An army that leaves its wounded behind soon has no one willing to fight for it, and the American soldier knew his comrades would come for him. Getting a hit man off the field was brutal, dangerous work. A casualty often had to be moved by hand — hauled over a shoulder in a fireman's lift, or dragged — by men who had to stand and expose themselves to do it, moving slowly with a heavy, awkward load while the fight went on around them. It cost time, strength, and sometimes a second casualty. But the knowledge that you would not be left in the snow to die was worth more to morale than almost anything, and men took extraordinary risks to make it true.

The set catches the strain of it: one GI hauls a wounded comrade across his shoulders in a fireman's carry, rifle awkwardly balanced in his free hand, his face set with effort — both men in the M-1943 field jacket, boots caked with snow. He is carrying the man toward help: pose the pair heading for the Standing Medic and the winter 101st Airborne Medic, back from the firefight of the Four Man Patrol. In a diorama a casualty being carried out is the detail that turns a battle scene into a human story — the reminder of what the shooting costs.

Model: BBA114 / King & Country / 1/30 (60mm) scale / matte finish / 2 piece set