The First Officer

 

FADE IN:

 

EXT. DAY

 

     In a field, several army GIs are training. They are led by LIEUTENANT ROBERT MATHIAS (28, red haired and tall). All are on the run. There are two flags from two companies. It is a race.

 

One GI falls on the ground, exhausted.

 

MATHIAS

On your feet soldier.

 

SOLDIER 1

Trying sir. This race is kicking

my butt.

 

Mathias helps soldier on his feet. They start running again. After a minute, the soldier collapses again. This time he is out cold.

 

MATHIAS

Come on soldier.

 

No response from the soldier. Mathias lifts him up over his shoulders and finishes the race.

 

INT. HOSPITAL ROOM

 

The fallen soldier is lying in bed with an IV in him. Mathias is sitting with him.

 

MATHIAS

Docs say you’re be back in a day

or so.

 

SOLDIER 1

Yes sir.

 

MATHIAS

Good. We have more training to do

and I need you there. One more

thing, I read through your note

home. You can’t write where you

are on your notes. I had to mark

it out. You can rewrite it if you

want. Just let me see it when

you’re done.

 

SOLDIER 1

Yes sir.

 

MATHIAS

You rest now. I’m going to go to

Mass.

 

Mathias gets up and walks to the door. He pauses by a cross hanging on the wall and offers a sign of his own to the cross.

 

INT. CHURCH

 

We see Mathias praying during the Mass. He sits at the front of the congregation. There are other officers and GIs in the cathedral. He is seated next to some of his men. The Mass concludes. He walks out of the hall.

 

EXT. OUTSIDE THE CHURCH ON BASE

 

The church bells toll as church lets out. Some privates pass by Mathias. They are led by PRIVATE CAVANAUGH, an early twenties Midwestern boy.

 

CAVANAUGH

Mornin’ Lieutenant.

 

MATHIAS

Good morning boys. Ready for some

more drills?

 

CAVANAUGH

                   Come on Lieutenant, surely we can

have the day off. Fuck we’ve been

training for two weeks straight.

 

MATHIAS

We’re not going to rest until the

Nazis are dead or we are. We have

another practice drop in an hour.

Get your gear and be at the plane.

 

 

INT. AIRPLANE (A C-47 Dakota)

 

Inside are sixteen men and Lt. Mathias. They are strapped in parachute gear. The plane is flying along smoothly.

 

MATHIAS

OK boys! We’ve done this before and

we’ll do it again if one of you

doesn’t do it right. When the green

light goes on, you jump!

 

 

SOLDIER 1

(to Cavanaugh)

You ever hear the L-T cuss?

 

CAVANAUGH

Never man. Although I’ve heard him

come close. Guess it’s that Catholic

upbringing.

 

The light about the door turns green. All of the men jump out of the plane and float to the ground. Lt. Mathias is the last to jump and observes his men.

 

EXT. LANDING FIELD – LATE AFTERNOON

 

Clouds are rolling in on the horizon. Lt. Mathias lands on the ground. His men are gathering up their chutes and packing them away. A jeep with four men inside comes darting between Mathias’ men. It stops at the lieutenant. In the back seat sit two of Mathias’ men.

 

COLONEL ROY LINDQUIST, a man in his late 30s step out of the front passenger seat. He does not look happy. The two paratroopers in the back have their heads hanging.

 

COLONEL LINDQUIST

                   Lieutenant. I expected better

                   of second platoon, E Company.

                   You were supposed to land in

                   this target area. These two

                   drifted down in third platoon’s

                   landing zone.

 

MATHIAS

                   Sorry sir. We’ll do better next

                   time.

 

LINDQUIST

                   I doubt if there’ll be a next

                   time. Forecasters say bad

                   weather’s moving in. We’re

                   switching to ground training

                   tonight. Get your men cleaned

                   up, eat, and be ready.

 

MATHIAS

                   Yes, sir.

