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 to this question answered, yes.
This is Cloak and Dagger.
Black warfare, espionage international intrigue. These are the weapons of the OSS.
Today's story, a war of words, concerns an American agent who personally delivered a message to the colonel of a Japanese camp,
and is suggested by actual incidents recorded in the Washington files of the Office of Strategic Services.
A story that can now be told.
A black warfare, espionage international intrigue.
Ok Harry, I spotted it. There's our target.
Check.
Ready to let him go?
Ready.
Bombs away!
There she goes.
I dropped every one of those bombshells we had in the plane.
And they hit the target right on the nose.
And the explosion that followed sounded like this.
Just as much noise as paper makes when it flutters to the ground.
Those were our bombshells.
Propaganda leaflets.
Leaflets designed by OSS to lower the morale of the Japanese soldiers in that camp in Burma.
Those were our silent weapons.
I'm gonna turn back now.
Okay, Pete.
Harry, what do you think of that phony picture of the bombing in Tokyo we just dropped?
It looked authentic to me.
And I liked that little pamphlet too.
You know, the one that began,
The suns of the rising sun.
It is better to surrender than fight without bullets or die of starvation in the jungle.
Yeah, that one was real cute.
It sure ought to give those lousy Japs something to think about.
I...
Sorry, Harry.
I shouldn't have said that.
It's okay, Pete. Forget it.
Let's beat our own record and get him back this time, huh?
Yeah.
Here we go.
The Japanese Army
Sometimes the guys forgot that Harry was short for Haryoshi.
Haryoshi Nabura.
And though I like to think of myself as an American Japanese,
even Pete Barnall thought of me as a Japanese American.
I had to learn not to be too sensitive.
Come in, boys. Come on in.
Oh, thank you, Colonel.
Sit down.
Cigarette.
Thank you.
You two have done a good job in the past few months peppering Burma with that propaganda material.
Oh, here's a light, Harry. Thank you.
And we already have begun to see the results.
Oh, how's that, Colonel?
Well, you know how live Japanese prisoners used to be at a premium.
Rather than be captured, they'd commit holicury almost in defiance.
Oh, yeah. I hear a lot of them are surrendering lately.
That's right. Their morale isn't what it was.
Good.
And you two can take part of the credit for that.
But tomorrow...
Tomorrow I want you to go one step further.
We're listening, sir.
Take a look at this document.
What is it? Chinese or Japanese?
Well, Greek to me.
I can tell you what it is, Pete.
It's obviously a forged order to the commander of the Japanese camp to withdraw his troops three miles east.
Well, I hope it's not an obvious forgery to him, Lieutenant Nabura.
Because if he falls for it and moves his camp,
our armies will have a clean road right into Bamo.
And once we get there, Burma's practically in our hands.
Oh, I see.
Oh, begging your pardon, Colonel, but...
What are we supposed to do?
Walk into that Jap camp and deliver these orders?
Oh, no, no. Your job is much simpler.
All you have to do is fly over the OSS detachment 101 at Assam and drop this document.
The Koch and natives and our agents there will do the rest.
I contacted them by radio. They expected.
Check, Colonel.
Yeah, this will be a snap.
Nothing to it.
This will be a snap, huh?
Nothing to it, huh?
How'd I know it would run into a Jap Zero?
Right back at you, buddy!
Now he dived too fast for you, Harry.
I'm gonna grab more sky. Maybe you can lose him up there.
It's on a tail.
Maybe not for long. Hang on, boy!
Most of the way up, the air was thin enough
so that I could see the nose of that Zero following us.
And then at 7,000 feet, the air became thick, and we lost him.
But the plane had taken quite a beating.
How bad is it looking, Pete?
Well, we haven't more than 50 miles to go.
Then we can set down a Kutch in territory,
make repairs before heading back to India.
Okay. Instead of dropping that document,
we'll deliver it in person while we get there, huh?
If we get there.
What?
Watch that wing. It's coming off where he hit us.
There she goes.
What do we do now?
I'm gonna kick the stick forward as hard as I can.
Put her in a loop.
That's crazy. Now that'll cross us backwards out of the cockpit.
Don't pull your ripcord before you fall free of the plane.
We'll land at the river.
