American Shaolin

Plot

In September 1943, the diverse group of fifty-three soldiers comprising a lead Platoon of the Texas Division anxiously await their upcoming Allied invasion of Italy on a beach near Salerno, Italy. A landing barge carries them to their objective during the pre-dawn hours, and the increasing danger of their situation is demonstrated when their young platoon leader, Lieutenant Rand, is wounded by a shell fragment that destroys half of his face. Platoon Sergeant Pete Halverson takes over command and orders Sgt. Eddie Porter to lead the men to the beach while he tries to find the company commander and confirm their orders.

First aid man McWilliams remains with Rand, and the rest of the men hit the beach and dig in while trying to elude the shelling and machine-gun fire. Sgt. Bill Tyne wonders what they will do if Halverson does not return, and after the sun rises, the sergeants send the men into the woods to protect them from enemy aircraft. Tyne remains on the beach to wait for Halverson, but learns from McWilliams that both Rand and Halverson are dead. Soon after, McWilliams is shot by an enemy airplane when he goes to a bluff to view the aerial attack on the beachhead.

Tyne walks to the woods and there he discovers that three other men have been hit, including Sgt. Hoskins who was the senior surviving NCO. Hoskins' wound forces Porter as the next senior NCO to take command. Hoskins tells Tyne as he is leaving he suspects Porter is going to crack under the pressure of command.

Porter, Tyne and Sgt. Ward then lead the men in three squads along a road toward their objective, a bridge that they are to blow up that is near a farmhouse. Porter knows that the six-mile journey will be a dangerous one, and grows agitated. He warns the men to watch out for enemy tanks and aircraft. As they walk, the men shoot the breeze. Enemy aircraft appear and one of them strafes the platoon as they run for cover. Some of the men are killed and one is wounded, Pvt. Smith. Porter's anxiety increases.

Later, two retreating Italian soldiers surrender to the platoon and confirm that they are on the right road. The Italians warn them that the area is controlled by German troops, and soon after, the platoon meets a small reconnaissance patrol of American soldiers. After the patrol's motorcycle driver offers to ride to the farmhouse and report back, Porter becomes edgier as minutes pass without the driver's return. Finally Tyne calls a break while he sits with Porter. As machine gunner Rivera and his pal, Jake Friedman, razz each other, Porter begins to break down and tells Ward (also called Farmer) that he is putting Tyne in charge. Porter has a complete breakdown when a German armored car approaches, but Tyne's quick thinking prevails and the men blast the car with grenades and machine-gun fire. The bazooka men, who Tyne had sent ahead to search for tanks, blow up two tanks and another armored car, but expend all of their bazooka ammunition.

Tyne leaves a private named Johnson to guard the still-crying Porter, while putting PFC. Windy Craven, a calm, introspective soldier, in charge of his squad. Tyne pushes on, and as the men march, Friedman tells Rivera that he is a traveling salesman who is "selling democracy to the natives." The men finally reach the farmhouse, but when a small patrol led by Ward attempts to crawl through the field in front of the house, they are shot at by the Germans, and two men are killed. Tyne and Ward are baffled about what to do next when Windy, suggests circling around the farm via the river and blowing up the bridge without first taking the house. Tyne sends two patrols, headed by Ward and Windy, to accomplish the mission, then orders Rivera to strafe the house while he leads a column of men in an attack on the house, which he hopes will distract the Germans. The remaining men nervously wait for their comrades to reach the bridge, until finally Rivera opens fire and Tyne and his men go over the stone wall. Tyne's sight blurs as he crawls toward the house, and he comes across the body of Tim Rankin, one of the fallen men, still cradling his beloved Tommy-gun.

The bridge is blown up, and despite heavy losses, including Archimbeau, the scout, the platoon captures the house. Then, at exactly noon, Windy, Ward and the remaining men wander through the house as Farmer fulfills his dream of eating an apple and Tyne adds another notch to the butt of Rankin's pet Tommy-gun.