Retreat to Concord

Retreat to Concord is the second episode of The Gallant Men. It was written by William Bruckner, based on a story by Leonard Brown. It was directed by Richard C. Sarafian. It aired on October 12, 1962.

Plot summary
Able Company is involved in heavy fighting as it works to rout Germans from the strategically important hamlet of Nieto. The men are aided by a skilled sniper who identifies himself as a new replacement, Pvt. Henry Draper. He is standoffish and businesslike, and unfazed by the carnage around him. Capt. Benedict tabs him to take out a particularly pesky German sniper in the town’s belfry.

Draper bursts into a room where a woman is silently praying. He urges her to take cover, but she silently refuses. He tells her she’s wasting her time praying and asks what kind of cruel deity allows the savagery of the war to exist. Through the room’s window, Draper shoots and kills the German sniper. As he leaves he informs the woman it’s the fourth man he killed that day.

Conley Wright, composing a dispatch, notes that the people of Nieto have not welcomed Able Company. A local woman insults PFC D’Angelo, and Hanson and Lucavich are denied access to water from a public fountain. Speaking to a resident, D’Angelo learns this stems from the woman Draper insulted: the signora. She has enormous influence over the townspeople and has told them not to play ball with the American GIs.

Benedict and Wright pay a visit to the signora, Josephine Cirasella. She tells them the Americans are not welcome in Nieto because she perceives them only as the latest in a line of invaders and dominators. Benedict says the damage wrought by the fighting is unfortunate, but necessary to drive out the Germans. Cirasella says she doesn’t want the Americans’ pity. She just wants them out of town. Benedict refuses and Cirasella ends the discussion, throwing the captain and the correspondent out of her house.

The unit assigned to relieve Able is delayed, keeping the soldiers in Nieto another few days. Lt. Kimbro tells the group they will help repair some of the damaged buildings around the town square in an attempt to build goodwill. Draper declines to join in. Wright challenges him, saying Draper’s lone-wolf attitude is damaging to the company. Draper says watching his former colleagues get killed taught him to look out for himself.

The Able men and Conley work to clear out streets choked with debris. The attached building used to be the village’s schoolhouse, and Lucavich’s ringing of the bell draws a group of children, including a girl who wants to know if school will be held today. The girl, Felicia, tells D’Angelo the children crave the normality of a class session. Her cousin, Pietro, has been deaf and mute since his parents were killed when Americans bombed the town. When a company medic offers help, Felicia says they will not cooperate because the Americans do not believe in God.

The false information about the Americans’ views on faith is traced, unsurprisingly, to Cirasella. Benedict chews out Draper for attacking Cirasella’s faith and creating more headaches for the company. He tells Draper to keep his views to himself and orders the sniper to work with the other soldiers in repairing the village.

The next day, repairs have advanced to the point that a small courtyard is converted into a makeshift classroom furnished with desks and a large chalkboard from the damaged school building. But the GIs are at a loss as teachers, and the children grow bored. Draper appears and asks D’Angelo to inquire about Felicia’s favorite subject. She replies “geography,” and Draper responds by drawing crude maps of Europe and the United States. It is revealed he was a teacher before the war. The children respond well to his lesson and Draper seems to enjoy working with the kids.

The session is interrupted by Cirasella and a group of women. They are upset that the avowed atheist is teaching their children. Benedict assures her he is instructing only in non-religious subjects. Draper assigns the kids to draw something. He will judge the entries and promises the winner a candy bar. Cirasella is unmoved, calling Draper an evil man. Wright offers a somewhat convoluted defense of Draper, saying he shut out God because he’s been shattered by his experiences in the war. Cirasella thinks this over and leaves the soldiers be.

While the children take a break, Draper and D’Angelo review their drawings. Pietro’s submission is a blank sheet of paper, while Felicia’s depicts a bright post-war landscape. Draper is dour about whether anything is worth the damage the war wrought on the town and its children, but tells D’Angelo all the children will get a candy bar.

When the children return, Pietro silently approaches Draper and takes his hand. Just then, mortar shells begin to fall on Nieto. As D’Angelo hustles the kids into a cellar, Draper throws himself over Pietro and realizes the child can hear the explosions. He pleads with Pietro to say something, anything, and the child replies with a murmured “Mama.”

Cirasella goes back to Benedict, asking him to leave so the Germans will stop firing. Benedict tells her cannot leave until he’s ordered to and that the Americans will knock out the mortar by nightfall. Meanwhile, Draper and D’Angelo try to keep the children occupied. Wright tells them Sgt. McKenna is about to lead a patrol to take out the mortar. Draper asks Wright to watch Pietro and leaves the shelter.

Draper volunteers to accompany McKenna. Appreciative, Benedict approves and wishes them good luck. They locate the mortar team. Draper, thinking McKenna’s plan is too slow, offers to take out the Germans with his rifle. McKenna agrees and the group moves closer to the mortar emplacement. Draper suddenly seems doubtful, which he says happens to a man when he starts caring about other people. Nevertheless, he sticks to his plan and approaches the machine gun crew from behind. He and McKenna kill all three of its crew. The patrol then turns to the mortar team. Draper picks off one man, but he is wounded by a second. The sniper collects himself and leaps into the mortar pit with a grenade, killing the remaining German and himself.

Back at the command post, Benedict gives Cirasella a book of Thoreau’s works that belonged to Draper. She has changed her tune on Draper, calling him a hero. As Able Company prepares to leave town, Cirasella rings the school bell and the children gather to hear her speak.

G-2 Report

 * The episode’s title refers to the American Revolution’s Battle of Concord, which took place on April 18, 1775. A group of British regulars, outnumbered by colonial militias, was forced to retreat into Concord, and eventually out of town entirely. What this has to do with the plot of this episode is unknown.
 * Some online sources misspell the title city as “Concorde.”
 * This episode is the first of eight Gallant Men installments to be directed by Richard C. Sarafian.
 * Act one is preceded by a Warner Bros. production logo and a voiceover announcement. This insert also appears in “And Cain Cried Out,” but no further episodes.
 * Iphigenie Castiglioni, who played Signora Josephine Cirasella, enjoyed a nearly three-decade career in film and television. Most of her movie roles were small parts or uncredited bits. She had better luck in TV, where she typically played strong, wealthy Italian women. She died in July 1963, less than a year after this episode aired.
 * Playing Felicia was Anna Bruno-Lena’s third acting role. Her IMDB page lists only one other credit after: a three-part episode of Dr. Kildare that aired in 1964. Pietro is Victor Salinas’ only credited role.
 * “Retreat to Concord” is William Bruckner’s only contribution to The Gallant Men. His other Warner works included episodes of Maverick, Surfside 6 and Hawaiian Eye. His final script for television, a 1967 episode of The F.B.I., reunited him with William Reynolds (Capt. Benedict).
 * The footage of the sniper that plays under the title card is seen again in “Tommy.” The wrecked streets seen in the cold open are also seen in the next episode, “And Cain Cried Out,” and other subsequent episodes. The sunken room that serves as Benedict’s command post is seen in several subsequent episodes, including “Some Tears Fall Dry.” The town square is used again, minus the Mussolini statue, in “Fury in a Quiet Village” and other episodes. The broken belfry is also seen at the beginning of “Fury in a Quiet Village.” The outdoor staircase where the company relaxes in act two is seen again in “Advance and Be Recognized.”