The Ninety-Eight Cent Man

The Ninety-Eight Cent Man is the fourth episode of The Gallant Men. It was written by Richard L. Adams and directed by Richard C. Sarafian. It aired on October 26, 1962.

Plot summary
Lt. Kimbro and Sgt. McKenna lead a patrol into the rugged terrain surrounding a mountain called Monterosso. PFC D’Angelo sees a German “potato masher” grenade. He warns the others, but the blast knocks him out and his comrades can't reach him. D’Angelo is listed as missing in action; Kimbro takes the news especially hard, feeling responsible.

On the mountain, two Italian partisans come across D’Angelo’s body and realize he is still alive. They take him back to their makeshift headquarters in a ruined building and a woman, Elena, begins caring for him as the rest of the group plots their strategy. D’Angelo comes to and notices the partisans have stolen his watch. He asks for it in Italian, surprising and angering the group. One of their own is a mole within German forces, and D’Angelo’s knowledge of their conversation and plans could endanger them all.

That night, Germans find the partisan hideout and fire upon it. The partisans flee, leaving D’Angelo behind. He is discovered and taken into German custody. Elena finds Able Company’s temporary command post and hands over D’Angelo’s dog tags. She tells Capt. Benedict and Kimbro the PFC is alive but now in German hands. She also reveals that, because of D’Angelo’s knowledge of the partisan mole, he will be assassinated to keep the secret safe.

A Wehrmacht medical officer enters and checks on a clearly pained D’Angelo. The medic says the partisans wanted to kill D’Angelo and asks why. D’Angelo lies, saying they wanted to steal his watch. The medic doesn’t believe him, but lets the issue drop.

The Able men put together the story: Kimbro says Elena is involved because her boyfriend, Amitore, is the planned assassin. Kimbro is desperate to get D’Angelo back, but Benedict’s superiors nix any rescue attempt because it might draw attention to the nearby American forces. Kimbro cajoles Benedict into approving a small, unofficial patrol in which he, McKenna, Hanson and Lucavich try to convince the partisans to abandon the assassination plot.

Elena and the Able patrol arrive at the partisans’ meeting point. The mole that’s been embedded with the Germans is there, and says D’Angelo is too much a risk to save. The partisan leader, Legrini, says the larger goal of defeating the Germans is more significant than D’Angelo’s life. As Amitore leaves, Kimbro cocks his weapon, but Elena and Legrini say any attempt to thwart them is useless.

Elena catches the patrol as it heads back to the command post. She says she will lead them to the German headquarters. Kimbro cannot resist the temptation. McKenna expresses his disapproval, but is talked into going as far as the German post so the patrol can get a sense of the situation for themselves.

Amitore poses as a wounded man and allows himself to be captured. The Germans dump him exactly where he wants to be: in the cell next to D’Angelo.

The Able men arrive at the German command post. Predictably, Kimbro decides the patrol will try to get into the building. At the American C.P., a nervous Benedict paces as Conley Wright keeps an eye on the time. Benedict points out the patrol should have been back by now, and correctly assumes they are trying to spring D’Angelo. Wright says Benedict knew that when he approved the patrol.

Maj. Jergens unexpectedly drops in and says he wants to speak to McKenna. It rapidly becomes clear that Jergens knows what’s up and he chastises Benedict for trying to sneak the patrol past his notice. Benedict says the patrol will return. Jergens replies they’d better, and he wants to hear Benedict’s explanation when they do.

D’Angelo musters the strength to pull himself across the floor and offer Amitore some water. In excruciating pain, D’Angelo lies next to him. He recognizes Amitore, but is unaware the partisan has been sent to kill him. Outside, the Able patrol has made it to the building’s courtyard wall. They use the noise of artillery fire as cover to sneak in and kill a German guard.

The German medic enters and says D’Angelo will need an operation to remove shrapnel. But, he adds, medical attention will have to wait until an interrogation concludes. He makes clear that D’Angelo’s life lies in cooperating with the Germans. D’Angelo insists he has no special or useful knowledge, and if he did, he wouldn’t divulge it.

Just as Amitore produces a length of wire and prepares to strangle D’Angelo, a charge placed against the front door explodes, and Elena and the Able patrol run in to the command post. They gun down pretty much everyone who responds. Kimbro is dazed by a grenade blast and Hanson is wounded in the leg by gunfire; Lucavich takes out a gunner hidden behind a slit in a door. The group makes it to the basement, where they find a locked room containing D’Angelo and Amitore. The partisan says he did not kill D’Angelo, and that the private needs immediate medical attention.

The Able patrol, Elena and Amitore escape from the command post and hightail it back to safety. They encounter Able Company and Benedict radios for medical help. D’Angelo is placed on a jeep and driven to the nearest aid station. Benedict yells for the company to keep moving, but cannot suppress a smile as he claps McKenna on the shoulder.

G-2 Report

 * The title of this episode comes from an old axiom that held the combined value of chemicals in the human body added up to 98 cents. The 98-cent estimate can be traced to a humorous aside in a 1922 Journal of the American Medical Association article, but the tidbit was often circulated as fact in newspapers and magazines. It was even used in speeches delivered by legitimate doctors, adding to its weight as “fact.” Where the estimate came from is not clear. More recent attempts to estimate the chemical value of a human vary widely, from $160 to nearly $2,000.
 * Wright translates Monterosso as “bloody mountain,” but that’s not quite right. Monterosso means “red mountain." Referring to blood, it would be a metaphorical appellation ("sanguinoso" means bloody in Italian). At any rate, there is no mountain bearing that name in the vicinity of Salerno or Naples. The nearest known mountains called Monterosso are in or near the Alps, in far northern Italy.
 * The continuity of these early episodes is pleasing. Here, we get the actual agreement Wright signed when he lost his typewriter to D’Angelo in the pilot: A dollar a day, four packs of cigarettes or goodies from home to be determined. The arrangement will be referred to again in “Lesson for a Lover,” but seldom after.
 * We get a little background on both Maj. Jergens and McKenna in this episode. Jergens says he and McKenna served together in the Philippines in 1937. This reinforces what we learn about McKenna in “Signals for an End Run,” namely that he is a career Army man, not a draftee or a wartime enlistee like the younger men in the unit. It also confirms Jergens is a pre-war Army man.
 * Hanson’s leg wound must not have been serious. Seconds later, he’s seen walking around with Lucavich and shows no obvious signs of a gunshot wound for the remainder of the episode.
 * Poor D’Angelo’s luck doesn’t improve in the near future: He is again seriously wounded and hospitalized in “Lesson for a Lover.”
 * For the “Sam and Ernie Are Cute” file: When Hanson is hit, Lucavich is so enraged he fires mercilessly into the door behind which a German soldier is firing. When a grenade lands near Lucavich, Hanson tosses it up to the second floor. Of course, they both say their actions were “because they had to.”
 * The building that serves as the German command post is next seen as a tavern in “One Moderately Peaceful Sunday.” The building’s interior is seen in “The Bridge,” among other episodes. The basement is in several subsequent episodes, including “Some Tears Fall Dry,” “A Place to Die” and “Robertino.”