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Ep.6 - The Last Ten Days

 
  Original Airdate: January 8, 1981
Writer: Marion Hargrove
Director: Bernard McEveety

Description:

  Despite the use of the atomic bomb the family waits to see if Japan will surrender. Cindy desperately waits of news about Ben who finds himself being marched through the jugle by his captor. Jason arrives home but upsets Toni and Drew talks of becoming an Air Force pilot which upsets Elizabeth.

Prologue:

  "In all our lives there are moments we are meant to remember for ever, in every small detail and shading. To my family on Walton's Mountain such a moment came in the late summer of 1945. The war in Europe was over, the worst of the Japanese war still lay ahead. On that hot Sunday in August an unexpected visitor came to Walton's Mountain, brought by the notion that something was wrong with my brother Jason who was waiting to be shipped home from France."

Synopsis:

 

Toni arrives at the Walton house with concerns that Jason might not be alright. She has a feeling that something is wrong and is impatiently waiting for his return from Paris. Cindy finds John-Boy writing up at a cabin. She is concerned for Ben who is still a POW in Japan. He assures her that it’s better in a sense because at least they know where he is instead of being lost.

Norm sneaks some food to Ben who is still locked in a hot box. The guard hears them whispering and comes over to inspect his prisoner. He finds Ben pretending to be mumbling in his sleep.

At the Baldwin house, Toni gives the Baldwin sisters a glass decanter from Jason to replace the one he accidentally broke that was sitting on their piano. The phone rings but Emily is too slow to answer as she rambles on about all the phone calls they get now. When the phone rings again Toni gets it and is informed by Corabeth that Jason is home and on his way to the house. She drops the phone and races back to the Walton’s where she embraces Jason who has already been welcomed back by the family.

Jason come down late the next morning and Rose informs him of all the news of the war in the Pacific. Elizabeth drives Drew to Charlottesville to pick up a tire for his bicycle but he has been lost in thought. She is upset that he hasn’t been paying attention to her. When they get to town he tells her the truth that he wants to become a jet engine pilot for the P-80 Shooting Star. Elizabeth is horrified by the thouht of war and leaves him to get recruited without her.

Jason finds John-Boy applying mud to the seams on the log cabin that he has been staying at. He tells Jason that he is thinking about being a War Correspondent in the Pacific.

Ben and Norm are marched into the jungle with shovels and no idea for what reason. They fear that things are going so bad for the Japanese that they might be digging their own graves. Norm falls and hurts his leg. The soldier finds some sweet potatoes in the ground and begins eating one. He tosses a few to Ben and Norm before they carry on.

Toni and Jason spend a quiet moment on the mountain but Toni is upset with Jason when she tries to propose to him. He is more occupied with the idea of going to the Pacific. She breaks up with him and returns to Camp Rockfish.

News of the atomic bomb being dropped on Hiroshima spreads across the Mountain but everyone is concerned that the Japanese still haven’t surrendered. Drew arrives at the Walton house to see Elizabeth. He can’t join the Air Force without his parents consent. He has come to borrow some aircraft books from Jim-Bob but she says he will have to ask whenever he gets home.

The Baldwin sisters run into Jason at the store. They learn that Jason is on the outs with Toni. They arrange for the two to meet at their house that afternoon. They try to talk but Toni becomes upset again and leaves. Jason asks some of the “Recipe” instead of more Iced Tea.

Late that evening Cindy comes in to see John. She is upset about Ben and can’t understand why the Japanese haven’t surrendered yet. Meanwhile Ben and Norm continue to march through the jungle and run into another Japanese patrol unit. Their captor prevents them from being shot and they march on learning that they will die at their destination anyways.

At home the radio announcer creates more fear in Cindy’s heart with the news that the Japanese have been killing their prisoners as they progress towards defeat. Back in the Pacific the Japanese soldier hears a passing American jeep and surrenders as Ben and Norm’s prisoner. Family and friends gather at the Walton house to hear President Truman announce the Japanese’s unconditional surrender. Cindy gets s call from Ben who is safe in Manilla. The family gather around the dinner table as John gives thanks and asks for blessing on both sides now that the war is over.

Epilogue:

 
  "The words of blessing were also a memorial, for lost, missing in action somewhere in that war was the world we had grown up in - my father's world, and Jason's. Gentle and generous, naive, and optimistic. Some other sort of world would begin on Wednesday morning. Until then...."

Episode Notes & Interesting Facts:

 
 

Additional Cast:

 
 

 


Joe Conley (Ike Godsey), Ronnie Claire Edwards (Corabeth), Leslie Winston (Cindy), Peggy Rea (Rose), Robert Wightman (John-Boy), Lisa Harrison (Toni), Tony Becker (Drew), Helen Kleeb (Miss Mamie), Mary Jackson (Miss Emily), Jordon Suffin (Norman), Sab Shimono (Corporal Kiyono), James Saito (Sergeant), Walker Edminston (Radio Announcer 1), Bud Hiestand (Radio Announcer 2)
     

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