And Cain Cried Out

And Cain Cried Out is the third episode of The Gallant Men. It was written by Ken Pettus and directed by Charles R. Rondeau. It aired on October 19, 1962.

Plot summary
Able Company is surprised by the arrival of a replacement fresh from stateside duty: Sgt. Griff Benedict, younger brother of Capt. Benedict. The captain is surprised but outwardly pleased to see his brother. Before more than basic pleasantries can be exchanged, German planes strafe the company. Griff commandeers an unmanned anti-aircraft gun and fires back.

As the smoke clears and Able takes stock of the damage, Sgt. McKenna distributes mail to the GIs. Capt. Benedict gets a letter from an old flame, Mae Carson. She apologizes for not writing more, and Benedict suspects something is wrong.

Sgt. Eddie Morales wants Griff Benedict to take over his platoon. The captain says he’ll think it over. But Jim has other plans on his mind. In conversation with Maj. Jergens, Benedict makes it clear he wants his younger brother transferred out of Able Company as soon as possible. Jergens says it will take three or four days at the earliest. Capt. Benedict is wary of taking Griff into combat because the sergeant is untested in battle. Jergens says he’ll have to live with it for the time being.

Back at a farmhouse that serves as the command post, Benedict complains to Conley Wright that the unit is stuck with Griff for the immediate future. He calls Griff in to give him a formal assignment. He asks how Mae is doing and assigns Griff to radio duty. Griff bristles, considering the role a demotion. Capt. Benedict holds firm, and Griff says nothing between them has changed, hinting at longstanding friction between the brothers.

Next morning, Morales is surprised to discover he is still in charge of his platoon, though he expresses misgivings about the decision. During mail call, Wright discovers another letter from Mae Carson, but this one is addressed to Griff.

Entering the ruins of a village called Amendolara, Morales leads a platoon through streets riddled with bomb craters as German gunfire cuts across their path. Some of the men are killed or wounded, and Morales cracks under the strain. He crawls out of a crater and into the line of fire clutching a grenade. He hurls it into a German machine gun nest, successfully ending the threat but getting himself killed in the process. When McKenna relays the news to Capt. Benedict, Jim decides to put Morales’ platoon under McKenna instead of Griff. The younger Benedict is angered, but powerless to overrule the captain.

During a lunch break bull session, Pete D’Angelo says Morales died doing someone else’s job. He questions why Griff Benedict wasn’t leading the platoon. Wright shoots back that Griff was only doing what he was assigned to do. He defends Jim’s decisions, but the company regulars remain angry and the reporter walks away.

Finding Jim Benedict sitting in a doorway, Wright says he was unsuccessful in convincing the company to trust Jim’s decisions. The captain says it doesn’t matter because he has the ultimate rank within the company. Wright heatedly asks why Benedict isn’t using Griff in a more logical way, and Benedict replies that he doesn’t trust his brother. Their father’s low opinion of Griff has apparently rubbed off on Jim, and the captain says that, in trying to prove himself better than Jim, Griff has “made a career out of fouling up.”

That night, a nearby shell explosion knocks Griff’s knapsack onto the floor. Jim picks up the contents and finds multiple letters from Mae. Reading them, Jim discovers the two had been seeing each other since Jim shipped off. He also learns Griff cut off contact with Mae several weeks after his own departure for Europe. Griff returns from a patrol and sees Jim reading the letters. The captain says Griff finally showed him up and erupts in anger. He pins Griff against the wall and is about to punch him when Conley Wright enters. Griff leaves.

The next day, Benedict still refuses to put Griff in charge of a platoon, despite McKenna’s urging. Lt. Kimbro finally tells the captain he cannot be an officer and Griff’s brother at the same time. Benedict relents and issues the order. Griff proves himself a competent leader and soldier. He is slightly injured when an ill-timed grenade blast knocks debris onto him. While getting bandaged, he and Wright discuss his acrimonious relationship with Jim. Griff says he’s not a villain, but has been treated like dirt all his life and therefore acts like it. Jim catches up with Griff and says they could try to get along, but neither brother is convinced that will happen. Jim tells Griff not to leave Mae hanging.

