We delay the start of this program to bring you a special bulletin.
From the NBC newsroom in New York, here's the latest on Korea.
Seoul has been raided by American and Australian warplanes.
They shot down two enemy planes, one of which was marked with a Russian red star.
A spokesman says that we have made 142 raids against enemy targets in both South and North
Korea in the past 24 hours.
Russian officials say there is a serious threat from Red ground forces south of Seoul.
Keep tuned to your NBC Cetation for the later news.
Are you willing to undertake a dangerous mission behind the enemy lines, knowing you may never
return alive?
What you have just heard is the question asked during the war to agents of the OSS, ordinary
citizens who through this question answered, yes.
This is Cloak and Dagger.
Black warfare, espionage, international intrigue, these are the weapons of the OSS.
Today's adventure, the eyes of Buddha, concerning an American OSS agent who went deep into enemy
territory to enlist the help of a nation which had declared war on the United States, is
suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the Office of Strategic
Services.
A story that can now be told.
In 1944, the tiny kingdom of Siam was officially at war with the United States.
So there I was in March of that year in an official Siamese plane on my way to ask Siamese
help in rescuing an American flier from the Japanese.
Sound crazy?
You ain't heard nothing yet.
The Siamese character beside me had received his master's degree at Yale and his PhD at
Harvard.
Major Laudel Priodipank.
I decided to call him Louis.
Look down, Lieutenant Berman, out of your window.
Yeah, what about it?
In those green forests, as you may know, still roam the ancient peacocks and the sacred elephants
of Siam.
The Siamese will tell you right now, there are four things I know definitely about your
country.
What are these, my friend?
The Siamese twins were named Aeng and Chang, Siamese cats have blue eyes, somebody wrote
a book called Anna and the King of Siam.
And what is the fourth?
Tan Yak Dai Fu Ying Mai.
The one line I know of your language which translated means, do you want to meet a girl?
Well, rest easy.
There will be no need for you to speak more of the language.
Must a ghost have need of words?
Once we arrive at Bangkok, you will be spirited from one place to another, my friend, as a
ghost.
Fasten your seat belts.
Kindly fasten your seat belts.
We are coming into the Dunhuang airfield.
So far this has been too easy.
From Rangoon to a secret airport in Siam where you picked me up in this plane and here we
are in Bangkok.
Is this another hidden field, Louis?
No, not exactly.
What do you mean, not exactly?
Oh, I should say there are about 800 Japs on hand about the field.
Fasten your seat belt, Lieutenant Burman.
The official Siamese plane with the sacred white elephant painted on the side stood right
across the field and taxied past hundreds of Jap soldiers guarding the runway.
The hangar door at the west side of the field opened.
The ground crew rolled the plane in.
Then the door slid closed again as if we had been swallowed up.
Louis and I climbed under the plane.
Lieutenant Burman, this is Lam.
He will drive us to the OSS hideout in Bangkok where you will meet the Regent of Siam, the
leader of the underground here.
How do you do, Lam?
I do very well.
Lam suggests we wait a few minutes before leaving.
Oh.
Is anything wrong?
As you wait here, I will return, tell you when it is safe to leave.
Two Japanese officials in car right outside.
We waited.
It was sweltering hot in there.
By the time Lam came back a few minutes later, my shirt was ready for the ringer.
Officer's car now is safe.
We will leave by side door.
Come quickly.
We will wait outside.
You see, Lieutenant Burman, thus far your mission is proceeding successfully.
Better not talk too soon, Louis.
We haven't reached the hideout yet.
Perhaps you are right.
Ah, proceed, Lam.
Lam drove us right through the downtown district of Bangkok toward the palace which is being
used as underground headquarters.
As we drove through the streets, I could see Jap pillboxes and the internment camp and
everywhere around us walking the streets, guns in their holsters were Japanese.
Then we turned at a busy intersection and it happened.
Lam, Lam, what is it?
What is wrong with that horn?
I do not know, Major.
I do not know.
It is stuck.
Will not stop.
Oh, great.
Everybody is turning around to look at us.
Can't you do anything about that?
Shh, shh, shh, shh.
Little horn.
Little horn, quiet.
Talking to it isn't going to help, Lam.
Stop and yank out the wires.
Little horn.
Shh, shh, shh, shh.
Do not blow.
This is very unfortunate.
