There is a fifth dimension
beyond tha t which is known to man.
It is a dimension as vastas space
and as timeless as infinity.
It is the middle ground between lightand shadow
between science and s upers ti tion
and it lies between the pit of man's fears
and the summit of his knowledge.
This is the dimension of ima Gina tion
it is anarea which we call the twilight zone.
Keep those trucks coming!
Close it up!
I said close it up!
Infantry pla toon, u. S. Army, philippine islands, 1945.
These are the faces of the young men who fight.
As if some omniscient painter had mixeda tube of oils
tha t were a t one time ear th-bro wn, dus t-gre y
bl ood-red, bea rd-bla ck, and fear, yell ow-white.
And these men were the models.
For this is the pro Vince of comba t
and these are the faces of war.
Evening, captain.
Ain't it a crummy night?
Rough?
We've got the bridge, whatever they want it for.
Here you go.
Japs have got naval guns stuck in the ground. They're zeroed in.
That bridge gets it every three minutes.
If the general wants to know where the jap fleet is
it's dug in on the road to Manila.
Sergeant,
who'd we lose?
Lots of wounded.
Maybe ten, twelve.
F o u r d ead.
Hibbard, horton, Morgan and Levy.
All right, sergeant, bed them down.
Check with the mess.
Make sure they got hot coffee and a meal.
If they're not hungry, eat anyway.
Yes, sir.
"A" company, first platoon, chow down!
Fitz,
sir?
Look, I have got me a bottle of philippine tupa in my tent.
Now it's not exactly bottled in bond
but you'd be surprised what it does to a man's outlook.
Come on.
Cheers.
Bad day, huh, Fitz?
A lot of wounded, four dead.
All in two and a half hours.
12 wounded, four dead.
Anything special about the four?
Anything special?
What do you mean?
Well, Fitz, we've lost four men before.
We've lost eight and ten.
You seem to be taking this a little harder than usual.
I just wondered if there was something
special.
These four men were all under 21.
Does it have to be more special than that?
No, but this has gotten to you, Fitz,
more than I've ever seen.
I'd just like to know why.
You're a perceptive man, Phil.
It's the Mark of a good officer, isn't it?
To ward off trouble by anticipating.
Are you gonna give me a hard time?
I don't think so, Fitz.
You're a good officer.
You got guts and brains.
But something has gotten to you.
I told you, I'd like to know what it is.
Would you?
Hibbard, horton, Morgan, Levy.
Killed in action, luzon, p.I., 13 January 1945.
So?
So you want to know
what? t's go tten into me, Phil,
I wrote those names down yesterday.
I wrote them down before we went up.
Why did you write down the names, Fitz?
Well, we had a weapons check
and I looked into their faces
and those four men
Feel better?
I looked into forty four faces yesterday morning
and when I got to those four, there was something special
a light or something.
I can't describe it to you.
There isn't any descrip tion.
I looked into their faces and I knei/I/.
I knew this was their last day.
I knew they were going to get it.
I knew, and there
there wasn't any doubt about it.
Well, that's, uh,
that's funny. That's real funny.
I haven't slept much.
I keep wondering
is this the way it's going to be?
If every time I stand in front of a platoon
am I going to be able to look down the line
and know which ones aren't coming back?
Fitz, when did you write these names down?
You're sure it was yesterday?
You're sure it wasn't today on the way back in the truck?
Yesterday.
Yesterday morning, I swear to you.
I wrote those names down yesterday.
Well?
I can't tell, captain.
The stuff you've given me is inconcl usive.
I looked up his records. He's never been wounded.
Looks like a pretty steady customer,
no evidence of battle fatigue or anything.
Why he should suddenly get this weird idea is hard to say
but we better run some checks.
He believes it. You hear him tell it
you almost believe it yourself.
I'd apprecia te you taking a looka t him.
He's a good man.
He's one of the best officers we've got.
I'll do what I can, captain.
He's here now, you know.
No, I didn't know.
