On August 6, 1945, Second Lieutenant Katell has just arrived at the Pacific Ocean theater of World War II, and he orders his war-weary soldiers to make a desperate attack on a group of sick and wounded Japanese soldiers holed up in a cave. Seasoned veteran Sergeant Causarano tries to talk him out of it as he knows that the men have had enough of war and that "the attack will accomplish nothing but pointless deaths on both sides". Katell refuses to listen and stands firm on his orders, intent on proving himself and earning his rank. He berates the platoon, demanding that they shape up. Katell then accidentally drops his binoculars. When he goes to retrieve them, he finds himself in Corregidor fighting in the Imperial Japanese Army as a Japanese man named Lt. Yamuri. The year is now 1942, and he is ordered to attack a group of sick and wounded American soldiers who are holed up in a cave. Having found a new perspective, he tries in vain to dissuade the captain from the attack, arguing that the Americans inside the cave pose no threat and can be bypassed. The Japanese captain bluntly refuses to listen, suspecting that the young man is either sick with jungle fever or has lost his nerve to fight. He tells him to straighten up or stay with the wounded, but Yamuri does not back down. The captain then relieves him of command and moves the company forward to begin the attack anyway. Katell then finds himself back in 1945 as an American soldier. His men tell him that they've just gotten word that the atomic bomb has been dropped. They have been ordered not to attack the cave, but instead to fall back and wait to see how Japan responds. Causarano sardonically assures him "I wouldn't fret. I'm sure there'll be other wars, other countries, other human beings you can knock off." As the platoon withdraws, Katell says to himself "I hope not. God help us, I hope not."
Some of the cast members became well-known in later science-fiction television series. Dean Stockwell became known to science-fiction fans as Al Calavicci in the television series Quantum Leap, and for another generation, as Cavil in the remake series of Battlestar Galactica. Leonard Nimoy became known as Spock in .
Adaptation
The episode was remade into the first segment of , with an updated approach in which the main character played by Vic Morrow is a racist who is upset after he is passed over for a promotion in favor of a Jewish man. He goes into a bigoted rant in a bar, then he is taken on a trip through time. He finds himself a Jewish man during the Holocaust, a black man being lynched by the Ku Klux Klan, and a Vietnamese man being attacked by American soldiers during the Vietnam War. John Landis directed the scene, but Morrow and two young child actors were killed during a helicopter stunt during the Vietnam segment. Landis and the film's producers were put on trial for manslaughter and child endangerment but were found not guilty on all counts. The script called for Connor to be redeemed by saving the two children, but Morrow's death necessitated a darker ending because the available footage did not include the happy ending. However, the original ending was featured in the novelization.