My friend, you have a gift for understatement.
Lam, Lam, we are causing too much attention.
Do as the American says.
Horn, please.
Shh, shh, shh, shh.
I beg of you, quiet.
Nice little horn.
Pretty little horn.
Lam, stop the car and pull out the wires.
Oh, there is no need, Major.
It has stopped by itself.
All I had to do was speak nicely to it.
Oh, my aching back.
Hey, this is quite a place.
Marble floors, winding staircase, just like the movies.
Wait till I tell my wife about this.
The palace, set back only a little way from the street, has been underground headquarters
for two years.
At all hours of the day, Japanese soldiers march up and down in front of it.
Yet none of them know what is going on inside.
Well, you can be sure of one thing, Louis.
What is that, Lieutenant?
I won't tell them.
After you, my friend.
The servants have prepared dinner for us.
You must be hungry.
We will eat now.
Only a couple of miles away were camps where Allied prisoners lived on little more than
bread and water.
Yet here I was, an American right under the noses of the Nips, consuming a dinner that
began and ended with iced beer that included roast duck and freshwater prawns, salad, curried
beef, dried fish topped off with large bowls of fresh bananas and pieces of sumo, a Siamese
improvement on grapefruit.
Ah, have you had enough to eat, Lieutenant?
Would you care for something else?
Oh, no, no thanks, Louis.
I've had more than enough.
Bayi, coffee.
Coffee.
Hey, that, what's his name, Bayi?
He isn't very talkative, is he?
A good choice, we feel, for a servant in underground headquarters.
He hears nothing and repeats less.
Bayi is a death mute.
Tell me, Lieutenant Berman, what did you do before the war?
Me?
Oh, I was a stunt pilot.
I barnstormed all over the country in old crates and jenis, anything that had wings.
I got a trunk full of tin medals for almost getting my neck busted.
I see.
Now look, Louis.
I admire good pilots, and one of General Chennault's hot flyers is a prisoner of the Japs, somewhere
around here.
If anybody's going to get him out, I'd like to be the one to try it.
We will see to it that you get your chance, then.
When is the regent coming?
I'm anxious to meet him.
Oh, he will be here after midnight.
After midnight?
Yes, you see, this is the evening of the Japanese admiral's birthday.
It was necessary for the regent of Siam to be there, out of friendliness, of course.
About 12.30 he arrived.
He was dressed elegantly in a white silk coat and white pongee trousers.
On his head was a delicately embroidered turban.
This was Luang Pradit Manudarm, regent of Siam and head of the Siamese underground.
I trust you will forgive me for being delayed.
Oh, that's all right.
The Japanese admiral would never have forgiven me for leaving his party.
Major, some more brandy for the lieutenant.
Of course.
How about your mission?
Well, several months ago, one of General Chennault's best pilots crashed on the Burma-Siam frontier.
Other members of his flight reported that they saw the plane go down, settle in a spreading
banyan tree, but they didn't see it burn.
So the presumption is he is still alive, somewhere in Siam.
Yes, that's it.
Major, in the morning, drive the lieutenant to Colonel Sang-Wan at Camp Panjara.
Yes, excellent.
I think Colonel Sang-Wan will be in a position to get the information you are after.
That's great.
Your Excellency, this may be a little out of order, but...
Yes?
Don't you ever get the feeling you're walking around with your head in a noose?
A very good question.
Well put.
I imagine I am a great mystery to the Americans of the OSS.
No doubt they feel mystery shrouding our whole people.
After all, you are supposedly an ally of the Japs.
Supposedly.
We are an independent nation, Lieutenant.
Our people are proud and freedom-loving.
Freedom sits in the heart of Southeast Asia, an inscrutable Buddha.
The Japanese overran our borders and from our capital in Bangkok declared war on the
United States.
The green flames of the jungle consumed us.
So the Buddha sits, arms folded on its bronze breast, its face expressionless.
But the eyes of the Buddha wink.
Is that it?
The eyes wink, Lieutenant.
Its ears are tuned to the enemy and the jeweled lips whisper.
There are 50,000 Japanese here in Siam, my friend.
We will continue to wait and watch and listen until they are driven out.
The next morning, Louis and I, with lum driving, set out for Camp Unjarah.
Ever since my arrival in Bangkok, I had the feeling I was sitting on a powder keg that
was liable to go off any minute.
