Jason is fighting on the front lines in Germany with two other soldiers. They set up camp in an abandoned cabin in the woods. They milk a goat for fresh milk and approached by another G.I. Willis who was ordered to join them as a replacement. As there are only 3 survivors left in their squad Willis joins their rank. Lusco, an ornery soldier gives Willis a hard time.
John tries to repair a refrigerator coil at Ike’s store. Finally he figures it out. Elizabeth arrives to ask her Daddy if he was coming home for lunch. She says that a General from the Pentagon is predicted an end to the war with Germany soon.
The Baldwin ladies arrive at the store to buy supplies to prepare a meal for the soldiers at Camp Rockfish. A man walks in during their transaction and looks around. When the sisters fail to have enough ration stamps for their purchase the Godsey’s offer them leniency but the man steps in and says that he is an Investigator for the Office of Price Administration. He writes Ike a summons to appear appear before the ration board for breaking the law.
Willis becomes frightened when an allied plan flies overhead. Jason pulls him off guard duty and learns that he was the sole survivor after a plane attacked his group of 10 replacements while they were crossing a field. He spent 4 months in the hospital suffering from PTSD.
Erin is upset that she got a run in her last pair of stockings and is tired of all the rationed shortages. Elizabeth says that they are better off than those in the cities because they have chickens and milk etc. Cindy comes in with a letter from Ben that has been censored by the army. He is building a runway somewhere in the south sea. He says that the weather is always great and sunny but at the actual moment he is waiting out a downpour.
Ike and Corabeth face the Rations Board. Miss Emily and Mamie also attend and make matters worse by telling them all of the times that the Godseys have helped out when they didn’t have enough ration stamps to buy items to entertain the troops. The board recommends that the matter go to trial.
At the farmhouse where Jason is stationed, Lusco finds a case of canned goods labelled in German. Willis is able to interpret the labels because his mother is German. Willis goes off the relieve Slate who is on watch duty. Lusco thinks that Willis should go behind the lines and work as a German interpreter instead of being up on the front where he is a liability.
Ike and Corabeth are invited to the Waltons for wild turkey dinner. When they return to the store they discover that it has been broken in and ransacked. All of the rationed items like coffee, sugar and canned goods have been taken.
Jason gets the order to move his men out to relieve men in a combat area. On the way Willis can’t stop coughing and a couple of Germans open fire on them. Slate takes a bullet in his arm but Lusco circles around the two Germans and takes them out.
John arrives at the store and learns that the store has been robbed. Ike has decided to close the store. He will continue to pump gas and run the post office. Ike says that the robbery was the last straw.
Jim-Bob gets dropped off while hitching rides back home. He meets a man in a horse drawn wagon that says the road he is on doesn’t head to Charlottesville but he offers to take him on a shortcut. The man offers him some chewing tobacco which Jim-Bob declines. He then hands him a mason jar but Jim-Bob is surprised that it is only water and not like the ‘recipe’ as he was expecting.
Jason and his troop find the town they were looking for deserted after a battle. They meet up with a couple of soldiers who stayed behind after the battle and relieve them of duty. Jason calls in to headquarters and learns that the Germans have surrendered. While they celebrate Jason sees a German hiding in the steeple of a church. Lusco fires at him and the German returns fire. Jason and Willis enter the church and talk him into a cease fire.
Jim-Bob finally gets home and tells that family that the war is over in Germany. John arranges for the community to shop at the Godseys to help them out. The Baldwins bring over jars of ‘the recipe’ for Ike to sell but he declines their offer stating that he can’t sell “medicinal” products.
That night people gather at the Waltons for a VE celebration. Elizabeth comes home upset. She realizes that she hates war. She is glad that the war is over in Europe but she wishes that it was over in the Pacific too and that her brothers could finally come home from the war.
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