War's End by J C Svec

This Play is the copyright of the Author, and may not be performed, copied or sold without the Author's prior consent

ACT I SCENE 1 OCTOBER 1, 1986 -

GRAND RAPIDS, MICHIGAN - MORNING

A series of raked platforms, covered with field maps of the day, is backed by a generic set of walls that represents the gray mortar and cement of a civilization gone awry. Upstage center, amidst the walls, is a rear projection screen that will display a time line and supporting photographs for the story

On either side of the platforms are two smaller, unconnected risers that represent the "home base" from which the elder and younger character of CHESTER BERRY will guide us through the journey

Completing the setting are representational units that serve as two Jeeps

At one of the desks sits, CHESTER BERRY, a white haired gentlemen with wire rim glasses. He examines old photographs that have been mounted in a large scrapbook

After a moment he expresses his thoughts.

CHESTER Forty years. I can still remember your names. Forty years and I can still hear your voices. Remember your stories. How quickly your reminiscences of life turned to speculations of death. And it was so easy for you all to speak so calmly of what was considered the inevitable. No longer in control of your own destinies, you were resigned to the end. The future was the moment. From every corner of America, you were young and so alike. I guess the Army saw to the latter. You were men wiser than your years, often alone in your dreams, but together in fear. The situation we were in saw to that. We had a common bond, though. To get back home. Get done, the job we had come together to do. And get the hell home.

BERRY picks up a loose photo. After careful examination, he eventually puts pen to paper and writes while speaking out loud. One by one, his men appear at their Jeeps.

CHESTER Mrs. Swecz and family. I write to apologize for the trauma I caused with my phone call. I was sorry to hear that Joe had passed on. There were six of us. Vern Scudder, Theodore "Ted" Edwards, J.L. Johnston, Benjamin Jeserzewski and Sweczy. No one there called him Joe. Our liaison section was a close knit group.

SWECZY and J.L settle into one Jeep to read, while BENNY cares for a field radio. In front of the other vehicle TED and VERN have donned baseball gloves and toss a dirty, worn ball.

CHESTER We would get artillery fire and enemy positions when needed for infantry commanders. A Sergeant, corporal, radio operator, two drivers and myself. Joe could function in all positions. I recall his stories of trips to Yankee Stadium for a Sunday afternoon game and his love for the movies. And of ferry rides across the bay to Staten Island on hot summer evenings. This was the American way of life he believed he was fighting for. Like most of us, Sweczy, Joe, probably never spoke of what happened during the war. Mostly we assumed no one would believe our stories if we did tell anyone. We couldn't believe a lot of it ourselves, and we were there.

A bespectacled Army Lieutenant in his mid thirties, a young CHESTER BERRY, moves to the opposite desk and slides a sheet of onion skin paper into an Underwood typewriter. The two BERRY's face each other and speak simultaneously.

CHESTER/LT. BERRY I recall when Sweczy and Private Johnston sat on a hill and relayed radio commands because the FM radio wouldn't carry to the batteries. Several times I watched mounds of dirt explode from German shell hits only to see, once the air had cleared, the two men buried deeper in the holes they had dug into "Mother Earth."

The elder BERRY collects his papers and scrapbook and exits, leaving LT. BERRY to finish the story.

LT. BERRY The men had dug foxholes and it looked like two doughnuts on the side of the hill. They stayed until our mission was completed. (pause) Joe was an excellent soldier. They all were.

LT. BERRY exits with TED and VERN.

ACT I SCENE 2

30 MARCH 1945 - MERSCH, GERMANY - DAY

SWECZY tries to rearrange the worn pages of a Stars and Stripes, J.L. reads the ripped pages of a letter from home and BENNY obsesses over a his radio.

J.L. Sweczy, when's the last time we got mail?

SWECZY Oh, it's been a while.

J.L. A while. How long is a while?

SWECZY The time since the last time we got mail.

J.L. looks for a more specific answer.

SWECZY (CONT'D) Days and days, I'd say.

J.L. Days and days, eh? When do you figure we might get mail again?

SWECZY A while longer.

J.L. That's what I thought.

SWECZY and J.L. pause, look at their reading materials and decide to exchange. J.L. folds the newspaper and looks around.

J.L. (CONT'D) (sarcastic) It's such a beautiful day I think I'll take the long way to the head.

BENNY You fellas should be checking your gear. Straw. There's straw everywhere.

SWECZY (to Benny) A few days of the cold and mud of Germany and you'll be crying for that straw.

J.L. (to Benny) That straw is a minor inconvenience for the train we got. You would rather have walked from France?

BENNY I would rather have stayed in France.

J.L. Benny, look around. You'd give up the Kraut's contributions to nature for the squalor of Camp Lucky Strike. BENNY (without hesitation) Yes. A thousand times yes.