Driving through the streets in broad daylight didn't make me feel any better, but I figured
the Siamese knew what they were doing.
This time, nothing went wrong with the horn, but something else happened that gave me quite
a turn.
It sounds fantastic, and it was, but it really happened.
A Jap MP directing traffic held up his hand and the official car we were riding in stopped.
I didn't like stopping.
I felt better while we were on the move.
Then all of a sudden, I saw a Jap soldier looking curiously in the window, staring at
my occidental face.
We looked at each other for a few seconds.
Neither of us said a word.
And the car moved on.
Louis, Louis, that Jap soldier, he saw me.
I know.
Even with his civilian hat and his shirt over my uniform, he couldn't have mistaken me for
a Siamese.
No doubt.
But if he saw me, Louis...
Put your mind at ease, my friend.
I'm sure he doesn't believe what he thought he saw.
And if later he convinces himself it was true and goes to his commanding officer, he will
lose face for telling so ludicrous a tale.
You mean they won't believe him?
Come now, Lieutenant Berman.
What would an American be doing in Japanese occupied Siam, driving along the streets in
full daylight?
Ridiculous.
Don't you think?
You have come to the right place, Lieutenant Berman.
Well I'm glad to hear that, Colonel Sung-Won.
I have heard of the flyer you seek.
I know the prison camp in which he is now being held.
Hey, that's great.
When do we start?
Not so fast, Lieutenant.
We must make plans first.
This is not a matter to be undertaken rightly.
Come.
We will have dinner first, and then we will discuss the problem.
Dinner?
Colonel Sung-Won, I've been wined and dined ever since I got to Bangkok, but I haven't
done a thing.
Ah, my wife Tara.
We will dine.
Then we will talk further.
Does my English surprise you, Lieutenant Berman?
I was educated in America.
I am a graduate of Wellesley College.
It was not your ingress which made the lieutenant observe you with such interest, my dear.
It is your appearance.
Am I not correct, Lieutenant?
You're very correct, Colonel.
You have an extremely attractive wife.
Thank you both.
My husband's lavish compliments embarrass me occasionally.
I suppose they are to be expected after only two months of marriage.
Two months?
Well, congratulations.
It is I who am to be congratulated.
A more coffee, Lieutenant?
Colonel Sung-Won, Colonel Sung-Won.
What is it, my dear?
Louis, what happened?
A car.
Japanese Colonel Kishinami with many soldiers.
Colonel Kishinami?
What could he want here?
He requests an audience with you.
Lieutenant, there's no time to lose.
That screen.
Louis, go behind it and pray to the great Buddha he does not stay around.
And you, Major, sit here in the lieutenant's place.
Pretend it was your place.
Quickly, quickly.
Nobody had to tell me to be quick.
I got behind the bamboo screen and Louis slid into my chair at the table.
And he stood up immediately with Sung-Won as Kishinami came in, a great ornate sword
swinging from his side.
He stood so close to me, I could have reached out and touched that sword.
Would you care for some coffee, Colonel Kishinami?
No, thank you.
Colonel Sung-Won, I'm here on official business.
Ah, yes, Colonel Kishinami.
What can I do to help you?
We have discovered a clandestine airfield in this territory.
Surely it is not so close to this camp without your knowledge?
Airfield?
Oh, certainly, certainly.
It was constructed as a temporary emergency landing field some years ago.
It has been infrequently used.
Our observation shows it to be in excellent condition and indicates constant activity.
Ah, I cannot believe this.
Let me accompany you and see this airfield.
Ta-ba, my dear, you will forgive me?
Of course, I will be here.
It happened so fast I couldn't believe my eyes.
As the Siamese colonel turned to say goodbye to his wife, that treacherous Jap sword was
whipped out and Sung-Won was very neatly decapitated.
Beheading Sung-Won must have been the signal for the Jap soldiers in the room to take out
their guns.
But before they could do anything with him, Ta-ba sprung a Kishinami and with a meat knife
from the table stabbed him through the heart.
The nip soldier tried to get at her, but Louis got him first.
Then that powder cake I'd been sitting on really went off.
With their leader killed, they did not have much heart left for the fight.
They are gone now.
But, Louis, I don't understand it.
Nor I.
We are on the assassination of the colonel.
