Advance and Be Recognized

Advance and Be Recognized is the thirteenth episode of The Gallant Men. It was written by James O'Hanlon and George O'Hanlon, and directed by Robert Totten. It aired on December 29, 1962.

Plot summary
Able Company gets a new replacement, a cutup Pete D’Angelo recognizes from basic training: his old buddy “Goldbrick” Gilmartin. The friends are happy to meet once more, though Gilmartin’s exuberant, laid-back style gives D’Angelo pause.

The company is briefly pulled off the front line to re-charge. Gilmartin wastes no time demonstrating his gambling prowess on the other members of the company. He is as successful a gambler as D’Angelo, if not more so. On payday the men line up first to accept their salary from Capt. Benedict, then exit to hand over most, if not all of it, to Gilmartin. He expects D’Angelo to fork over some dough as well, but D’Angelo produces a three-year-old IOU Gilmartin wrote that not only neutralizes the debt, but nets Pete ten bucks.

That night, many of the guys head into town to hang out at a tavern. Pete introduces the obnoxiously amorous Gilmartin to two local women, Nina and Maria. While Maria and Gilmartin dance, Pete and Nina make small talk and hit it off. A skeezy-looking guy named Itzo tries to entice Pvt. Gibson to dance with another woman. Seeing this, Gilmartin’s mood suddenly changes. He tells Gibson to scram, then accosts Itzo and throws him out of the bar. Gilmartin states he doesn’t like “those kinda guys.” Pete is unsure what that means. Before he and Nina leave the tavern, Nina spies a pair of earrings being hawked by a vendor; Pete buys them for her.

After leaving the tavern Pete offers himself to Nina, but she politely turns him down because she doesn’t want to fall for someone whose life depends on the vagaries of the war. An evidently-satisfied Gilmartin exits the apartment Nina and Maria share and tells Pete to wrap it up because the truck back to camp will leave soon. Pete kisses Nina and departs.

At camp the following morning, the infatuated D’Angelo exploits his card skills to win a highly-prized pass from Pvt. Saunders and goes back into town to see Nina. She is surprised to see D’Angelo and seems a little uncomfortable in his presence, but he doesn’t notice. He jokes about marrying Nina and says his parents would adore her. After implied intercourse, Pete continues babbling about his impression of their relationship, even as Nina cautions him that his musings are “only talk.” When he asks her if the feeling is mutual, she demurs. Pete is hurt, but continues to insist that they have a future. He promises to sign his G.I. insurance to Nina, which would give her $10,000 in the event of Pete’s death.

Next day, D’Angelo tells Capt. Benedict about his plan to sign the insurance policy over to Nina. Benedict thinks the impulsive decision is out of character, but tells Pete he’ll think about it. Gilmartin finds one of Nina’s earrings and teases D’Angelo about in front of the other guys. D’Angelo slugs him and the two fight until McKenna and Lucavich pull them apart.

McKenna reports the fight to Benedict. The captain orders D’Angelo assigned to guard duty for the remainder of Able’s downtime, not to punish Pete, but to keep him from going into town and seeing Nina. Conley Wright probes a little, trying to figure out Benedict’s reasoning. Benedict explains the situation and shares his suspicion that D’Angelo is the victim of an insurance con game. Wright offers to call in a friend, a military police investigator, to look into the matter and Benedict agrees.

That night, Gilmartin loudly gloats as he and other company members are driven into town on pass. D’Angelo, stuck at guard duty, tries to ignore him. Some hours later, D’Angelo is alone at the edge of camp when he hears laughter. From the darkness comes Gilmartin’s voice, implying he slept with Nina. He also waves around her earring as he continues to lambaste D’Angelo. He approaches the checkpoint as D’Angelo continues to demand identification. Suddenly, a gunshot is heard and Gilmartin falls to the ground. Hanson, Lucavich and Saunders run up from the camp and react with shock, as does D’Angelo.

The MP investigator, Capt. Baer, arrives as the case turns from a possible insurance scam to attempted murder. D’Angelo says the shooting was accidental, but his fragmentary answers do not convince Baer. However, Gilmartin confirms the basics of D’Angelo’s story when Baer questions him in his hospital room. He admits he’d have done the same thing had he been on duty that night. He also points out the trajectory of the bullet that hit him indicates the shooting was accidental. Baer seems satisfied and allows Pete to visit with Gilmartin while an MP waits outside.

Gilmartin is all smiles and tries to make amends with Pete, but D’Angelo is still angry at Gilmartin’s poor behavior. Gilmartin admits he was lying about sleeping with Nina, and the earring was a fake. But he says his big-mouthed carping was for D’Angelo’s own good. He tells D’Angelo that his wound, while minor, is enough to send him home. Pete calls him a coward and says he doesn’t understand the situation.

