:06:00
What happened?
:06:01
l was up on the bridge.
:06:03
l was just standing there
looking out to sea.
:06:05
l couldn't bear look at that island anymore.
:06:09
All of a sudden l noticed something, little
black specks crawling across the horizon.
:06:14
l looked through the glasses
and it was a formation of our ships...
:06:17
...that stretched for miles.
:06:19
Carriers, and battleships and cans.
A whole task force, Doc.
:06:23
Why didn't you break me out?
l've never seen a battleship.
:06:26
They came out and passed
within a half mile of that reef.
:06:29
Carriers so big
they blacked out half the sky.
:06:34
Battlewagons sliding along, dead quiet.
:06:39
l could see the men on the bridges.
:06:43
And this is what knocked me out, Doc:
:06:46
Somehow...
:06:48
...l thought l was on those bridges.
:06:51
l thought l was riding west
across the Pacific.
:06:57
l watched 'em till they were out of sight.
:06:59
And l was right there on those bridges
all the time.
:07:04
l know how that must have hurt, Doug.
:07:06
And then l looked down from our bridge
and saw our captain's palm tree.
:07:11
Our trophy for superior achievement!
:07:15
The Admiral John J. Finchley Award
for delivering...
:07:19
...more toothpaste than toilet paper...
:07:21
...than any other navy cargo ship
in the safe area of the Pacific!
:07:28
-Read this, Doc. See how it sounds.
-What is it?
:07:31
My application for transfer.
l've been rewriting it since l got off watch.
:07:34
-Another?
-This one's different.
:07:35
l'm trying something new.
A stronger wording. Read it carefully.
:07:41
''From Lieutenant J.G. Douglas Roberts
to Bureau of Naval Personnel.
:07:44
''April 16, 1945.
:07:47
''Subject: Change of duty request form.''
:07:49
-Boy, this is sheer poetry!
-Go on, Doc.
:07:53
''For two years and four months
l've served on this vessel as cargo officer.
:07:57
''l feel my continued service aboard can
only reduce my usefulness to the Navy...