"You didn't bring it with you?"
"No, Sir. I arranged to have it souped on the West Coast."
"At San Diego?"
"No, Sir. At Metro-Magnum."
"I'm not entirely sure that was wise. As a matter of fact, I think it was unwise. Certainly, now that I think of it, there must be footage that we wouldn't want to get into the wrong hands. What were you thinking about?"
"Sir, I was very concerned about possible damage to the raw film from heat and humidity. I know the capabilities of the Metro-Magnum lab. I decided the film was so important that it should get the best possible lab work. That meant Metro-Magnum."
General Stewart grunted.
"You don't think it might get into the wrong hands?"
"No, Sir. I'm sure it won't."
Jesus, I didn't think about that. Morty Cohen probably make a duplicate to show his friends. Are those the wrong hands?
Morty will be careful who he shows it to. And what the fuck does wrong hands" mean anyway? There should be a film record somewhere of those kids crumpled up dead, even if it's lousy public relations.
"And it's being sent here? How?"
"It'll probably come in by air, Sir, to the Metro-Magnum suite at the Willard. I thought that would be safest."
"Well, you're the expert, Dillon. But as soon as possible, I'd like to screen that footage."
"As soon as it gets here, I'll set up a screening for you."
"Good. I'm looking forward to it. And in the meantime have a look at this." He handed Dillon a manila folder. Then he suddenly seemed to remember that Jake was standing with his cover under his arm and his right hand in the small of his back-the position officially described as "at ease...... My God, Dillon, sit down," he added.
"Thank you, Sir." He opened the folder. The pages inside were fastened with a metal clip. The first of these was a newspaper clipping neatly glued to a sheet of paper.
"Machine Gun" McCoy Hero of Bloody Ridge
By Robert McCandless
INS War Correspondent
With The First Marine Division Sept 14 (Delayed) - "What we expected to find was his body, but what we found was Japanese bodies stacked like cordwood in front of his position, and McCoy, despite his wounds, ready to take on the rest of the Japanese Army," said Marine First Lieutenant Jonathan S. Swain, of Butte, Montana, and the 1st Raider Battalion, describing what he found when he led a counterattack to retake positions lost in the early stages of the battle for Bloody Ridge.
Staff Sergeant Thomas M. McCoy, 21, of Norristown, Pa., and a veteran of the Marine Raider attack on Makin Island, had been placed in charge of three listening posts in front of the Marine Raider line on Bloody Ridge. Two of the listening posts were wiped out in the first thirty minutes of the Japanese attack, and the two Marines with McCoy in his position were seriously wounded.
This left McCoy in the center of the Japanese attack with a.30 caliber machine gun, plus his personal weapon, a Browning Automatic Rifle.
His orders were to try to fight his way back to the main Marine Raider Line, if it became apparent that he could not hold his position in the face of overwhelming enemy force.
"I couldn't do that," McCoy, a stocky, barrel-chested young man who was a steelworker before becoming a Marine, told this reporter. "Marines don't leave their wounded and run." So he stayed, using brief interludes in the fierce fighting to render what first aid he could to the men with him, and to recharge the magazines of his Browning Automatic Rifle.
"I had plenty of ammo," McCoy reported, "so all I had to worry about was the machine gun getting so hot it would either jam, or cook off rounds." (When a great many rounds are fired through the air-cooled Browning Machine Gun, the weapon becomes hot enough to cause cartridges to fire as soon as they enter the action.) When that happened, McCoy would pick up his Browning Automatic Rifle and fire that until his machine gun cooled enough to fire reliably again.
"There were at least forty Japanese within yards of his position," Lieutenant Swain reported, "There's no telling how many others he killed in the jungle on the other side of the clearing." McCoy was painfully wounded during his ordeal, once when a Japanese rifle bullet grazed his upper right leg, and several times more when he was struck on the face and chest by Japanese mortar and hand grenade fragments. His hands were blistered from the heat of the machine gun, and bloody from his frantic recharging of automatic rifle magazines.
"I had to order him out of his position," Lieutenant Swain said. "He didn't want to leave until he was sure the wounded men with him had made it to safety."
When he finished the story, Jake raised his eyes to General Stewart.
"One hell of a Marine, wouldn't you agree?" the General said.
"Yes, Sir.
"Take a look at the radio, it's under the news story." Jake turned the page in the manila folder and found the radio.
URGENT
HQ USMC WASHINGTON DC 1135 20SEP42
COMMANDING GENERAL
FIRST MARINE DIVISION
VIA CINCPAC
1. REFERENCE IS MADE TO THE NEWS STORY BY MR. ROBERT MCCANDLESS, INTERNATIONAL NEWS
SERVICE, OF 14SEPT42 DEALING WITH THE EXPLOITS OF SSGT THOMAS M. MCCOY WHICH HAS RECEIVED WIDE DISTRIBUTION THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES.
2. IF THE FACTS PRESENTED BY MR. MCCANDLFSS ARE TRUE, IT WOULD SEEM THAT SSGT MCCOY SHOULD
BE CITED FOR VALOR IN ACTION ABOVE AND BEYOND THE CALL OF DUTY. IF THIS TS THE INTENTION OF YOUR COMMAND, PLEASE ADVISE BY URGENT RADIO THE DECORATION, INCLUDING THE PROPOSED CITATION THEREOF, TO BE RECOMMENDED.
3. SSGT MCCOY, AS SOON AS HIS PHYSICAL CONDITION PERMITS, IS TO BE DETACHED FROM 1ST
RAIDER BN AND PLACED ON TEMPORARY DUTY WITH PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION, HQ USMC, WASH DC IN CONNECTION WITH WAR BOND TOUR BEING CONDUCTED BY THIS OFFICE. AN AIR PRIORITY OF AAAA IS ASSIGNED. PAD HQ USMC, ATTN: SPECIAL PROJECTS WILL BE ADVISED BY URGENT RADIO OF DATE AND TIME OF SSGT MCCOY'S DEPARTURE FROM 1ST MARDIV, AND HIS ROUTING, TO INCLUDE ETA PEARL HARBOR HAWAII AND SAN DIEGO CAL.
4. IN CONNECTION WITH THE ABOVE, IT IS SUGGESTED THAT SSGT MCCOY NOT REPEAT NOT BE AWARDED
ANY DECORATION FOR VALOR, INCLUDING THE PURPLE HEART MEDAL (S) FOR WOUNDS SUFFERED UNTIL HE IS RETURNED TO THE UNITED STATE S. IT I S CONTEMPLATED THAT A SENIOR USMC OFFICER OR A HIGH RANKING GOVERNMENT OFFICIAL WILL MAKE SUCH AWARD (S).
BY DIRECTION OF THE COMMANDANT:
J. J. STEWART, BRIG GEN, USMC
DIRECTOR, PUBLIC AFFAIRS DIVISION HQ USMC
"If that story is true, and I have no reason to believe it is not, that sergeant is going to get the Distinguished Service Cross.