“Saving that Kraut was the final joke of the whole goddamned war. I...” – Private Zab, The Big Red One ... Movie Quotes Database

[narrating]

Saving that Kraut was the final joke of the whole goddamned war. I mean we had more in common with him than all our replacements who got killed whose names we never even knew. We'd all made it through we were alive. I'm gonna dedicate my book to those who shot but didn't get shot, because it's about survivors. And surviving is the only glory in war, if you know what I mean.

More from The Big Red One

Private Zab You know how you smoke out a sniper? You send a guy out in the open and you see if he gets shot. They thought that one up at West Point. Private Zab By now we'd come to look at all replacements as dead men who temporarily had the use of the arms and legs. The came and went so fast and so regularly that sometimes we didn't even learn their names. Truth is, after a while, we sort of avoided gettin' to know them. Private Zab Those Sicilian women cooked us a terrific meal. I'ts too bad they were all over fifty. We were more horny than we were hungry.