Each of Us Angels - 172

[A well written role playing episode which used Iwo Jima footage for inserts] An old man visited a grave in Arlington and found a young girl sitting on the gravestone. He told the story of who's grave she was sitting on to the girl which was a role playing episode. Bud = Dr Rayburn, an arrogant, abusive doctor who diagnosed several people dead who weren't; Mikey = PO Rowe, a wounded corpsman who lost an eye and hit on Connors (Coates); Harriett = Joni, a compassionate nurse at odds w/ Rayburn over corporal James Tanner, an 80% burn victim who he was just letting die; Turner = seaman Thomas, orderly, who talked to dead soldiers as though they were alive while taking them to the morgue so their buddy's didn't feel bad; Chegwidden = Catholic chaplain dispensing advise; H = Lt Ron Graham who was declared dead by Rayburn, but stopped his nurse (Mac) from pulling blanket over his head; Mac = Beverly, a nurse who fell in love with Graham; Coates = Ens Jane Connors, a flustered, "greenie" nurse chased by Rowe; and Meredith = Lt Marianne, an unfeeling, distant, chief nurse.

Rayburn used the formula "age plus percentage burn equals likely hood of death" to figure Tanner had 102% likely hood of death and withheld care except for morphine. Joni criticized him but he belittled her for not knowing the formula. During a bombardment Joni was wounded and knocked unconscious by friendly fire. Rayburn said she would never awaken but she did. Rayburn also chastised Beverly for talking to the unconscious Graham but she did and he woke up "to see who was talking." Beverly and Graham fell in love and they "played doctor" in the storage room. He told her that he had promised his old football friend and hometown that he would "bring back James Tanner from the war." She affirmed Graham's statement that he wouldn't be able to keep the promise. When Tanner died Graham felt guilty. She told him that "Each of us are like angels w/ one wing and can only fly by embracing each other." The ship was hit by a kamikaze and set afire. Beverly ran back to the ward to turn off oxygen tanks & helped evacuate patients but was killed by falling equipment.

The old man telling the story eventually confessed that he was really Graham (H) and had married Joni (Ht) after Beverly (M) died. He was met at the cemetery by his granddaughter (also played by Ht with altered voice) who looked "a lot like her grandmother."