A Walk with an Eagle

It's a rather contrived tale of the alleged conflict between the 'fly boys' and the 'ground pounders,' and the reviews reflect that as well. The writers imagined a great deal of competition between the services, particularly the glorified fliers versus the infantry. In truth, the loss rate in the early part of the war (1942-3) saw more deaths by aviators in just the 8th Air Force than all the US Marines in the Pacific! Stereotyping the aviator was an error in the writing. Recall, these tales are designed to entertain, and not necessarily reflect reality. The actor playing the aviator major is Lee Philips, a very fine actor, who sadly was lost to us far too early. Opposite Philips is the fine acting of Rick Jason. A brief reflection by Philips occurs in the vineyard, when he shares with Jason the reality of wartime aviation. I'm watching this within a few days of 60 years from when this first aired in March 1965. I watched Combat! Religiously as a young boy every Tuesday night when it first came out, but then in '64 had to move to Germany as an Air Force brat. Although Combat was filmed in California, I got to live where the story actually happened. In 1964 I walked amongst the bombed out homes in a major city of Germany, on my way to school. In general, the Combat shows were well written and with equally fine acting. I still lust after Kirby's BAR, but do have a December 1941 production M1 Garand to get me by! I can relate to this particular show in that in 1943 my father was in the 8th AF as a bomber pilot and only flew four missions before being shot down over occupied France, whereupon he became an evadee for 6 months before escaping with the aid of the French Underground, and out through Algeria. His ground navigation got fairly good!, I was a company grade US Army combat arms branch officer initially with outstanding army training, and later was one of two officers to transfer that year to the USAF winding up as a field grade officer, and flier. And altimately, my father was an eagle. Our lives paralleled the Combat stories in many ways. Even French was used at home!

While returning from a mission with Doc and Privates Harmon and Palmer, Lt. Hanley is assigned to rescue the pilot Major Robert Caldwell from the German lines. Caldwell is an important asset for the Allied forces and soon the squad stumbles upon him. However the man is arrogant and stubborn and decides to rescue his right-hand that has crashed his plane too in a nearby spot. He jeopardizes the squad and Hanley´s mission since his war experience is in the air and not in the field.

"A Walk with an Eagle" is another great episode of "Combat!" but with a storyline of an arrogant officer that has friction with Lt. Hanley which has been used in other episodes. It is also funny how the courier easily finds Lt. Hanley to transmit his next assignment. The conclusion is highly entertaining. My vote is eight.

Title (Brazil): "A Jornada com Uma Águia" ("The Journey with an Eagle")

"A Walk With An Eagle" is a story highlighting the ignorance & arrogance of USAF Major Robert Caldwell (excellently played by Lee Philips) who is completely out of his league on the ground in German territory.

Lieutenant Hanley receives an order to find & rescue Caldwell, a very valuable USAF ace who' s been shot down in the area. Upon rescue Caldwell proves to be a very headstrong individual bent on doing everything his own way even though he knows nothing about ground combat & strategy.

John Peyser directed this fine episode portraying why US Army officers should never be outranked by Navy or Air Force personnel on the ground while in enemy territory. The story is very believable and flows logically. Excellent & abundant conflict is generated between Hanley, the squad, and Caldwell, a testament to fine screen writing by Rod Peterson. In addition, Hanley & Caldwell have an outstanding aside while in deep trouble in which both detail out their job philosophies, infantry versus air.

The ending sequence is hysterically amusing yet very believable considering the dust element and necessity being the mother of creativity.

"A Walk With An Eagle" is loaded with conflict & suspense, fun to watch, and ends with reconciliation and great teamwork between Hanley and Caldwell.