That phony errand he came on was just an excuse to get in.
It is possible that the order has come for the total subjugation of our people by the
Japanese.
If true, it is open war from now on.
Will there be another attack tonight, you think?
If so, we are armed and ready.
There is nothing to do but wait.
What about Ta-ba?
Is there anything I can do for her?
No.
She is one of my kind.
It is best to let me console her, lieutenant.
Thank you on her behalf for your kindness.
Married two months.
What a lousy shame.
Go to your quarters.
We will wait.
Nothing further occurred that night, but none of us slept.
In the morning, a big black official limousine drove up.
It was the regent of Siam.
I have received an apology from the Japanese government for the incident last night.
They are quite adept at apologizing.
My husband has been killed, and you call it an incident, excellency?
Yeah, how about that?
It is my belief that the order for the subjugation of Siam had been issued by the Japanese high
command and rescinded because they did not believe the time appropriate.
But what about last night, excellency?
Evidently, through some oversight or the difficulties of communication, Colonel Kishinami had not
been warned that the plan was off.
It is my belief that all will be quiet now.
Poor of why.
Shall we sit quietly once more and wait for them to attack us again while our backs are
turned?
There are many of us in the underground.
Tava is right.
Let us attack them.
Let me avenge my husband.
Listen, listen, wait a minute.
You've played a waiting game so far.
Wait a while longer.
I know the fuse is burning close, but wait.
That time is past, Lieutenant Berman.
Any open act on your part will really make the Japs crack down.
Right now, Siam is the best listening post the Allies have in the East.
Believe me, Washington knows what it's doing.
There are better help that way.
The lieutenant is right.
We will continue to be a docile puppet state and sell out the enemy to the Allies.
But your excellency...
I say we will wait.
I have myself promised President Roosevelt that we Siamese will continue to be loyal
and silent.
We will wait until we are told otherwise.
Did you get the information you came after, Lieutenant?
No way.
Colonel Sang-Wan was going to give it to me before...
I know the camp you are looking for, Lieutenant.
I will tell you what you want to know.
The Japanese prison camp at Korat is only about five minutes' drive now, Lieutenant.
The object of your mission ends there.
We are taking a long chance, Louis.
You are the one who is taking the long chance.
You think it will work though, don't you?
I can only say I hope.
When I turn you over to the Japanese commander as a prisoner, there is a strong possibility
you will be thrown into the same stockade as the American flier for whom you are looking.
And if I'm not, just being inside those gates will give me an opportunity to find out exactly
where he is in that camp.
You'll find him.
We will attend to the rest.
I hope I can count on it.
Trust us.
Oh!
Oh, go there!
Major Pryadipak from the regent.
I have a prisoner for Colonel Ino-Tu.
Very well.
Pass.
I am indeed indebted to you for bringing this prisoner to me, Major.
I have brought him Colonel Ino-Tu with the compliments of the regent of Siam.
Is it not to be expected since we Siamese are the allies and the friends of the Japanese?
Of course.
You will be cooperative and answer my questions.
You understand?
I don't know any answers.
How did you get here?
He just told you my plane crashed near the border.
I...
What was your mission?
How many were with you?
Were you headed for a secret airport in Siam?
Which one?
Where is it?
Who is your contact?
You're crazy.
I haven't any contact.
I tell you, I just crashed.
This American is going to be stubborn, I fear, Major.
Give him time.
He will break down.
They all do.
Unfortunately, they do not.
The American flier we have had interned here for some months has resisted all our efforts
to obtain the truth.
Is it not possible?
He has told you all he knows.
Oh, come, come, Major.
You Siamese are too trusting.
Perhaps, Colonel Ino-Tu, perhaps you are right.
American, I will have you taken to the stockade where I ask you take good look at the other
flier.
Look well at him.
Know that our worst fate awaits you if you do not cooperate.
Sergeant.
Yes, Colonel Ino-Tu.
Throw this prisoner in the stockade on the west side of the camp.
I will deal with him later.
I tried to hide the way I felt about being thrown together with the very man I had come
all the way to Siam to find.
I walked past Louis without looking at him.
But out of the corner of my eye, I saw that his face was coolly impassive.
You, you, get out with you, American!
Took me a couple of minutes to get used to the darkness.
And then the darkness took form and I saw a figure huddled in the corner.
An emaciated, bearded figure, wearing an American uniform.
