The Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont, maker of better things for better living through chemistry, presents Pat O'Brien in Iron Camels.
Music
Tonight, Cavalcade brings you the story of a modern Casey Jones, a story about the railroads and the railroad men of the Army Transportation Corps, and the vital part they played in the winning of Tunisia.
It is a true story, based on a detailed report from a correspondent in North Africa.
It was adapted for Cavalcade by Sue Taylor White as a play for one of Motion Picture's outstanding personalities, Pat O'Brien.
And so tonight on the Cavalcade of America, Pat O'Brien as Lieutenant Colonel Steve Carey of the Army Transportation Corps.
Music
I don't suppose there's hardly anybody who wouldn't say that's one of the most thrilling sounds in the world, the working song of a big steam locomotive.
Today you can hear that sound in places where there's, well, there's never been any other form of transportation than a horse or a camel or a man's back since the dawn of time.
The sound of an American locomotive installed and operated by the United States Army Transportation Corps.
Now, just because I'm an officer in the Transportation Corps, I'm not going to claim we win all the battles single-handed.
Oh, indeed, the Army's a team, and it's the teamwork that counts.
But you must remember this, every gallon of gasoline, every bomb and bullet and shell that you folks at home turn out, has to reach the fighting fronts before it's any good to any of us.
And that takes men and wheels, railroads and railroad men.
Nowadays, an Army marches on its ammunition trains.
In the North African desert, they call them iron camels.
Just behind the front, the Kasserine Pass. Remember that name? Kasserine Pass?
That's where the Germans licked us. That's where the Germans licked us. Almost.
It was a hot night, and I was in a little hut next to our tracks doing some paperwork.
The men had worked like dogs all day, laying a double track right up to the front lines.
And we were all dead tired.
But every so often, an ammunition train would rumble past us, taking a load of shells up to the artillery boys,
who were handing it on to the Germans as fast as they could shove it into the guns.
So we knew we'd done our job, and we'd done it right. And we were feeling pretty good.
There was only one thing I noticed I didn't like.
The sound of that artillery fire seemed to be getting nearer, and that was liable to mean trouble.
Uh, say, Colonel.
What do you want, Collins?
You, uh, busy, Colonel?
No, busy, no, no, of course not. I just see you looking at the scenery all night long.
Yeah, it's beautiful, ain't it?
What do you want?
Colonel, I got a feeling...
Listen, this is transportation, not the medical corps.
Oh, I ain't sick, Colonel, but do you hear that artillery?
Of course I hear it.
Well, I got a feeling we're gonna start moving backwards.
Yeah, well, suppose you go to sleep somewhere and stop demoralizing the armed forces.
Okay, sir, but here comes a courier, and I'll bet he didn't come up here to pass out medals.
Colonel Carey?
That's right. Give it here.
Mm-hmm. All right. Tell him we're on our way.
Yes, sir.
Collins?
I know, sir.
Shut up. We've got four locomotives.
Detail men to get them hot and hype all the hell out of here.
Yes, sir. But two of them hogs are as cold as the back of my neck, sir.
We're not leaving good American steam engines for the master race to play with.
Come on.
Yes, sir.
Where's that French section boss?
There he is, leading the band.
Hey, Roe!
Oh!
You come to reason to our concert this year?
Beautiful. Some music, huh?
Yeah, yeah, but look, we're pulling out, Roe.
Out?
I want all those air apps on board to train it out of here in one hour.
You help Collins warm up the two coal engines.
Yeah, but where we go?
The front lines are so close already, monsieur.
We're not going to the front lines. We're going away from them.
The Germans are breaking through the Kasserine Pass.
No, monsieur.
Yes, monsieur. The American Army is in retreat.
Your boss at the section hands.
We're going to lose any and let's move.
Move your hand, will you? I can't see that pal.
What happened to that out of the range?
All right, let it come a little this way. Let it drop slow now.
Give me a hand, will you?
Collins! Collins! Where's Collins?
Right here, sir. Right here.
We got this engine hot and ready to scram.
Put Blackburn on her and send her out.
