Between Heaven and Hell

Sinopse

In 1945, on a Pacific island, Sam Gifford (Wagner) is busted from platoon sergeant to private and reprimanded by his battalion commander for striking an officer. Because he had earned a Silver Star, he is given a choice of being sentenced to the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Leavenworth, Kansas or transferred to George Company, a de facto Penal military unit assigned to a dangerous area of the front lines. Gifford chooses the punishment company, which is commanded by Captain Grimes, a former First Sergeant (Broderick Crawford). Captain Grimes insists everyone call him "Waco", wears no rank insignia and forbids military salutes lest he become a target for snipers. Everyone in George Company hates Waco except for some pre-war regular army comrades-in-arms Millard (Frank Gorshin) and Swanson (Skip Homeier), who act as Waco's personal bodyguards. Impressed by Gifford's combat record, Waco offers him a membership in his private circle as a radio operator. This ends when Gifford beats up Swanson for making suggestive remarks about his wife's photograph. Waco burns the photograph. The incident triggers flashbacks in which Sam relives the path that brought him to this purgatory.