Able Company strikes camp and gets ready to move out. Benedict shares the news that D’Angelo has been exonerated. Relieved and excited, Pete rushes into town one last time to see Nina. He reminds her about the G.I. insurance, but she says she doesn’t want it. She angrily tells Pete she is not a local innocent but a prostitute who works for Itzo, the man Gilmartin threw out of the tavern four days prior. She says Itzo would get Pete’s insurance money, not her. She reveals Itzo is in the apartment at that moment, and Pete sets upon him. D’Angelo is on the verge of strangling Itzo when two MPs burst in and apprehend him. They let him go, but tell him to return to Able.

Conley Wright is waiting outside Nina’s apartment in a jeep. He quietly offers D’Angelo a ride, and the two depart.

Some time later, Pete is dodging German gunfire on a scarred hillside. He leaps into a bomb crater to find…Goldbrick Gilmartin, flapping his gums again. He says the wound wasn’t as serious as previously thought and casually takes out a German machine gun nest with a grenade. Pete moans “Mama Mia” as the episode ends.

G-2 Report

 * This episode was the first to air in The Gallant Men’s new Saturday evening timeslot. The show moved to the 7:30 p.m. ET slot vacated when ABC cancelled The Roy Rogers Show. The remainder of the series’ episodes aired in this timeslot.
 * Terry Becker, who plays Gilmartin, had a long career in television. He is perhaps best known for his role as Chief Sharkey in the 1965-68 science fiction series Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. He appeared in 71 episodes. This is Becker’s only appearance in The Gallant Men.
 * Brothers James and George O’Hanlon wrote the script. George is best known as the voice of George Jetson. He played a supporting role in the episode “Tommy,” which the O’Hanlons also wrote. James O’Hanlon wrote scripts for film and television, including Warner series Sugarfoot, 77 Sunset Strip, Maverick and Cheyenne. James also wrote two episodes of the 1965 Warner series Mr. Roberts, which starred Richard X. Slattery.
 * This was Robert Totten’s first television directing gig. The following year, 1963, Totten returned to the Italian campaign in directing The Quick and the Dead. His long career in television included directing episodes of Gunsmoke and Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color. Four of his Gunsmoke episodes reunited him with actor Lawrence Mann, who played Capt. Baer in this episode of The Gallant Men.


 * As aired, Gilmartin’s shooting was accidental. But in the original draft of the O’Hanlons’ script, D’Angelo shot him intentionally. The Gallant Men’s military advisor, Lt. Col. David Sisco, objected and Army brass in Washington backed him up. One TV critic said the altered storyline weakened the episode, “but it is still a good yarn.”
 * The I.O.U. D’Angelo produces was written three years before the events of this episode. Wright’s narration specifies that the episode takes place during winter in early 1944. That means D’Angelo and Gilmartin joined the Army and went through basic training in early 1941.
 * In the tavern, Pete performs “Sweet Georgia Brown,” a jaunty number written in 1925. The most famous version of the song is a 1949 instrumental version recorded by Brother Bones and His Shadows, which since 1952 has been the theme song of the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team.
 * Pete mentions his father grew up near Milan, in northern Italy. His mother, we learn in “Next of Kin,” hails from a village in south-central Italy, near Naples. We also learn in this episode that Pete’s father emigrated to the United States, but had to wait three years for his wife to be allowed in. This, and Pete’s comment about a quota system in act two, refer to a 1924 federal law that capped annual immigration from certain countries. That law was superseded by a less restrictive immigration law in 1965.
 * The episode’s title is drawn from a challenge sentries on duty were expected to issue to approaching visitors. According to the Army’s 1971 guard duty field manual (FM 22-6), D’Angelo’s challenge to Gilmartin isn’t exactly right, but it’s close (at least, up to the shooting part). The procedure, as prescribed: D’Angelo would have issued the initial challenge, “Halt! Who is there?” received a reply, then said, “Advance, Private Gilmartin, to be recognized.” D’Angelo would have then issued the first part of a two-phrase challenge, and Gilmartin would had to have given the matching reply. The procedure is virtually the same today, according to the most recent Army guard duty field manual, issued in 2017.
 * The town seen in the cold open is also shown in “And Cain Cried Out,” “Retreat to Concord,” “Fury in a Quiet Village” and “To Hold Up a Mirror.” The tavern set is used in “One Moderately Peaceful Sunday,” “A Place to Die” and “The Bridge.” The apartment building where Nina and Maria live is seen in “Retreat to Concord.”