Go on over to number six and see what's holding them up there.
Blackburn, get aboard and take her out.
Yes, sir.
Hop on. Come on. Get aboard, Joe.
Give her the gun, Blackburn.
Well, that one's gone.
What's the matter here? Collins, what are you doing?
We'll never get these two babies hot in time, sir.
They're getting awful close with that artillery.
All right, sir. Now, look.
We leave this one and number seven behind.
Take off her side rods. I don't want any jewelry left on her.
Burn out her pistons and do the same with number seven.
Colonel Carey.
That's right. Over here. I'm Colonel Carey.
The Germans just broke through the pass.
What do you mean, broke through?
Isn't anybody fighting them anymore?
Fighting them all the way, sir.
But there's no telling when they'll be down on us.
Boy, I can feel that ground shaking now.
All right, Collins.
Let's see one of your burning torches. Come on.
Maybe we get them out.
We'll pull out on the last engine.
Those two cold hogs have...
Well, they've got to be made useless.
Hop up here.
Well, here's the torch.
All right, give me gas. You got a match on you?
Here, I'll light it, sir.
More oxygen.
Stand by. Here goes a good piston.
Boy, look at that steel burning.
This is one locomotive that ain't going to carry no Germans very far.
Say, sir, why don't we just blow up these two engines and scram?
I got a feeling we'll be back here soon, Collins.
I'd rather fix a burned piston than put an exploded locomotive in there, it cares.
Oh, they're shooting at us, sir.
Need more oxygen.
But, gee, maybe they're only over that hill there.
More oxygen.
Oh, that one nearly parted my hair.
One over number seven.
See if they got steam up.
Is she still cold? Tell Smith to burn her pistons.
And I mean burn, see? Like I'm doing that here, Scott.
Scorch her guts out.
And get everybody who isn't working aboard number eight.
She's the only one left to get away on.
You, uh, you sure we got time to burn her out, huh?
Young fella, the only thing I'm sure of right now is that the German Army is coming through those hills.
Now get going.
Yes, sir.
Hey, Collins.
Yes, sir.
You ready to pull out of here?
Yes, sir.
Watch it!
You all right?
Well, I've been better, Colonel.
Is that Smith in the cab with you?
Right here, sir.
We burned out number seven and this one's hot and ready to go, sir.
All right, boy.
Give her the gun. Go ahead.
Well, ain't you coming?
This is the last iron camel out of here.
I'll cut across that bend out there and make sure all the men are cleared out.
You two slow down beyond that gully and pick me up there.
Get a rolling. Go ahead.
I'll be right around the bend.
Okay, sir. So long.
Well, let's go, Smithy. Start a rolling.
Okay, Sarge.
Who, me?
Yeah, you. Now start a rolling. That's an order.
Oh, now look, Sarge, I don't...
Now listen, Private First Class, I don't want no arguments.
I got to look out this window here and watch for the Colonel.
You got to do the driving.
Well, if that's the way you want it, Sarge...
Yeah, that's the way that I want it.
Hey, hey, wait a minute. What are you doing turning on the steam? Are you crazy?
That's what I mean, Sarge. I tried to tell you...
Tried to tell me what?
I can't. I never drove no locomotive in my life.
I don't care if you're ne...
You don't know how to drive this thing?
Uh-uh.
And you're in the Army Transportation Corps?
Ah, what can the government be thinking of?
Well, I...
Oh, Sarge. Now, look, Sarge, I don't think this is no time to stand on ceremony.
I think you better drive.
Do you think I'd be asking you to pilot this pig if I could do it myself?
Oh, I get it. You can't either...
You can't either?
No. And we ain't got no time for old correspondent school courses.
Get out of my way.
What are you gonna do, Sarge?
I'm gonna learn by trial and by error.
Now, what's this thing here?
Uh-oh. I think it was an error.
Oh, yeah? So concentrate on silence, okay?
Now, here's something. Here, hold on. I'll give this one a pull.
Well, there. See, we're moving.
Hey, we're... Hey, we're going backwards.
Hey, Sarge, we're going toward the German lines. Shut it off!