Now keep your feet dry.
Here we go!
We fell free of the plane.
I jerked the ripcord and my chute opened.
On the way down, I inflated my Mae West,
and the little lifeboat swelled up.
Below me, I could see Pete drifting slowly
into Brahmaputra River.
And then I hit the water.
Oh, boy.
This is a nice mess to be in.
Not even sure exactly where that 101 detachment's located.
It's somewhere to the south, isn't it?
Yeah, huh?
That's a help.
This jungle stinks, doesn't it?
I can think of a lot of places I'd rather be.
For instance?
For instance, anywhere.
This place is probably crawling with enemy patrols.
That's a pleasant thought.
Careful, careful. Don't trip over those roots.
The jungle was heavy and oppressive.
The tall trees spread a canopy over our heads
and shut out what little sun there was.
After a few miles, our shirts were ripped to shreds
on the brambles, and blood ran into our eyes
from the leeches on our foreheads.
Then Pete stopped showing.
Harry, look.
The river.
What river? What is it?
The Brahmaputra, where we landed.
You see it? See it to the right?
I don't get it. We passed it a few miles back.
Yeah, we sure did.
You see that clump of roots?
They look familiar?
That's where you almost tripped right there by the swamp.
But...
Hey, Pete.
Yeah, huh?
We made a nice big circle.
Right back where we started.
How the devil did we do that?
Well, anything could happen in this lousy jungle.
Harry.
Jumper toll.
Oh, this just isn't our day.
They're coming this way quick, the swamp.
They'll never see us again.
Let's get on the water till they pass.
All right.
All right, that's it.
Now get down.
Just keep your nose up to breathe.
If you have to, get down under and don't breathe.
All right.
Bad attack.
They're not far.
Oh, I could have reached out and untied their shoelaces.
Let's get out of here.
That night we lay side by side deep in the jungle
on top of coarse undergrowth
underneath the trees from which Liana's hung down like braided ropes.
We shifted our positions every few minutes
as a regiment of ants and bugs crawled into our clothing
and kept us awake.
And then towards morning we fell asleep.
Exhausted.
When we awoke, the sun had found a hole in the branches
and crawled through.
Oh, boy, that sun's hot.
Is it?
What do you mean, is it?
I'm cold, Pete.
I've got the shakes.
Fever?
I don't know.
I just feel sick.
I'm sick of my stomach.
We can't sit here.
You think you can travel?
Uh-huh.
Oh, sure.
Come on.
Boy, that sun's blazing, isn't it?
Boy, I thought you said you had the shakes.
Huh?
Nothing, nothing.
Come on, Harry.
Come on now.
Up on your feet, boy.
You'll be all right.
Come on, boy, that's it.
Come on.
There we go.
We started walking again.
Our wrists had open sores on them from jungle rock.
My head was hot.
My hands were cold.
And I felt sick, awful sick.
Harry, how do you feel?
I'll be okay.
With that swamp we hid in.
Just those lousy bugs that got under your skin, huh?
I'll be all right.
Harry.
Can you hear me?
Harry.
Okay, fella, now just take it easy there.
That's it.
This cold cloth on your forehead will make you feel better.
You'll see, boy.
Pete?
Yeah.
Yeah, it's Pete.
Where am I?
Couldn't you say anything more original?
Couldn't you say anything more original than that for crying out loud?
I blabbed out then I...
No, no, no, don't talk so much.
You blabbed enough when you were off your head.
Uh, who's, uh, Ocasan?
Girl, I knew it.
UCLA.
I figured.
How long ago has it been since the...
Two days.
Have we got enough rations?
We'll be okay.
Don't lie to me.
I said we'll be okay.
Now, don't try to sit up, Harry.
Well, how far do you think we are from the Cutchens?
Well, I think I've got the direction pretty well mapped out now.
About a day's travel.
Due south.
Why not if you sit here with me for a week?
And then now don't talk so much.
Go on, Pete, get out of here.
I'll tell you what, if you make it there by yourself,
you can come back with some of the natives and get me...
Not on your life.
I'm not leaving here.
But she...
Shh, quiet.
Someone's outside.
Pete to his garden, crawled out of a mountain cave.
My head was pounding harder than before.