He's in the ward visiting
one of the boys from his platoon.
I'm fine, lieutenant. How's the rest of the boys?
Oh, the y're all fine.
Porky got a piece of shrapnel on his finger
you know porky, that's about as bad as he ever got.
He's a lucky kid.
Tha t he is.
And you're not doing too bad.
You get that all patched up and you'll be going home.
That's not so hard to take, is it?
No, sir.
It sure isn't.
No, no. Thank you, sir.
Could you lay it down over there, lease?
I won't be needing it for a while.
Uh, listen, smitty, I got some stuff to do so I'll see you tomorrow.
You take it easy, you hear?
Yes, sir.
Uh, anything you need... You got stuff to read?
All I need.
Okay, you take care, smitty.
Thanks for coming, lieutenant.
G ood-b ye.
Good-bye, smitty.
You okay, lieutenant?
Yeah. I...
Yeah, I'm okay.
He's dead.
Just like that.
They go awful quick sometimes.
Awful quick.
Fitz?
I was up seeing smitty.
Yeah, I know. I read his tag.
Doc said he's going to be okay.
No, he isn't.
I took a look at his face.
I took a look at his face, and I knew.
And a minute later, he's gone.
Same thing?
Same thing.
The look.
The funny... the funny light or whatever it is.
And I knew, and I knew.
Fitz, I can't explain this, but...
I don't want you to explain it.
How can you explain it?
How can anybody explain it?
I just want you to believe it, captain. That's all I want from you.
I want you to believe it.
Bed five, sir. Smith. He jus t died.
I'll have a look at him.
For what?
There's nothing to look at but a body.
He's dead.
And I knew he was going to die
'cause I read it on his face.
Go on back, corporal. I'll be right in.
So you knew, lieutenant?
You bet I did.
I tabbed four men the other day.
That's odd, don't you think?
Odd? Tha t's no t odd, ca p ta in.
Odd when is you go 30 da ys on the line
and you don't lose a man.
That's odd!
Odd is when you walk 25 miles and you don't get a blister.
Now you're talking odd!
This isn't odd, captain.
This is nightmare.
This is a lousy, dog-faced, lying officer
who can see DEA th on people's faces.
You're a dog-fa oed, I ying off/oer
who's cracking under the strain from having done too much
and felt too much. Finally having to succumb to it!
I'm five for five, captain.
How many coincidences add up to a fact?
How many men do I have to tab
as the least likely to succeed?
How many more faces do I have to look into?!
What I want to know
is what does it take to make you guys realize
that somewhere along the line
I picked up a talent they don't teach at o.C.S.
One thing you might do
while you're waiting and scratching
you might put tape over my eyes or poke them out
or do something where I won't be able to see
so I won't have to look at any more faces!
Now we spearhead the attack moving across at the point
followed by baker and Charlie and company.
Now, at this point to the east,
some Filipino guerrillas will be crossing the river by boat.
Now their job will be to knock out anyand all jap guns
in tha t side of the river. So tha t we should be able to move across the bridge
against onl y small arms fire.
We've got about 22 minutes before we load up the trucks.
Give your platoons a good briefing.
Make sure that each man has a belt, five grenades, six ammo clips,
and no backpacks.
All right. That's it. Good luck.
Captain,
you still want my platoon to take the point?
I don't know yet, Fitz.
I think that probably...
What's the matter, Fitz?
Are you well enough to take the platoon?
Now, Gunther thinks you'd be better off
with three weeks back at division. I agree with him.
This thing will take a few hours but it will be messy.
Captain, you better not go.
Why, Fitz?
Yeah.
It's on your face too.
If you go, you won't be coming back.
Fitz, get your platoons set.
You've only got about 15 minutes left.
Please...
I'll tell you what we'll do!
We'll talk about it when we get back. We'll have a drink to it.
We'll drink to an illusion, to a couple of coincidences.
Now that's it, Fitz! I'll see you at the trucks!
Captain, you won't be drinking to anything.