All right, all right. Stop all the time criticizing.
Here we go frontwards. I hope.
Ah, well, now you did it all right.
Boy, sure feels good to be getting out of here.
Hey, Sarge, look back there.
Are those German tanks coming around that hill?
I ain't got no time to look back.
If they're German tanks, I'll feel more interested in looking straight ahead.
Boy, look at us go around this old turn.
Hey, there's a Colonel up ahead. Slow down.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking myself.
Where's the brake, I wonder?
The brake? Wait a sec. Oh, here, I'll pull this.
Ah, stop pulling the whistle.
Here, I'll try this handle.
Ah, I think we're in a rut, Collins. All we do is make noises.
Well, come on, do something. We're going to pass the Colonel.
Well, hold on. I'm going to pull everything.
Boy, you sure stopped there, Collins.
Yeah, I sure did.
Well, there's the Colonel.
Oh, Colonel, what are you trying to do, flatten the wheels?
Oh, I mean, Sarge, we're sort of experimenting.
Hop in, Colonel.
Well, stop experimenting.
All the men got out on the other end.
Germans won't find anything there but scrap.
Got to go now, Collins, and fast.
Well, Colonel, you see...
We're shop men, Colonel.
We never run one of these guns.
You never run... Get away from that throttle.
Yes, sir.
Say, where are we heading for, Colonel?
That is if you don't mind telling us.
Oh, I don't mind telling you.
Going to Met Louis. You boys feel tired?
I don't feel nothing in this cement mixer.
Because if you do, you'd better find something to lean against
and get some sleep.
Well, I was thinking of sleeping in Met Louis.
Well, forget it.
As soon as we hit Met Louis, every man who can stand up
is going to load the machine shops on the flat cars and go to bed.
Load the machine shops? Are we going to be cut off in Met Louis too?
We're being swamped. We're in retreat.
So loosen your belts and relax, boys.
You got the hardest job in your lives waiting for you
ten miles down that track.
What you do with the starting machines?
I don't see them on the cars.
Oh, they're starting machines.
Oh, the starting machines are on the last flat car
with the radios and brakes.
Wait on the line there.
All right. Now, look.
Take your e-rabs over and blow over the whole string.
Make sure everything is lashed down tight.
Pulling out in an hour.
Yes, sir.
Hey, the Germans are getting the range.
Yeah, you better make it 40 minutes instead of an hour.
Go ahead.
Yes, sir.
Colonel Carey.
Hey, Colonel, we just got a call on a field telephone.
The Germans have cut the tracks on both sides of us.
We can't blow this stuff out, and Captain Allen's asking for orders, sir.
Oh, he is, huh?
Yes, sir.
If you want to blow up the machine before the Germans get here,
well, I got three squads all set to go to work.
Well, that's thoughtful of you, Collins.
I'll tell you what.
Take your squads and roll out those trucks in that shed over there.
Get hold of the roll, unload everything off the flat cars,
and out of the trucks.
Yes, sir.
But I'd just like to remind you, sir,
there ain't no roads here in this part of the country.
We'll cut across the desert.
Then you don't want no demolition squads now, huh?
Listen, Collins, we're not going to blow anything up
as long as we can move a muscle.
Too many guys worked hard to turn this stuff out,
and too many guys gave their lives sailing it across the ocean.
Now, get that stuff out of the trucks.
We'll blow it up when it needs to be blown up,
until then it's moving day and move!
Order number 152M3.
Immediate attention.
Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Carey, Transportation Corps.
We are attacking.
The Germans are destroying all railroad track as they retreat.
Repair of track essential to success of our movements.
You are to rebuild track up the front lines at maximum possible speed,
keeping pace at all times with moving front.
You will be under attack by German air forces,
but we will give you as much air protection as we can spare.
Acknowledge.
Sign.
Johnson.
Lieutenant General Headquarters.
Well, we built it.
Track and track and more track, and even bridges.
I remember one bridge especially in Tunisia.
We had built a line all the way up to this river,
and then the bridge stopped us cold.