Lieutenant Davis.
What?
Who's that?
Who are you?
Friend.
American.
Are you all right?
Can you hear me?
Can you understand me?
I've come to get you out of here.
Come here closer.
Let me see you.
You are an American.
I don't believe it.
Colonel Inertude told me to take a good look at you.
I am.
Now I'd like to go back and take a good swing at him.
You heard that?
What are you doing here?
Who are you?
Lieutenant Berman of the OSS.
General Chouinold asked me to find you.
Me?
Get me out of here.
Listen, listen.
Don't talk.
Just listen to me.
He listened all right.
And even in the semi-darkness, I could see the light come back into his eyes at the idea
of getting out of that place.
At about seven o'clock in the evening, the jet guard outside the stockade was changed.
The new sentry brought us in some food.
Here, eat this.
It is the best I could do.
Lum, is it really you?
Oh, this is better than I hoped.
The Japanese guard whose place I took was willing to pay attention to a little bribe.
Japanese soldiers are so underpaid, you know.
Lieutenant Davis, this is Lum, a Siamese, a friend.
Can you get us out of here?
We have a plan.
Tonight, when the moon is low, I will turn my back and you too will make a run for it.
You will never make it.
No, of course not.
You will be shot in the attempt and killed.
Sorry, Lum, I don't think much of that idea.
Have you got any other...
I have no finish.
Listen, listen.
I will only pretend to shoot you.
You will only pretend to die.
The Japanese soldier who was bribed and one other who has accepted our money will get
you quickly, stand over you.
A Siamese doctor in the camp will pronounce you dead.
Leave the rest to us.
It won't work.
But if the Siamese say it will work, give them a chance.
When the moon was low and the signal from Lum, we broke out and made a run for it.
Stop!
Prisoners, escape!
When we heard the shots, we threw ourselves face down on the ground and held our breaths.
Stretched out like that without moving, our eyes closed, everything that happened around
us after that seemed to be a crazy dream.
I shoot!
I will regret this, both of them.
I fear, Colonel Linotu, they are already sorry.
Who is that doctor?
What did you say?
These Americans, Colonel Linotu, they are both very dead.
Dead?
What shall we do with them, Colonel?
I await your orders.
Do with them.
If they are dead, bury them, of course.
Take them to the cemetery and bury them.
Now that our plan has worked, Lieutenant Berman, I may as well tell you, I was never sure it
would turn out this successfully.
But Louis, you did have this pain already in warming up at the cemetery.
We Siamese are eternal optimists.
The graves are done, Major.
What shall we do?
We will say goodbye to our friends, the Americans first long.
Then we will go back and throw the dirt over the empty graves in case Colonel Linotu comes
to inspect them.
A plane!
Get on a plane again.
Out of this place.
A plane going home.
I pray, Lieutenant Davis, that you will both return to our land one day in happier times.
I assure you of a greater welcome and far greater hospitality.
And now, goodbye and a pleasant journey.
Just before we took off, Major Lauderdale, prior to the epoch, presented each of us with
a green velvet box.
In them were cufflinks of pure gold and pounded ruby dust with the initials A.M. for the boy
king, Ananda Maidol, and a golden crown for the mark of the dynasty.
A royal present from the King of Siam.
As we looked down, we could see Lum and the two private Jap soldiers with Louis directing
operations shoveling the dirt in over our graves.
Thus, on April 18, 1944, Lieutenant Davis, the missing pilot of the Flying Tigers, was
rescued from the Japanese prison camp and rejoined his unit.
And once again, the report of another OSS agent closed with the words,
Mission accomplished.
Listen again next week for another true adventure from the files of the OSS on
Cloak and Dagger.
Heard in today's Cloak and Dagger adventure were Grant Richards, Everett Sloan, Ralph
Bell, Barry Kroger, Raymond Edward Johnson, Eileen Hecquert, Carl Weber, Martin Balsam,
and Jerry Jarrett.
Script was written by Winifred Wolfe and Jack Gordon.
Music was under the direction of John Gart.
Today's true OSS adventure was based on the book, Cloak and Dagger, by Corey Ford and
Alastair McBain.
This has been a Louis G. Cowan production in association with Alfred Hollander, and
was under the direction and supervision of Sherman Marks.
And here, high adventure, then the big guy on...