In the 1943 invasion of Italy, one American platoon lands, digs in, then makes its way inland to attempt to take a fortified farmhouse, as tension and casualties mount. Unusually realistic picture of war as long quiet stretches of talk, punctuated by sharp, random bursts of violent action whose relevance to the big picture is often unknown to the soldiers.

Friedman:
You ever think you'll live to make corporal?


Rivera:
Baby, I just want to live long enough to make civilian.

Factual errors: The soldiers are wearing a coverall type fatigue uniform which the army had determined to be impractical for field use by 1942. The invasion troops at Salerno did not wear this type of uniform.

Written by Earl Robinson
Lyrics by Millard Lampell
Sung by Kenneth Spencer