That night, Griff realizes a back street appears to be free of Germans, and he organizes a patrol to further investigate. Capt. Benedict, who had ordered Griff’s platoon to stay put, is furious when he finds out. He suspects the clear street is a German trap meant to lure the Americans into a false sense of security. The captain’s instincts prove correct: German soldiers rise from behind a wall and being firing on Griff’s patrol, killing or wounding all but the sergeant. Griff steels himself and kills a Wehrmacht soldier, but has a nervous breakdown immediately after. He crawls up a stairwell and into an empty room.

Back at a barricade in the street, Capt. Benedict refuses to help Griff until the following morning. Wright chastises him for abandoning the whole patrol because of his personal feelings toward Griff. Benedict repeats Kimbro’s earlier assertion that he can’t be the commanding officer and Griff’s brother simultaneously. Just then, a wounded survivor of Griff’s patrol is brought to the barricade. He tells Capt. Benedict what happened and Benedict resolves to send in reinforcements at daybreak.

German voices awaken Griff Benedict, still balled up in the empty room where he crawled the night before. He peers through a hole in the floor to see a German machine gun team setting up. Griff realizes the incoming Americans – including his brother – will be sitting ducks for the machine gun post. He shouts out a warning to Jim. A German soldier fires his sidearm through the hole in the floor and Griff goes down in agony. Jim takes out the machine gun team with a grenade and runs upstairs to find Griff.

As they wait for a medic to arrive, Griff apologizes to Jim, and Jim tells him to forget about it. Griff whispers that he really did love Mae, which Jim gently dismisses. Griff dies as Jim embraces him, and the captain weeps as he holds his brother’s body.

After Amendolara is secured, Jim sits in a jeep and writes a letter to Mae that he hopes will comfort her. Wright says it will. Benedict composes himself and orders Gibson to drive them out of town.

G-2 Report

 * Conley Wright’s opening narration notes that the episode takes place in spring 1944. That doesn’t match up with the timeline presented in other episodes. Either the episode was aired out of proper order, or writer Ken Pettus wasn’t checking when he turned in the final draft of the script.
 * Capt. Benedict has a few dalliances with women in the course of The Gallant Men, but in this episode we learn he apparently had a steady girlfriend – Mae Carson – back home in New York. Mae is never mentioned again, which is understandable given the events of this episode.
 * In the cold open, Jim Benedict mentions corresponding with his father. The Benedicts’ mother is never mentioned in the series.
 * For the second and final time in the series, act one is preceded by a Warner Bros. production logo and a voiceover announcement.
 * Like Ken Pettus’ later scripts for The Gallant Men, “And Cain Cried Out” contains major geographical errors. The town of Amendolara is in Italy’s Calabria region, near the Ionian Sea. It is not in an area liberated by the 36th Division.
 * In act three, Jergens makes a reference to Gen. Mark Clark, the leader of the Fifth Army during the Italian campaign. Clark was famously drawn to public recognition. His fame-seeking behavior often rubbed others the wrong way. The conversation between Jergens and Benedict indicates neither of them relish the prospect of dealing with him.
 * In act four Kimbro refers to the pilot episode, telling Benedict the company had concerns about him when he first assumed command.
 * In this episode, Conley Wright says he has two brothers. Later in the series, one of those brothers gets a name -- Craig -- and an occupation: aviator for the Army Air Corps. His fate is the focus of the episode "The Leathernecks."
 * The interior of the farmhouse is also used in “The Warriors.” The streets of Amendolara are also seen in “Retreat to Concord,” “One Moderately Peaceful Sunday,” “Fury in a Quiet Village,” “Advance and Be Recognized,” “Robertino” and other episodes. The room that serves as Benedict’s command post is seen in “Retreat to Concord,” "Lesson for a Lover" and “Some Tears Fall Dry.”