It was ripped up by the Germans so, well, you couldn't get a kiddie car over,
let alone a locomotive.
Up ahead our army was battling the Germans.
On our side of the bridge, our trains were waiting,
filled with ammunition and supplies that the boys just had to have.
Yes, we worked days and we worked nights.
It was near mature.
You remember that name.
The Germans were throwing everything they had at our boys,
and here were train loads of supplies waiting to cross that bridge.
Well, finally one afternoon we had track laid almost the whole length of the bridge
and on its approaches.
Hey there, Roo.
How does it look?
One hour more, Colonel. I believe we will be finished.
Nobody can work like our obsession has.
Yeah, I was kind of afraid I'd have trouble with them.
Different kind of people and all, you never can tell.
Just let me keep handling them and there will be no trouble.
Don't suppose they could stop that singing, do you?
Makes it kind of hard to concentrate. Unnerves me sometimes, you know.
I think it will be better they keep singing, Colonel. You see, they...
Here comes the Luftwaffe again.
Everybody down, take cover, roll down.
Take cover, tell them to take cover and stop that singing.
No, no, no!
They better get down in the ditch, Colonel.
Coming. Come down here, Collins.
If they blow up that bridge again, I'm going to go crazy.
Go listen to those Arabs. Are they nuts?
You are listening to the Cavalcade of America, sponsored by DuPont,
presenting Pat O'Brien as Lieutenant Colonel Stephen Carey
of the Transportation Corps U.S. Army.
Our play, Iron Camels, is the story of the railroads and railroad men
and the part they played in the campaign in Tunisia.
Colonel Carey and his men have worked day and night to repair a blasted bridge
over which ammunition must be carried to the American troops.
While they work, again and again the Luftwaffe attacks.
Here they come, dig in.
I'm right with you, sir.
Get down or I'll strip you.
Listen to those Arabs now.
They are happy now, so they sing louder.
As I was saying before, Colonel, I think better you allow them to sing.
Yeah, yeah, I feel better myself with this singing, I guess.
Collins, anybody get hurt?
No, no, everybody's okay, sir.
We're going to have clear track in half an hour, sir, right through to the front.
Oh, that's wonderful.
Go to the field telephone and notify headquarters
they can start those ammunition trains coming through.
The stretch is clear.
Right, sir.
Oh, and Ruhl, you better get going.
Holy cats, those honey planes are coming back again.
You think they'd let a man finish his job before they...
Look, look, there, American planes.
Where are your men, Ruhl?
Mustangs there.
They are fighting off the Germans.
Everybody down, dig in, all of you.
There's a plane falling, it's one of ours.
Jump in here, Ruhl.
Oh, that poor kid, look at him up there.
Any room in that trench?
Jump in, you lunatic.
Look at him, he's trying to pull out.
Colonel, he's going to smash up on our tracks.
Oh, kid, whoever you are, straighten out.
Straighten out, boy, don't fall.
Oh, he must be hurt bad, he's not bailing out.
He's hitting straight with a bridge, Colonel.
Poor guy, don't hit that bridge, don't.
Trying to turn away from the tracks.
Oh, look at that kid.
Get down, here he comes.
Here he comes.
Come on, before he starts burning.
Yes, sir.
Ruhl, grab this wing with me.
Turn her over.
All right.
If I fire the engine's burning, she's going to explode.
Everybody, push up.
All right, get him out of here.
Ruhl, grab the cockpit cover.
Come on, pull.
Pull out, pull.
Let me smash the hatch.
The cover's jammed.
Go ahead, but be careful.
Don't hurt the kid now, he's moving, he's alive.
Ruhl, get him throwing sand on that engine before the tanks catch fire.
Yes, sir.
Disarm.
All right, grab him under the arms.
Yes, sir.
Up, down.
He can't move his legs, sir.
He must have got it in the legs.
Up with him, Smith, grab his legs.
Yes, sir.
All right, let's get away from this thing.
Ruhl, get everybody clear before she blows.
Savez-vous.
Oh, boy.
We're safe here, sir.
She won't blow this bar.
Here comes first aid now, sir.
