Battleground (1949)

Van Johnson: Holley

Photos 

Quotes 

• [last lines] 

  Holley : [as they begin marching from the battlefield, passing their replacements as they enter]  Hey, Kinnie - what ever happened to Jody?

  Sgt. Kinnie : All right, come on! Come on! What do you want these guys to think, you're a bunch of WACs? Alright, alright pick it up now. Hut, two, three. Hut, two, three, four. Hut, two, three, four. You had a good home but you left...

  I Company : You're right!

  Sgt. Kinnie : You had a good home but you left...

  I Company : You're right!

  Sgt. Kinnie : Jody was there when you left...

  I Company : You're right!

  Sgt. Kinnie : Your Baby was there when you left...

  I Company : You're right!

  Sgt. Kinnie : Sound off!

  I Company : One, two

  Sgt. Kinnie : Sound off!

  I Company : Three, four.

  Sgt. Kinnie : Cadence Count

  I Company : One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four!

  Sgt. Kinnie : Your baby was lonely - as lonely as could be...

  I Company : 'Til Jody provided company!

  Sgt. Kinnie : Ain't it great to have a pal...

  I Company : Who works so hard to keep up morale!

  Sgt. Kinnie : Sound off!

  I Company : One, two

  Sgt. Kinnie : Sound off!

  I Company : Three, four.

  Sgt. Kinnie : Cadence Count

  I Company : One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four!

  Sgt. Kinnie : You ain't got nothing to worry about...

  I Company : He'll keep her happy till I get out!

  Sgt. Kinnie : But you won't get home 'til the end of the war...

  I Company : In nineteen hundred and seventy-four!

  Sgt. Kinnie : Sound off!

  I Company : One, two.

  Sgt. Kinnie : Sound off!

  I Company : Three, four...

• Major : Thank you Sergeant.

  Holley : That's P.F.C. to you, major, as in praying for civilian

• [as Bettis is digging a foxhole] 

  Holley : Let's not try to reach China this time, hey Bettis?

  Bettis : Well there's no sense digging if you don't go deep.

  Holley : The last one we dug one together, you went so deep that when I climbed out in the morning I got the bends.

• Holley : That the new platoon leader?

  Pvt. Johnny Rodriguez : Yeah, fresh off the boat.

  Pvt. Ernest J. "Pop" Stazak : I understand your problems, men. I was once an enlisted man, myself.

  Holley : For six months, maybe. Then seventeen weeks at OCS and he's an officer and gentleman by special act of Congress.

• Holley : What's going on?

  Sgt. Kinnie : Me and General McAulliffe decided to move I Company up on the line. That is if you agree.

• Pvt. Jim Layton : The dreams are getting better all the time. I was back home in Baltimore loading up on hard-shelled crabs and beer.

  Holley : That dream's against regulations, soldier. You know what our boys overseas always dream about.

  Pvt. Jim Layton : Mom's blueberry pie?

  Holley : Why, certainly. That's what we're fighting for. Boy, when I get home, just give me a hot dog and a slice of that pie. Am I gonna kick when I don't get my job back? No siree.

• [while being bombarded by German artillery during a driving blizzard] 

  Holley : We've had good deals before, but this is the best one yet. This is great. I don't ever wanna go back. I found a home in the army.

• Sgt. Walowicz : I want three volunteers to go out on a patrol, you, you, and you. You're in charge, Holley.

  Holley : Why am I always volunteering for patrols? I'm just a cowboy.

• [Staniferd is too sick to stay in combat] 

  Pvt. Staniferd : Hey Kinnie, how about showing me the way to the aid station? I'm freezing.

  Sgt. Walowicz : Feeling any better?

  Pvt. Staniferd : Worse, much worse. I've never felt so sick in my life. Maybe, maybe I've even got pneumonia. (He walks away laughing)

  Sgt. Walowicz : He's really bad.

  Pvt. Bettis : Yeah, he's a cinch to go back to the field hospital, maybe even to Paris.

  Holley : I don't know. With that penicillin, he's liable to be back in a day.

  Pvt. Bettis : Yeah, a good, clean flesh wound is better. Then they gotta send you back.

• Holley : Yeah, they really shoulda sent out a bigger patrol.

  PFC. Johnny Rodriguez : Do you want to goof off?

  Holley : Who said anything about goofing off?

  PFC. Johnny Rodriguez : Nobody. I'm just saying, the best way is to tell them you heard voices talking in German.

  PFC. Donald Jarvess : Let's say we heard voices talking in Japanese and let G-2 figure that out.

• [Rodriguez is wounded and left under an American artillery barrage] 

  Pvt. Donald Jarvess : That's great. Artillery, can't miss. They've got Rodriguez to use as an aiming stake.

  Sgt. Kinnie : Tell Walowicz to send out for Rodriguez as soon as the barrage lifts.

  Holley : With what, a sponge?

• Pvt. Donald Jarvess : Careful study of the most scientific instruments and maps leads me to believe that German bombers are over Bastonge, fog or no fog.

  Holley : [sarcastically]  Kinda rough on rear echelon tonight.

  'Kipp' Kippton : [sarcastically]  Yeah, I've been thinking, the mess sergeant, the supply sergeant, the pill roller who gives us those shots with the square needle. I'm bleedin' for them.

  [clicks his teeth] 

• Pvt. Jim Layton : [reading from newspaper]  "Strategic Withdrawal In Bulge."

  [to others] 

  Pvt. Jim Layton : What's a bulge?

  Holley : Search me.