Maybe...
Maybe it was the fever.
Maybe it was because I had to lie there helpless
while Pete went out alone to whatever was outside.
Do not shoot.
Friend, and friend.
Who are you?
Maybe shooting.
Scout, and scout.
Saw you this morning from top of tree.
Saw you at book.
Saw uniform.
Yeah, yeah, you've got good eyesight.
But you still haven't told me who you are.
I told you, and shooting scout.
Cutching scout.
Cutching.
Why didn't you say so?
You're from Assam?
You're from the OSS detachment?
Yes, right.
Hurry.
Hurry, did you hear that?
Well, how's this for the mountain coming to Mahamad?
It's great.
It's just great.
Would like to take you to camp?
Would like?
Oh, boy, would love.
Oh, look, I've got a sick friend in here in the cave there.
A fever.
Can you fix him up?
We'll see.
I looked up from the bed of leaves that Pete had made.
The cutching scout who leaned over me was short and squat with long matted hair and teeth
worn to a black stuff by beetle nut.
He took a good look at me and jumped back as if he'd been bitten.
Japanese.
It's Japanese.
I can't.
No, no, hold on.
Wait a minute.
Hold on, I said.
Now listen, Su Ling.
Su Ling, this is America.
American, just like I said.
It's Japanese.
It's no use, please.
Listen, Su, it's a Japanese.
Yes, yes, that's right.
But it's American too.
You see, American friend.
Look at his uniform.
You say friend.
I say Japanese.
We'll fix up from fever, then bring to camp.
Let them see which is what.
I don't know what he mixed up in those witch doctor concoctions besides the juice of mahogany
leaves and the roots of the leona vines.
But whatever it was, I was on my feet two days later.
We started out for detachment 101.
Only this time we had a guide.
And then the next night out of nowhere, we came upon it.
Well, what do you know?
Here it was, the OSS secret hideout.
Carved right into the jungle of Burma.
So this is detachment 101.
There were neat straw-thatched boshars.
A mess hall, a well-equipped hospital, mortars, bazookas, crates of ammunition.
Harry, Harry, look, a woman.
A woman, a Red Cross nurse.
GI paratroopers in bright colored shirts and unlaced jump boots were strolling about mingling with the native troops.
Wow.
Oh, this is just like a city in the wilderness, isn't it?
It's like nothing I've ever seen before.
And probably like nothing you'll ever see again.
Huh? Well, where'd you come from?
Yeah, sure, and I've been standing behind you all the time.
Would you like to have me show you around, maybe?
Oh, well, not now, thanks.
The guide who brought us here disappeared.
We've got to find the head man around here.
We have something for him.
Ah, but you'll live longer if you live slower and don't drive yourselves.
Remember the rest of Saul told me that in Dublin many years ago.
Hey, myrish, you know. No, no, you don't say.
Oh, yes, yes.
Now, take a good look at our little camp.
As I said, you'll probably never see anything like it again if you live to be 104.
It's as if the leprechauns set it down right in the middle of the wilderness.
Well, we'll look around later if you don't mind. Who's in charge?
Now, you take all these lads, the paratroopers, who were fast down in the jungle.
They all had the same look about them when they first came as if they'd stumbled into a bed of fire-leafed claws.
Look, Mac, would you mind very much...
Now, that lad there was a farmer in Wisconsin,
and they went talking to the nurses from Boston originally, that is,
and the tall lad is a Texan.
And it took a lot to make him say that this looked better to him than Texas.
Were you forced down here, too?
Well, in a manner of speaking, yes, I was.
What did you do before the war?
I, well, I'll tell you lads, I operated a hot furring from Hoboken to Canarsie.
A right-drivin' little business it was, too, and after the war I'll probably go back to it.
This guy's off his rocker.
Ah, look, where can we find somebody in authority?
At Evenin Mass with everyone else.
Mass?
You see that big store hut at the far end? You'll find him there.
We went to Mass, and when we got there we found our friend with a bro,
the one who told us he ran a hot furring from Hoboken to Canarsie,
officiating at the service.
Every once in a while he'd look up at us,
and I could see the suggestion of a smile around his lips.
There was a soldier standing next to us.
Hey, hey, who is that?
That?