J.L. imitates F.D.R.

J.L. (to Sweczy) I say Eleanor, Private Jeserzewski, here doesn't seem to care for this vacation we've sent him on.

SWECZy responds as Mrs. Roosevelt.

SWECZY Franklin, I can't imagine why. We have provided him with traveling clothes and the finest accommodations war bonds can buy.

J.L. (to Benny) Eleanor and I are not pleased with your attitude dogface.

BENNY Mr. and Mrs. Jeserzewski would not be pleased if this attitude didn't return home to Jersey City, New Jersey, thank you, very much. And President Roosevelt would never use the word dogface.

J.L. And SWECZY return their voices to normal.

SWECZY (to J.L.) He's got a point there.

J.L. refuses to be beaten.

J.L. Benny, how long are you going to work on that 300?

BENNY What?

J.L. (to Sweczy) How much abandoned equipment do you suspect we've come across?

SWECZY Tons.

J.L. And how much new equipment gets issued every week?

SWECZY Tons, I suspect. It just keeps coming over. Boatload after boatload.

J.L. Tries to make a point.

J.L. Benny, how much longer are you going to nurse that thing?

BENNY I've had her since Omaha Beach. And I'll have her till this big push is over. So what? She's been good luck for me. I take care of her and she takes care of me. (looks at the radio) When I'm done, I'll be done.

J.L. Uncle Sam provides this kielbasa with free passage to see the world and he spends his time cleaning a beat up field radio.

BENNY I've been to Brooklyn. I've seen the world, thank you very much.

J.L. (to Sweczy) I give up. (to Benny) Thank you, very much.

BENNY (to Sweczy) What's his problem?

Before J.L. can leave, LT. BERRY, TED and VERN approach the Jeep prompting BENNY to spring to attention.

J.L. (pushes Benny down) Sit down!

LT. BERRY (glares at Benny) At ease men.

SWECZY Traveling orders, Lieutenant?

The six men huddle around the Jeep and the map BERRY holds.

LT. BERRY Mrs. Berry wants me home for the summer men. Battalion will move out by motor convoy at 0930 tomorrow to Norf, where we will relieve elements of the 95th Division in a holding sector on the West Bank of the Rhine. Our job is to proceed ahead of the convoy and provide reconnaissance from Grindlinghausen through Mescherschied. Command Post expects "A" and "B" companies in place by 2300 hours.

SWECZY And then we can go home, right Lieutenant?

LT. BERRY A big cookout at my house the first Saturday back. Mrs. Berry grills a mean rack of ribs.

LT. BERRY exits to his typewriter.

J.L. He's sick of this war. You can tell.

TED And you're not?

J.L. Sick and tired.

SWECZY So…?

TED So, let's just win this war and be done with it. I love ribs.

The men enjoy TED'S comment as they move to their respective vehicles.

LT. BERRY One April, nineteen hundred and forty-five. The front lines are relatively quiet. Lieutenant Long of "A" Company led a combat patrol mission with twenty-three enlisted men in four assault boats across the moonlit waters of the Rhine. As the boats neared the east bank, they came under heavy German mortar fire, upending one boat and sending six inhabitants into the cold waters. Two doggies were able to swim to the returning boats but there was no sign of the others. The patrol was unable to land. Four enlisted men and Lt. Long failed to return. Long was last seen swimming to the aid of one of his men.

Elsewhere during the night…

TED calls to the men in the other jeep.

TED Did you fellas get wind of the other night?

J.L. What?

TED “A" and "B" companies are out on separate patrols. They lose their bearings and run into each other on their way back to camp. Instead of trying to identify themselves, they open fire on each other.

LT. BERRY ...the incident was a valuable lesson to the new troops illustrating the dangers of 'trigger happiness.'

Atop one of the platforms stands a CHAPLAIN partially dressed for both battle and church services. The men stand at their vehicles and turn to the man of cloth.

A CHAPLAIN makes the sign of the cross.

CHAPLAIN In the name of the Father, the Son…

The CHAPLAIN recognizes his cross denomination.

CHAPLAIN Shalom. Welcome all. We are blessed to have this house of God for our services today. Though the roof may be collapsing and the walls are shattered and splintered, the spirit of the Lord remains intact. Here, in his wisdom, and here, in our hearts.

(relaxes his tone)

Men, I realize how hard it is to keep faith in a higher presence in times as trying as these, but damn it, keep our faith we must.

The CHAPLAIN dons his helmet with the onslaught of artillery fire.

CHAPLAIN We must. Those of you wishing to receive Holy Communion may come forward at this time.

LT. BERRY At church services this morning we were reminded it was Easter Sunday.

[end of extract]

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