- Jerry H. Young: I didn't expect to be a chauffeur for a graveyard, driving men to their deaths day after day.
- Major Dunham: And yet, that's just exactly what it is.
- Henry Crocker: Why don't you get wise? This is a war. I'm hired to kill the enemy, and there ain't no book of rules about that. Every one I put away means one less to kill me. That's my job, and I'm doing it.
- Jerry H. Young: You see, I thought it was like a game. Polo or something like that. And on the first time I went up, I brought down a plane. That started it. That started everything. A treadmill. Somebody slapped me on the back and told me I was great and I had to go on. More planes. More dead men. More medals! There isn't any end. And what do you think happened to me? I was what they call, "a shining example." Is there anything more terrible than that? "A shining example." The only way I can go on is to kill somebody. When I get up in the morning, the first thing say to myself is, "well, you've got to do it again today."
- Jerry H. Young: Thanks for the binge, fellas. An honor. Too bad Stevens can't be here. It would have meant a lot to him. But, he fell out. Three thousand feet. I would have had Voss if he hadn't come at me, head on. I went to a field hospital to see him. Thought I'd find a man. I found a blond kid! Like a lot of you. Two bullet holes in him. They congratulated me for it. Congratulated me all day. Told me I had a great thing. They set me up with a shiny, tin god. A hero. An ace! They expect me to act like a hero. So, you can all play at being heroes. So, you can go out and shoot other kids down, burning. Get killed yourselves! They'll decorate you for it! They'll give you medals! Just like they did me. I got these for killing kids! They're all chunks of torn flesh and broken bones and blood! And for what? I give you war!
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: Oh, just too rich for the blood. Well, goodbye Fanny.
- Fifi aka Fanny: How many times must I tell you, my name is Fifi!
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: Yep. Well you might be Fifi to the rest of the world, but you're nothing but Fanny to me. Goodbye, honey.
- [pats Fifi in the fanny]
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: Hold everything. Hold everything. Listen, I've got some terrible news for you. Gentlemen, we're going to France.
- Henry Crocker: Well, well. I hear you lost five men in two months. Who's fault was that? Your's or theirs?
- Jerry H. Young: I wish I knew.
- Henry Crocker: Yeah, that would be nice.
- Jerry H. Young: Funny, you being assigned to me, Crocker.
- Henry Crocker: No, it isn't. I asked for it.
- Jerry H. Young: You? I thought you didn't like me?
- Henry Crocker: I don't!
- Jerry H. Young: Well, then, what the...
- Henry Crocker: Curiosity, fellow, curiosity. I heard about you and your medal. I wanted to see how you did it and how long you could keep on doing it.
- Henry Crocker: I was just wondering how long you'd go on before your nerves would go to pieces.
- Jerry H. Young: Oh, then, you think I'm yellow, eh?
- Henry Crocker: Sure. I know you are!
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: Say listen, they tell me if you keep flyin' in the sky, right-side up, they're going to give you another ribbon.
- Jerry H. Young: Don't you worry about us. You worry about your own decorations.
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: Listen, the way I'm missing those enemy planes, you ought to be given me the Iron Cross.
- Jerry H. Young: What's the matter? Did your guns jam?
- Henry Crocker: Yeah, they jammed. And the next time you pull one like that, I'll jam 'em down the back of your skull!
- Jerry H. Young: The next time you take a pop at a fella in in a parachute, you won't get a chance to.
- Henry Crocker: What do you want me to do? Kiss him!
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: Well, that settles that, as where grandma says, as she laid the egg in the coffee pot. Who's gonna buy the next drink?
- Major Dunham: I suppose he's getting blotto again?
- Henry Crocker: Well, what if he is?
- Major Dunham: Oh, he's drinking too much lately.
- Henry Crocker: Look, Major, maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea if some of those others tried the same brand of whisky.
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: Snap out of it, will ya.
- Jerry H. Young: I wish I could get it out of my mind, you know. When you see a guy like that, falling, burning, you know he hasn't got a chance. You can't snap a picture like that out of your mind.
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: You don't drink enough.
- Jerry H. Young: I can't drink enough.
- Jerry H. Young: [reluctantly giving pep talk to new recruits] We need you. I might tell you, the first time you shoot down a man, don't let it get you. Don't. Just try to remember that the cause you're fighting for is right and just, they're your enemies, you're fighting for humanity, and for the preservation of civilization. I guess that's all.
- Jerry H. Young: [during a nightmare] You got 'em. There you are. There you are. There you are. There you are. You got 'em. Shoot. Shoot! You got 'em! You got 'em! He's burning! You got 'em. There. There you are. There you are. You got 'em. You got 'em. You got 'em! You got! Is there anything? Death. He's burning! He's! There you are. There you are. Now, you got 'em. There, you got 'em. Now, shoot. Shoot. Shoot him! Shoot. I lost five. I lost five. I lost five, sir. I lost, sir, but five. Five in two months, sir. Five. Five, sir...
- Jerry H. Young: Can I drop you somewhere?
- The Beautiful Lady: I don't want to be dropped. I want a cigarette.
- Jerry H. Young: Stop here.
- [gets out of the taxi and gives the driver some money]
- Jerry H. Young: Rush off and get me a bottle of champagne and bring it back here. Will you?
- Taxi Driver: Right-o, Governor.
- Jerry H. Young: Why are you doing this?
- The Beautiful Lady: Don't you like it?
- Jerry H. Young: I like it very much.
- The Beautiful Lady: Well?
- Jerry H. Young: Every time I knock some poor devil down, burning, they buy me drinks.
- The Beautiful Lady: [sympathetically] Oh, my dear. Oh, my dear.
- Jerry H. Young: You've been awfully kind.
- The Beautiful Lady: I want to be kind.
- [leans in for a kiss]
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: Listen, the way I'm missin' those enemy planes, they outta be giving me the Iron Cross.
- Jerry H. Young: [Giving Mike a package of limburger cheese he bought for him] There you are my lad. The most thoroughly disreputable cheese in the whole British Empire.
- Mike 'Slug' Richards: [Sniffing the package] Ohh, what a lovely stink.
- Jerry H. Young: A binge to celebrate the killing of a 20-year-old kid? Ah, it's good. I wouldn't miss it for anything. Sure I'll go.
- Major Dunham: Come along, Jerry. We've imported some real food, and the general has sent up a case of '98 Clinchet.