Yeah.
All right, let him down.
Yeah.
There.
Now we pull that thing off the tracks before she blows.
But she...
Okay, sir, I'm with you, sir.
Huh?
There she goes, sir.
Yeah, and there goes our track.
Oh, sometimes I get awful discouraged, Collins.
Look at that hole, look at it.
Yes, sir.
I didn't have time to tell you, sir.
Headquarters said over the phone that it was wonderful how we got the track clear.
And they did, huh?
Yes, sir.
They also said they were sending the ammunition trains right through, sir.
Well, that's really big of them.
Yeah.
We ain't never gonna get that hole filled and track laid in time for no trains.
What a war.
All right, Collins, here's the tick.
Yes, sir.
That plane wreckage won't be cool enough to move until morning.
I want a shoe flight thrown around that section.
Curve out the track about, well, say, 30 feet around the plane,
start your fly back there by the legs.
Right, sir.
Roole.
Oh, come here, monsieur.
Listen, Roole, get your gang, bring your new ties,
haul up the rails and angle bars.
If you need anything, just holler.
We'll get those boys going, you understand?
Oui, monsieur.
Allo?
Well, Collins, I think we're gonna break a record laying track.
Yeah, I'd like it very much if those ammo trains would go right through.
In fact, if we don't break a couple of records,
the United States Army is gonna start moving backwards again
for lack of ammunition.
And if they move backwards, we're gonna have to blow up that bridge.
And if I have to blow that bridge up after all the headaches we had building it,
I'm gonna leave the Transportation Corps, pick up a cannon,
and go hunting Germans.
So let's see some smoke around here.
All is going forward, monsieur.
Fine, fine, great.
But must those Arabs make that beautiful music all the time?
Roole, tell each and every one of those boys
that the Colonel is a lover of Arabian music
and that after the war he's gonna buy himself an album of Arabian records
and play them morning after morning in memory of those wonderful people.
Now let's lay some track.
Well, the sun went down that day, and we kept at it,
feeling the tracks for vibration that would tell us of the approach of those ammo trains.
News came through that the Germans had bombed our forward ammunition depot.
Our artillery up ahead had four hours supply of shells and no more.
Oh, I tell you frankly, if our boys had to retreat again
because the supply trains were held up, I...
Honestly, I think I'd have eaten my helmet strap and all,
because I didn't intend to blow up the rails we'd laid if I could possibly help it.
It was... well, it was about midnight.
I was checking rail widths on the new shoe fly we'd almost finished.
Collins came running to me. The wrecked plane was still smoking.
Colonel, the trains are coming down the line. The tracks are buzzing like an electric razor.
Roll!
Roole, what do you say?
We're working so fast we can. These spites can only go in when they are pounded.
Order, Sledge. Come on, Collins. Grab a hammer. Let's bang in a couple.
Here you are, sir. I'll hold the spike for you.
Okay.
And she's started now, Collins. Grab a sledge.
Right, sir.
Smith!
Yes, sir!
Smith, get back there and flag her down.
Yes, sir!
She's coming up fast, sir.
Bang that spike, boy. Bang it.
Yes, sir.
We hear you, pal. We hear you.
Here's the scum, sir.
I'll come back there, Roll.
Oh, don't worry, monsieur.
Well, we got them all pounded in here, sir.
How's it roll, Cloud? I'm going through.
Track clear!
Smith, track clear!
Everybody off the track, stand away.
Don't leave any hammers laying around.
All right, she's riding through.
Get going, mister. They're waiting for you up front.
Cigarette roll?
Thank you, monsieur.
How about you, Collins?
Well, I don't mind if I do, sir.
Well, boys, we made it.
Yes, sir.
She's passed through, and here we are,
sitting on the sand, and everything's quiet.
And the moon shines as though nothing had happened.
And in a record book somewhere, a notation goes down.
Track bombed out.
Track cleared.
And that's the end of it.
What a war.
You know, Roll, that singing is beginning to sound nice.
I think I'm getting used to it.
That is because you know the song, monsieur.
What do you mean, I know the song?