'Cause you're not coming back!
Lieutenant?
What about it?
Everybody says you can tell.
Everybody says you know who's going to get it
and who isn't.
Well, how about it, lieutenant? Give us a break, huh?
Come on, lieutenant.
It ain't fair... you knowing!
Knock it off, Freeman.
All right, sergean t.
Now look, somebody started this wild gag
and somebody will get burned for it.
There's nobody in this company
who's a mind-reader.
Including lieutenant Fitzgerald.
All right, lieutenant?
Yeah. That's right, sir.
All right, sergeant, let's go.
Yes, sir. Let's go!
Oka y, load 'em up.
Let's go!
In the trucks!
In the trucks, everybody!
Close it up!
All right, close it up!
Okay, first platoon, fall in.
Forget about extra details. Let's do it the same.
Yes, sir.
Come on, hurry it up.
Fall in. Roll call.
Verall.
Here.
A s hba r.
Here.
F I tz.
Just thought I'd drop around and congratulate you boys
on the good job you did.
Thank you, sir.
The odds fell on our side.
Must be all those right-handy job on those guns
and you fellows walked right across.
Right across.
That's fortunate.
The air force must have picked off
at least six or seven of those 25s.
Of course those guns were operating.
That might have been the longest bridge
you've ever been on, or the shortest.
Sniper fire, that's all you had?
Yes, sir, sniper fire.
Mm-hmm.
We lost one man.
Oh, that's a pity.
He was a good man.
You were good friends, weren't you, Fitzgerald?
So much for Mrs. Riker's lovely wedding.
Seven happy years.
Two fine sons.
Man, war stinks.
I ie u te na n t?
Captain Gunther wants to see you.
Lieutenant, you are to report back to division.
Back to division?
Yeah. They want to look you over.
It'll be a nice couple weeks rest for you.
Take your gear with you.
Okay.
Thank you, captain.
Lieutenant Fitzgerald?
The Jeep's ready to take you back to division, sir
any time you're ready.
Lieutenant Fitzgerald?
What?
This your bag, sir?
Yes, that's my bag.
May I put it in the Jeep for you, sir?
Thank you very much.
Well, sir, we're ready
any time you are.
Well, it's a little bouncy, sir
but it sure beats walking.
You're going back to division?
Yeah.
Further back I get, the better I like it.
You're taking the convenient road?
Yeah. There's a bridge up there on the highway.
The engineers think they've spotted some mines up the road
they haven't dug them up yet
so stay close to the shoulders.
I want you to take good care
of the ueutenanthere.
Sergeant, I'm the most careful driver
in the united sta tes army.
If I can lift this here Jeep and walk tippytoe carrying it
believe me, brother, I'd do it.
Lieutenant, you ma yas well get comfortable.
I guess we gotabout a four-hour ride
ahead of us.
Do we?
I doubt it.
You play that pretty good.
One hand.
Did you hear that?
Thunder?
I don't think so.
It sounded more like an explosion.
Maybe it was thunder. Yeah.
That's what it was... Probably thunder.
From William Shakespeare, rioha rd the third,
a small excerpt, the line reads,
"he has come to open the purple testament
of bleeding war."
And for lieutenant William Fitzgerald...
"A" company, first pla toon, the testament is cl osed.
Lieutenant Fitzgerald has found the twilight zone.
Rod serl ing, the orea Tor of twilight zone,
will tell you about next week's story
after this word from our al terna te sponsor
and noi/I/, r. Serl/ng.
Next week, on the twilight zone
we offer you the unbelievable along with an explanation.
Three men visit a strange new world
with people, cars, houses, the works.
But something's wrong in the scene.
Something very abnormal amidst the normal.
You'll see what I mean when next week we bring you "elegy" by Charles beaumont.
It stars Cecil kellaway. Thank you and good night.
Kimberl y ola rk invites you to wa toh Steve McQueen
in wanted dead or alive.
Sa turda y nights over most of these same stations.