"Would you care to explain that to me, Lieutenant?"
Pelosi looked uncomfortable.
"Sir, it was my understanding that the Captain wanted this to be a familiarization exercise for the men."
"And?"
"Since I had a little extra stuff, and the time, I had some of the noncoms lay charges under those old tanks. I figured they would like to see something blow they had laid themselves."
"You didn't use all the stuffthe explosivesyou asked for?"
"No, Sir," Pelosi said, and pointed to several canvas satchels. "Even after rigging the tanks, that was left over."
Pelosi, you are about to make a three-star horse's ass of yourself in front of the entire company. All they are going to see is a couple of puffs of smoke. I really hate to see that happen, but it's too late to do anything about it.
"Pelosi, you're sure about what you've done? The men expect to see that chimney come down."
"It'll come down, Sir. That's not my first chimney."
OK. A dose of humiliation is often just what a second lieutenant needs.
"I'll give you a hand with your excess explosives," McGuire said, and bent to pick up one of the canvas satchels. He started toward the rise where the company was waiting. Pelosi picked up the other satchel, caught up with him, and fell in step.
"You'll remember, Tony," McGuire began conversationally, "that I was suspicious of it when we talked about you volunteering for the Military Intelligence assignment?"
"Yes, Sir."
"There is no greater joy in a man's life, Pelosi, than being able to say, "I told you so."
"Sir?"
"Your orders are in," McGuire said, and, taking them from the lower right pocket of his field jacket, handed Pelosi a quarter-inch-thick stack of mimeograph paper.
HEADQUARTERS
82nd Airborne Division
Fort Bragg, N.C.
5 October 1942
SPECIAL ORDERS:
NUMBER 207:
EXTRACT
***************
56. 2nd Lt PELOSI, Anthony J 0-459967, CE, USAR, is relieved from Co A 76th Para Eng Bn, 82nd A/B Div this sta, and transferred to WP 4201st Army Detachment, National Institutes of Health Building, Washington D. C. AUTH: TWX Hq War Department, Subj: Transfer of Officer dtd 10 Oct 42. Off auth US Govt Rail Tvl. No Delay En Route Leave Is Auth. Off is not auth shipment of household goods or personal automobile, and is not authorized to be accompanied by dependents. Approp: S99-99999910.
***************
BY COMMAND OF MAJOR GENERAL RIDGWAY:
OFFICIAL:
Charles M. Scott, Jr.,
1st Lieutenant, AGC
Acting Adjutant
"The National Institutes of Health?" Lieutenant Pelosi asked wonderingly.
"Well, I told you it was going to turn out to be something like that," McGuire said. "But maybe, Pelosi, just maybe, I could go to the Colonel and see if he could get you out of this."
"You think he could?" Lieutenant Pelosi asked.
"Well, it wouldn't hurt to ask. I'll have the company clerk type up a letter for you, saying that you've changed your mind."
Lieutenant Pelosi looked at Captain McGuire but said nothing.
They were approaching the small rise. A network of wires leading from the chimney, the buildings, and the tanks came together at a waist-high wall of sandbags. Two noncoms were behind it, guarding a canvas-cased detonator.
"You mean you want to go to the Army detachment at the National Institutes of Health?" McGuire asked incredulously.
"What I want to do now, Sir, is take down that chimney," Pelosi said, walking toward the firing pit. "I don't like leaving primed charges laying around any longer than I have to."
If I don't get him to change his mind now, that's the end of it. He'll be so humiliated that he'll be willing to go to the National Institutes of Health as a ward boy.
The two noncoms came to attention.
"You two join the company on the hill," McGuire ordered, and waited until they had gone.
"You didn't need them anymore, did you, Pelosi?"
"I just wanted to know where the detonator was, Sir. I didn't want one of the men to start doing this himself."
He took the detonator and began to hook wires to it.
"Pelosi, I don't like to see an officer, any officer, but especially one I like and in whom I see a good deal of potential, embarrassed in front of his men."
"Sir?"
"The charges you laid, Lieutenant," McGuire said sternly, "are wholly inadequate. When you twist that handle, all you're going to get is a large bang and a puff of smoke. Now, what I'm going to do is call this off and lay them properly."
Pelosi met his eyes.
"Sir, with respect, when I blow this, the chimney will come down. If it doesn't, I'll withdraw my application for transfer."
Better to have him here, even humiliated, than to humiliate him by relaying his charges and then see him go.
"You have a deal, Lieutenant," McGuire said.
"With your permission, Sir?"
McGuire nodded.
"Fire in the Hole!" Pelosi shouted, in a surprisingly loud voice, repeated the shout twice, and then twisted the handle of the detonator.
McGuire looked at the chimney. As he expected, there was a dull explosion, a faint suggestion of fire, and a small cloud of smoke.
He looked at Pelosi. His face bore a look neither of surprise nor embarrassment, but of satisfaction.
McGuire turned back toward the chimney. As he watched, as if in slow motion, the 150-foot-tall brick chimney shuddered, then seemed to fall in on itself, settling toward the ground erect, in an almost gentle motion.
There were shouts from the men on the rise, and then applause.
McGuire saw now a large cloud of dust at the base of the chimney as it seemed to disintegrate in front of his eyes.
Pelosi had meanwhile connected a second set of wires to the generator. McGuire watched as he twisted the handle. There was now a rumbling roar from the crashing bricks, over which nothing could be heard, and the dust cloud at the base was thick, and nothing could be seen through it.
McGuire wondered if the second set of charges had gone off. But after a moment, he judged that they had, for the cloud at the base of the chimney had grown. Pelosi was already connecting a third set of wires to the detonator.
He waited the forty-five seconds or so necessary for most of the dust cloud on the ground to disperse enough to show everybody that the walls of the buildings were down, shattered into six-foot segments, and lying on their sides. Then he twisted the handle again.
This time there was a series of small explosions. After each, one of the World War I tanks flew into the air, one of them at least fifty feet.
McGuire met Pelosi's eyes as another burst of cheers and applause came from the company on the rise.
"The First Sergeant can collect this gear and get the company back to the Post. You can ride with me, and collect your gear, at the BOQ," Captain McGuire said. "I'll see about getting you a ride into Fayetteville. With a little bit of luck, you might be able to get a berth on the 7:05 to Washington."