Oui, monsieur.
I teach them that one with Sergeant Collins.
You know about Monsieur Casey Jones,
who ever knows a part on this old leg line?
Listen.
Well, how do you like that?
Casey Jones.
Yeah, this is some war.
A fighting Frenchman, Americans,
and an immortal Arabian section gang
singing Casey Jones in the middle of the African desert.
Oh, I tell you, Roll, if we lose this war,
there'll be an awful lot of brotherhood gone to waste.
Thank you, Pat O'Brien.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. O'Brien will return
a little later in the program.
Meantime, here is Gaine Whitman with a message from DuPont.
Ordnance used to be thought of as guns and ammunition,
and that was about all.
But today, the Ordnance Department of the Army
handles just about everything connected with the design,
procurement, manufacture, distribution, maintenance,
and salvage of all the tools with which the Army fights.
Not only ammunition, for example,
but the boxes the ammunition is packed in,
the trucks that carry it to the guns,
the guns themselves,
and if they happen to be mounted in tanks, the tanks too.
Ordnance is a $2 billion business
with more than a million trained men.
Those $2 billion are your dollars and my dollars.
When we buy war bonds, some of the things we help to buy
are the fighting weapons of Ordnance.
We back the attack.
These are the dollars and the weapons
that liberated North Africa and Sicily.
These are the dollars and the weapons
that will invade Europe and end the war.
There is no better argument for buying bonds
in the third war loan than the Ordnance exhibits
which are being shown in various cities in the country.
The best known company names in American industry
are represented in the Ordnance shows.
One manufacturer who used to make bottle caps
is now turning out ammunition cases
that can be stored at the bottom of a river without leaking.
A refrigerator company is making giant siege guns.
As you walk from one interesting exhibit to another, you think,
so that's why I can't buy a new saw.
They're making armor plate.
And when you see the armor plate shield
that protects the pilot of some of our bombers
and think how many lives may be saved,
you get a lump in your throat and decide you can wait for a new saw.
Wait a long time if need be.
These scores of manufacturers supplying Army Ordnance
are virtually a list of DuPont customers.
In some cases, DuPont ammonia was used in treating the steel.
In others, a DuPont finish was used on it.
The rayon that goes into a parachute
designed to carry a demolition bomb to Earth.
The three-dimensional use of colored paints
that speeds wartime production.
The lacquer that coats a shell case.
The laminated cellophane in which a rifle is packed for shipment.
Those and with a hundred other contributions of chemistry
are among the wartime tasks of DuPont
better things for better living through chemistry.
One of the DuPont better things for better living through chemistry
is Speed Easy, a product many people are using
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And now here is Pat O'Brien, star of this evening's Cavalcade.
applause
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you.
I do hope you found as much pleasure in this story as I did
when I first read the script some weeks ago.
It serves to make us conscious of the job the railroads are doing in this war.
We don't ordinarily think of the railroads at the front.
And while the story of iron camels was fictionized,
all the essential facts are true.
Besides being a triumph of arms,
the Tunisia victory was a triumph of men working together
to keep the supplies rolling.
American railroad men fighting French and Arabs.
And this was an important contribution
in the conquest of Sicily and the fall of Italy.
Next week, Cavalcade brings you another popular motion picture star, Randolph Scott.
Our play, The Vengeance of Torpedo VIII,
is a story of heroism in the Pacific.
How the men of the United States Navy torpedo bomber squadron
avenged the death of 42 of their comrades over Midway.
DuPont invites you to be its guest again next week
when we bring you The Vengeance of Torpedo VIII,
a story of adventure and daring starring Randolph Scott
as Lieutenant Harold Larson, U.S. Navy, on the Cavalcade of America.
Tonight's musical score was composed and conducted by Robert Armbruster.
Pat O'Brien appeared through the courtesy of RKO Pictures,
where he is currently starring in The Iron Major.
This is James Bannon sending best wishes from Cavalcade sponsor,
the DuPont Company of Wilmington, Delaware.
The Cavalcade of America came to you from Hollywood.
This is the national broadcasting company.