December 7, 1941.
And its not just any Purple Heart.
The medal is irreplaceable.
Michael Yarish/CBS
Hes happy to go with the armed agents, but hes not talking until he gets a root beer.
I like Joe already.
What day did it happen?
How many people died on the U.S.S.
The two young agents stammer non-answers, which I dont buy for a second.
Borderline genius Bishop, at least, would know these details, right?
Regardless, Joe demands that they produce the gray-haired leatherneck.
Once Gibbs is in interrogation, Joe explains that he was on the U.S.S.
Gibbs agrees that any survivor has the right, but Joe needs to provide proof.
And this is where Joe runs into trouble.
He heads back into interrogation with a broken slide projector and asks Joe to help him fix it.
How many people did you tell about the worst of it?
Gibbs shoots back that if it was so bad, why does Joe want to be buried there?
At that point, Joe shuts down.
The rest of the investigation isnt going well.
Joes drivers license address is out of date, and his motel room shows no traces of the medal.
Back into questioning Gibbs goes, with the entire NCIS team watching on the other side of the glass.
Gibbs insists that Joe give themanythingthey can verify.
With a shout, Joe opens up about the whole day.
Then he heard a plane approaching and saw the red ball on its wing.
He took shrapnel in his burned arm as a plane screamed overhead to strafe the deck again.
Then he woke up in the hospital, and to this day doesnt know who rescued him.
We saved each other.
And now he wants to be with the shipmates who were his brothers.
I want to be laid to rest with my family.
I want to go home.
This whole sequence, with only Joe’s voice and the audio effects, is enormously effective.
Christopher Lloyd is a gift.
From the other side of the window, Vance points out that Gibbs cant actually promise that.
It may make you lighter, too.
But the vent is empty, and in his distress, Joe collapses as his heart seizes up.
And sure enough, Torres finds the medal in an air vent inside the Caplinger home.
The couple is overwhelmed to have it back.
Joe, though, didnt survive the massive heart attack.
The metal that embedded itself in his wound in 1941 is a match to the bolts from the U.S.S.
Joe was on board that day.
It took something from me, he says.
Its what war does.
Then we see Gibbs in a suit, standing at the U.S.S.
Arizona Memorial, where Joes name has been added to the list of crew members entombed on the site.
Stray shots
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