Why, that's Father O'Toole.
He practically organized the 101.
Sure, and I said it just to see the look on your faces later on.
Well, take a good look.
Boy, mine's red.
Overt Father O'Toole.
Yes?
Here are the four Japanese orders the colonel gave us in India.
Of course, the original plan about dropping them over to you and turning back didn't work out,
but just as long as we got them here.
Just as long as we have them, we know what to do with them.
Now, there's a Japanese mail courier coming through tomorrow night
from Degrume to the Jap camp at Mughalim.
Now, I'll have Su Ling, one of the other scouts, intercept him
and deposit this document in his mail poach.
Oh, I get it, Father.
When he comes to, he won't know what hit him, but he'll keep going with the forged papers, eh?
Yeah, sure, you got a quick brain, lad.
And by the by...
Yes, Father?
Now, since you're Japanese as well as American,
I suggest you stay close to me for the next day or so until you leave.
You see, then the natives will get over their suspicions of you.
I see.
Which one of you men was darned with fever?
I... I was, nurse.
I'm sorry for barging into your hut this way, Father O'Toole,
but Su Ling told me one of these men had jungle sickness.
Wait, it's quite all right, nurse.
Amy Lads, take a look at her.
Isn't she a fair kailene, though?
That's enough of your blarney, Father.
Come with me, please. What's your name?
Nabura. Lieutenant Harry Nabura.
I'm okay now, really.
That may be so.
We just want you at the hospital for a check-up. Come along.
Hey, hey, wait. You...
Do you mind if I come, too?
No, not at all.
The doc who looked me over gave me a clean bill of health.
It must have been those witch doctor herbs of Su Ling's.
Later, Father O'Toole gave us a basher to ourselves,
and Pete and I fell on those army cots.
Oh.
And then, about three o'clock in the morning...
Harry, Harry, what's that?
I don't know. Let's find out.
Yeah.
Where's everybody running to?
Oh, there's that nurse. Hey, nurse, nurse!
There's nothing to be alarmed about, boys.
What happened?
Well, the cab approaches.
Our watchdog caught a prolly enemy scout.
Well, I didn't hear any dog.
This is a silent watchdog.
What?
Actually, it's a crossbow with a 150-pound pull.
It's set up so any intruder who touches the trip string
is shot with a poisoned arrow.
Well, well, that, uh...
That's quite a watchdog, isn't it?
Yes.
I've been thinking of putting one up in front of my tent.
Oh, Su Sally, Su Sally, Father O'Toole!
Su Ling did not mean...
Now it's done, Su Ling. It can't be helped. It's all right.
Oh, hello, Father.
Ah, there you are, lads. Come on in.
Oh, what's up, Father?
Su Ling make big mistake, big, big mistake.
What kind of a mistake?
Well, I'll tell you, boys. It's like this.
I sent Su out last night to intercept the Japanese courier
and deposit this document in his mail pouch.
What went wrong?
Well, it seems that Su Ling doesn't know his own strength
to quote a phrase, and he hit him too hard.
I'm very much afraid the courier will not be able to deliver
the mail, after all, to the camp at Mooklum.
Well, look, Father O'Toole, that document is important.
It's got to get there.
Where's the courier now?
In the hospital, receiving the very best of care, I assure you.
And the mail sack?
In my position.
Okay.
Then another Jap courier is going to take his place
and deliver the mail.
You're nuts, Harry. What other Jap courier?
Me?
What?
Now I know you're nuts.
Pete, when I switch uniforms with that guy, take a good look at me.
I promise you, you'll never recognize me.
The idea has a touch of genius, lad.
I think it may work.
I hope it may work.
Slip in an extra prayer for me, Father.
While I was at it, I went after the letters and cards
that were going to the Japanese soldiers and phoned them up.
I erased everything but the signatures and wrote about
how bad conditions were back in Tokyo
and the black market was flourishing,
and you were being bombed every night.
At dawn, I had changed into the captured courier's uniform.
I had the mail sack over my shoulder
and sullying at my side to take me most of the way.
Good luck again, me boy.
Thank you, Father Oto.
Harry, you sure that you want to do this?
It's walking right into the lions' den.
If they get wise to you.
