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President Harry S. Truman had the courage and forward-thinking and enlightenment...to desegregate the United States military.
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Sir, I am a Navy man. Where I come from, there are no oceans. Only dirt farms and ornery mules. And no self-respecting Navy man makes a living driving mules.
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Sir, I promise, if I am killed at sea, I will make every effort to die like a Navy man.
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So I'm asking this: Cut off my leg and assemble a full medical review board 12 weeks from today. It is then that I will demonstrate that I am fit to return to full diving duty.
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The Navy Diver is not a fighting man, he is a salvage expert. If it is lost underwater, he finds it. If it's sunk, he brings it up. If it's in the way, he moves it. If he's lucky, he will die young, 200 feet beneath the waves, for that is the closest he'll ever get to being a hero. Hell, I don't know why anybody'd want to be a Navy diver.
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You know what the Chinese say Cookie, "Beware, what you wish for."
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You see this pipe? General MacArthur himself smoked this pipe. I served with him in Leyte Gulf. Biggest naval battle in history. Kamikaze ripped into this escort carrier, name of Saint Lo. She went down on a shallow reef, trapping me and six boys in the fire room. Only one way out. (Carl Brashear: Flood the compartment and swim up.) Five decks, cookie. Five ****in' decks. Locked bulkheads, dead bodies everywhere. You got to have your balls screwed on tight for that swim. We still had intercom. Old MacArthur himself came over that squawk box, "Sunday, you ****y son of a bitch, I bet you can't hold your breath for four minutes and swim out ofthere." Know what I said back ? "No, Mac, I can't, but I'll bet you your cob pipe I can hold it for five, 'cause that's what it's gonna take, mother****er."
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You were right, Chief. You and I have nothing in common. I may be some dirt dumb **** from Podunk, but at least I'm making something of myself. You, you're the same hateful, little man you started out as. Without diving, you're nothing but a lost, broke-down son of a bitch who used to be something.