In the mid-1960’s, a remarkable television series was broadcast. Branded was the story of a US soldier who was dishonorably discharged after the ‘massacre at Bitter Creek,’ fought against a band of renegade indians, in which he was the only US survivor. The show opens with him standing tall at the ceremony stripping him of his commission. As a part of that ceremony, he is stripped of his hat, insignia and stripes, the buttons of his coat, then his sword was broken and tossed in the dirt. Here is a picture of him walking out the fortress gate after being stripped.
Fortunately, the opening sequence of the show is available on YouTube.
Starring Chuck Connors, Branded only ran for two seasons. However, they were both 24 episode seasons, so it is a lot more shows than a series would have today.
Here are the lyrics to the theme song of the show. (Heard in the video, above.)
All but one man died,
There at Bitter Creek,
And they say he ran away ...
Branded!
Marked with a coward's shame.
What do you do when you're branded,
Will you fight for your name?
He was innocent,
Not a charge was true,
But the world will never know ...
Branded!
Scorned as the one who ran.
What do you do when you're branded,
And you know you're a man?
And wherever you go for the rest of your life
You must prove ...
You're a man!
As the lyrics reveal, Jason McCord, the character Connors played, was innocent of the charges against him. He was rendered unconscious in the battle, found unconscious and severely wounded after everyone else was dead or gone. The assumption was that the only way he could have survived was if he deserted. Just so was he branded a coward, and his reputation went before him in the old west as surely as if it had gone viral on Twitter, though the events filmed were set in the 1860’s and ’70's, not very long after the Civil War.
I remember watching the show when it broadcast in the 1960’s. McCord was a compelling character. I do not remember specifics of any episodes (someone is posting some of them on YouTube in 5 episode blocks, but I haven’t watched any yet), but I remember the impressions I had.
As you could see from the opening sequence, though being stripped of his duties, he held his head high, and accepted the punishment given him. As it happened in the series, a reporter tracked down the widow of one of his superiors. That man had written letters that could have exonerated McCord, while damaging the reputation of the unit’s commander. McCord feared the letters and the destruction of his commander’s reputation might justify resumption of war efforts against the Apaches. He asked the widow to burn the letters, which she did, even though it sealed his fate. He knew many hundreds or thousands more would be lost if war continued.
My recollection of other episodes is of him engaging with people everywhere he went. Very many of them had strong bias against him as a deserter and a coward, but he never argued the point with them, and he always let his behavior speak for him, even with the resentful roadblocks they often set. On a number of occasions people he met told him, after they got to know him - I don’t know what happened in that battle, but you are no coward. They could tell.
I was thinking of him and his character earlier today, when I read a Yahoo News story about Brittney Griner, who has been under fire recently as you know. (Not from us.)
The story came from people accompanying her on her flight home. Since she had heard almost nothing other than Russian for the past 10 plus months, she was eager to speak to people in English. Countrymen. She asked Roger Carstens, special presidential envoy for hostage affairs, who the people on the flight were.
In Carstens’s words:
And she moved right past me and went to every member on that crew, looked them in the eyes, shook their hands and asked about them, got their names, making a personal connection with them,” Carstens recalled in an interview on CNN's “State of the Union.” It was really amazing.
They reported that she talked about 12 hours of the 18 hour flight with others on board. She told them about her months in captivity.
Carstens again ...
I was left with the impression this is an intelligent, passionate, compassionate, humble, interesting person, a patriotic person,” Carstens said. “But above all, authentic. I hate the fact that I had to meet her in this manner, but I actually felt blessed having had a chance to get to know her.
Of course, I have never had the pleasure of meeting Ms. Griner. But I can see the smile from the picture included with the article, above. I don’t doubt that she is exactly the person described. We waited ten months to see that smile.
And, neither do I doubt that her character shines through as clearly and steadfastly as did Jason McCord’s, when he went out into an unforgiving world following HIS wrongful conviction.
I could not be happier about your safe return, Brittney. And many millions share the sentiment.
Welcome Home.