If they get wise to me, shigataka nai.
What's that mean?
It's good Japanese for so what.
Halt! Halt!
Focus there.
Answer or I shoot.
A courier from the brig home with mail for you soldiers
and a special dispatch for your commander.
Mail courier, come across.
Let me see your face.
I do not know you.
Where's the other runner?
The papers.
Let me see your papers.
Identification?
Here.
Very good.
Pass.
Where is the dispatch, you say, is for me?
Here, Colonel Nagayo.
Why are you so late?
Mail was expected yesterday.
It was unavoidable.
Answer my question directly.
Why are you late?
Native, a Kachin warrior attacked me on the way.
I had to fight him off, Colonel Nagayo.
Those Kachins, siren devils in the jungle.
Shadows.
Impossible to know when they are about.
They jump out at you.
Devils.
Yes, Colonel Nagayo.
Well, what are you waiting for?
You may leave now.
Yes, yes, I leave.
I leave.
I was glad to leave.
It would have been easier up to that point.
I tried to keep from walking too fast to the gate.
Pass.
Let me see your pass to read.
Here, it was standard Colonel Nagayo's headquarters.
Right, you can go.
Wait, wait.
Are you deaf?
Did you not hear me shoot off a gun to call your attention?
Why you want me?
I do not want you.
Receive the word at gate from Colonel Nagayo.
He want you to come back.
Come.
I'm going to the gate.
Come back, come.
There you are, courier.
I want to make sure you did not leave here.
Is there something wrong, Colonel Nagayo?
What are you talking about?
What could be wrong?
Here, important message for your Colonel.
Take it.
Thank you.
Thank you, Colonel Nagayo.
I should be glad to deliver this to my Colonel.
This time nobody stopped me when I left the camp at McLoom
and started back for Kutchin headquarters.
I must have been within two miles of detachment 101
when I realized I was being followed.
I couldn't see anyone or hear anyone,
but I knew someone was there in the brush or the trees
hidden somewhere along the trail.
I started to run faster.
My lungs started to ache with each breath and my strength was gone.
A hangover from the fever I'd just gotten over.
If I had escaped from the Japanese camp
and fallen into headhunter hands,
I know I didn't have a chance.
I knew you said no donkey.
I talk Japanese?
English?
What are you, headhunter?
Good luck.
Now bless my soul, Lieutenant Nabura.
I see you're awake.
How are you feeling, Harry?
Father of two.
Hey.
What are you doing here?
Sit up, Lieutenant.
Let me change that bandage on your head.
Now, wait a minute.
How did you get here?
Had you mixing things up a bit, lad?
You mean, of course, how did you get back here to the OSS camp?
To the what?
Well, now, it's just very simple.
Oh, I have an apology to make for my friends,
the Kutchins who brought you here.
They'd been out scouting for the past week,
and they did not know you.
Also, of course, the Japanese uniform
you were wearing confused them.
But I...
It was a pity that they speak only their own language,
so that you couldn't clear up the situation.
I left to teach them how to speak English.
English the way it should be spoken.
The Kutchins
Lieutenant Haruyoshi Nabura and Peter Bono
were returned to India by plane
from the rescue camp at Assam.
And a few weeks later, a special dispatch
informed OSS headquarters
that the strategic city of Bammo had been taken.
Thus, once again, the report of another agent
closed with the words...
Mission accomplished.
We'll listen again next week for another true adventure
from the files of the OSS on...
Cloak and Dagger.
The Kutchins
Heard in tonight's Cloak and Dagger adventure
as Pete was Chuck Webster,
Harry was played by Ralph Bell,
Father O'Toole by Eric Dressler.
Others were John Allison,
Raymond Edward Johnson,
Carl Weber, Jerry Jarrett,
Maurice Tarplin, and Guy Repp.
The script for Cloak and Dagger
was written by Winifred Wolf and Jack Gordon,
and the music was under the direction of John Gart.
Sound effects by Wes Conant,
Manny Siegel, and Norman Gruenfelder.
Tonight's true OSS adventure
was based on the book Cloak and Dagger
by Corey Ford and Alastair McBain.
This program was produced by Louis G. Cowan
and Alfred Hollander
under the direction and supervision of Sherman Marks.