "you have to be the most backward, bigoted, ignorant excuse for a human being I've ever met!"
"Maybe," Reiben said. "But I'm not a prick or a cocksucker. Come on, name me one decent German? Huh?"
Nobody said anything. He smiled. "Not so easy is it?"
"Not when Martin Luther's a prick," Miller said, "It isn't."
"Albert Schweitzer," Wade said.
"Who?"
"He's a German."
Reiben had an expression of 'dog poo' under his boot. "He already sounds like a prick."
Wade was shaking his head, frustrated. "Albert Schweitzer's only the most famous fuking Doctor in History! Spent thirty years in Africa, helping natives..."
"Why'd he do that?"
Wade exploded: "Because he was trying to help his fellow man! Because he isn't a selfish asshole like you, Reiben!"
"Hey, you think I came to France for the cheese?"
Jackson inturupted, "Why don't you just shut-up, Reiben?"
But Wade ran up and pushed Reiben from behind. Reiben spun around.
The usually calm Wade was getting worked up.
"Look shit head...Albert Schweitzer is the reason I became a doctor in the first place. So the next time you step on a land mine, you better hope I feel like slappin' a bandage on an asshole like you!"
Reiben started to do his famous smirk at Wade. The group was silent, listening to the two fight it out. Caparzo thought this entertaining very much.
"What?" Wade demanded.
"Nothin'"
"WHAT?" Wade asked again.
"It's just I thought you said both your parents are doctors."
"Yeah, so?"
Reiben had mock shock in his voice. "And it takes some fucking prick kruat to convince you to go into the family business?"
"Sombody hand me a weapon," Wade said.
Miller called back to Reiben, "Reiben lose an argument, for once, Okay? Albert Schweitzer was not a prick or a cocksucker. You, however, are an asshole."
They all giggled except Wade. He was quiet...
Wade urged his sore body to rise and his steel helmet forced him to stay. He was weak and could hardly move at first.
"I hate grass. I hate this mud, I hate being freakin lost. Hell, I hate France!" He yelled for no one to hear. Flinging his arms wildly.
The rain trickling down his helmet and on to his shoulders, he looked around. There was absolutely nothing in all direction but tall grass.
"RAIN! It always has to rain dusn't it?"
He took off his helmet, shook his wet hair and put it back on again.
I hate France! He thought once again, glaring out into the distance. He looked back down in the dirt and turned his body over to look for his rifle. Oh yeah, he doesn't have a rifle-
"Damn it!"
Then he saw a small piece of something sticking out of the mud and he reached over and pulled at it but to his astonishment he pulled out a muddy skull. It was the skull of a human being. At that moment something odd happened and he leaned over and vomited,
his eyes blurry and dark.
FLASH
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Wade looked up and really looked around the place. There was dry tall grass that stretched forever and it was evening just before the sun set over familiar hills; it no longer was raining either, which was good. Wade gazed around. He hadn't noticed it had stopped raining so quickly.
"Okay, I think I'm done with this war thing. I've gone completely crazy now."
The air smelled odd around him; kind of misty and surreal.
He looked to his left and what he saw made him drop to the ground. There was a small house and a young girl wearing a bright red dress came from the old fashioned house, running as fast as she could.
She ran towards Wade through the tall grass, and as she got closer Wade realized she wasn't as young as he thought she was. Her petite and fragile figure made her seem to be only twelve but now he guessed she was fifteen or sixteen. She looked tired and upset as she ran closer to Wade;
he noticed she was sobbing. Then he heard gun fire.
Next chapter peoples!