Honor Escort

The film opens with an air shot of a battlefield cemetery in Belgium where a body is being exhumed, the soil is sifted in case anything has gotten separated from the body. Then, the remains are brought to a work room where they are reassembled into a plaster form, which is put in a casket. The casket is put in a shipping case and covered with a flag that is secured with a cinch.

As the titles roll we follow the course of the body to a ship and ultimately to a Brooklyn warehouse along with 300 other flag draped caskets. The camera has been getting closer and closer and is now at, or just below, eye level and we can see of a long row of caskets, and at the end, a soldier, standing at parade rest. Beyond him, out the window, we see the East River and the skyline of lower NY. We hear the commissioning of a special unit of Honor Escorts for the WW II dead. All must have combat experience and have military bearing. The unit is to be quartered in the Brooklyn Army Base.

During the reading of the commission we see Smith, in the barracks, packing a suitcase, with dress uniform, and checking the spare flag in a soft meusette bag, looking around and leaving.

*Photo Courtesy of “Strictly G.I” – WWII US Army Re-Enactment & Historical Association, Belgium

Escort: Howard Smith,

On the Train: Porter acting as conductor, 2 baggage men, 2 waiters – all African American

Passengers: Sam Nahem, The Ulmers, (husband, wife, teenage daughter) Father Ferranelli (Priest), Air Force Lt. Colonel, beautiful woman of about 30 with dark hair

Escorts: Sgt. Joseph (Joe) Wilson, Sgt. Bernard (Bernie) Schmidt, Lt. Colonel Shields, Major Burke, Cpl. Henry (Hank) Black

Families: Levine, Faa, Benson, Marie Bernier, Julia Brown, Helen Reade, Sutherburg, Evans

Childhood: Howard as a child, Jimmy, Jimmy’s mother, Howard’s mother, neighborhood kids (white and African American), Dr. Melvin Howard, Sal – diner owner, Harriet – Smith’s sister.

Overseas: German GI, Ben – fellow GI, men in Smith’s unit, Chuck – GI met in a Rathskeller, Baseball teams – one integrated, one all white, Sam Nahem, .

Other Flashbacks: MPs, Longshoremen, Anthony (Tough Tony) Anastasia, Lynn – lover/prostitute

Dates: Fall, 1949 (plus flashbacks from 1934 – 1949)

Locations: New York, NY, various cities and towns on the East Coast