 

Mathias and his troopers salute the Colonel. The Colonel gets back into his jeep and drives off.

 

MATHIAS

                   Okay troops. Get your gear and

                   let’s double time it to base.

                   Maybe we can squeeze in a few

                   language lessons before tonight.

 

CAVANAUGH

                   German tonight?

 

MATHIAS

                   Jawohl.

 

EXT. AIRFIELD - CLOUDY SUNSET

 

A number of C-47 Dakotas sit side by side. American paratroopers are lining up to board the planes. Lt. Mathias is shaking every one of his platoon’s members. Col. Linquist is with him. Mathias’s platoon is boarding two planes next to each other.

 

CAVANAUGH

                   See ya on the ground Lieutenant.

 

Mathias shakes Cavanaugh’s hand.

 

MATHIAS

                   We’ll show ‘em, won’t we,

                   Irish?

 

Both chuckle.

 

Cavanaugh boards one plane while Mathias readies himself to board the other. Lindquist stops him.

 

LINDQUIST

                   Good luck, son.

 

MATHIAS

                   Thank you, sir.

 

Mathias boards his plane. He is the last of his troops. Lindquist steps back away from the plane. The engines fire up.

 

LINDQUIST

(softly)

                   He can hold more than his

                   own with the toughest man

                   alive; he will either earn

                   the Medal of Honor or be

                   killed in action.

 

SERIES OF SHOTS

 

EXT. AIRFIELD - DUSK

 

Preparations for plane departures.

 

Planes taking off.

 

INT. C-47 DAKOTA

 

We see the men in the airplane. All look worried. Mathias is standing near the hatch. He will be the first one to jump.

 

PILOT (O.S.)

                   Just making our way over

                   the English Channel. General

                   Eisenhower wishes you ‘Good

                   luck. And let us all beseech

                   the blessing of Almighty

                   God upon this great and

                   noble undertaking.’

 

SOLDIER 1

                   So… this is it.

 

MATHIAS

                   Yup.

 

SOLIDER 1

                   Do we have to fly so close

                   and so slow?

 

MATHIAS

                   It’s what we’ve been doing

                   all in training.

 

 

The soldiers are silent as the plane shakes a little going through turbulence. Some pull out crosses and kiss it. Mathias does the same.

 

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - NIGHT

 

A Flakvierling-38, a German antiaircraft gun, turns slightly and opens fire. Other guns around the area do the same in different directions. The Dakotas are flying overhead. Other smaller guns fire tracer bullets into the sky.

 

A tracer bullet ignites a hay barn. It quickly becomes engulfed in flames.

 

INT. MATHIAS’S DAKOTA

 

Mathias opens the door. He sees the burning farm. The plane is maneuvering hard and shaking. It is a violent ride.

 

MATHIAS

                   Stand up and hookup!

 

The men hook their lines and get set. They can hear gunfire hit the wings of the plane and the explosion from the flak.

 

SOLDIER 1

                   Let’s go.

 

SOLDIER 2

                   For Christ’s sake let’s go.

Mathias continues to watch the green light. It stays off. Machine gun fire rips through the bottom of the floor. The men instinctively grab their crotches.

 

SOLDIER 1

                   Jump, damn it, jump!

 

The green light goes on. A flak canister explodes just outside the doorway. Mathias is thrown back off his feet; shrapnel covers his chest. Blood starts seeping out of the wounds. His men are in shock.

 

Mathias gets up and gets back to the door. He raises hit right arm.

 

MATHIAS

                   Follow me!

 

Mathias leaps into the night out of the plane.

 

EXT. COUNTRYSIDE - NIGHT

 

Cavanaugh and some men are searching the countryside for other troopers. They come across Mathias’s body, still attached to his parachute. Blood is coming out of the wounds.

 

DISSOLVE TO BLACK

 

FONTS -

Lt. Robert Mason Mathias

The First American Officer killed

June 6, 1944   D-Day