From Here to Eternity_ The Restored Edit - Jones, James [467]
“Yes, Sir,” Rosenberry said quietly.
“Come on, Weary. You got the jeep?”
“So old Prewitt’s dead,” Weary said when they were on the road. “You really think its Prewitt, First?”
“I dont know. We’ll know pretty soon. Its right this end of the golf course,” he told him.
He did not say anything else during the rest of the ride, till they got there.
“There it is,” he said.
There was quite a cluster of blue headlights and flashlights alongside the road. They couldnt have missed it. It was about forty yards back in off the road.
“Pull right on in there with them,” Warden said.
“Right,” Weary said, and put her in low range.
There was the patrol jeep, two other jeeps, two captains, one major, and one lieutenant colonel. All of them clustered around the sandtrap.
“You are the Company Commander of G Company, —th Infantry?” the Lt Col asked him as he and Weary climbed out.
“No, Sir. I’m the first sergeant.”
“First sergeant!” the Lt Col said. He looked at his chevrons. “Wheres your Company Commander?”
“He’s out on a mission, Sir.”
“Well, where are your other officers?”
“They’re all out on missions, Sir.”
“Thats incredible!” the Lt Col exclaimed. “They cant all be out on missions!”
“Sir, we have a ten or fifteen mile stretch of beach positions that have to be inspected.”
“Of course,” the Lt Col said. “But what we need here is an officer. This is a serious matter.”
“Sir, I am authorized to act in any contingency if the Company officers are absent.”
“You have written orders to that effect?”
“Yes, Sir,” Warden said. “But not with me.”
“Well,” the Lt Col said. Then he said, “Did you know this man personally, Sergeant?”
“Yes, Sir.” Weary Russell was down in the sandtrap, squatting on his hams talking to two of the patrol detail.
“Well,” the Lt Col said. “Go ahead and identify him then.”
Warden stepped down into the sandtrap and looked at him. One of the patrol detail turned on a blue flashlight.
“Thats Prewitt, Sir. He has been absent without leave since the 20th of October.”
“Then you identify him,” the Lt Col said. “Officially.”
“Yes, Sir.” He came back up out of the trap.
“I wish we could have had an officer,” the Lt Col said. “A thing like this is serious. Very well,” he said, and moved with a paper into the blue lights of one of the jeeps. He was a tall spare man. “Sign here, Sergeant.
“Thank you. Now here are the man’s effects. I had them itemized. You’ll have to sign for those too, please.”
“These are all, Sir?” Warden said.
“You realize, of course,” the Lt Col said, “that my men are in no way responsible for what has happened. They were acting in the line of duty. That will all come out at the inquest.”
“Yes, Sir,” Warden said.
“The man is obviously a deserter,” the Lt Col said. “When my men tried to bring him in he broke and ran. Then when they fired, the man stopped and turned and turned back directly into the line of their fire. I wish we could have had an officer out here. You tell your Company Commander to stop in the Provost’s office and see me tomorrow. Lt Col Hobbs. All right, sign here, Sergeant. For those effects. I do no know, of course, what verdict the inquest board will bring in. You will be informed.”
“For the sake of the man’s relatives, Sir,” Warden said, “it might be better if they could just simply make it Killed in Line of Duty. The names of your men could be left out, and that way there would be less of an incident all the way round.”
The Lt Col looked at him a little curiously. “That’s an excellent idea. I was just going to mention it myself, as a matter of fact.”
“Yes, Sir,” Warden said.
“Still, of course,” the Lt Col said carefully, “you realize I have absolutely no sayso with the board’s verdict.”
“Oh, no, Sir,” Warden said.
“Well, I guess that about covers it, Sergeant. We will take the body down to the mortuary, of course.”
“Which mortuary, Sir?”
“The customary one,” the Lt Col said. “I forget the name. You know the one I mean. The same one that used to do all the Army’s business before the war.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“He will be interred