"No Trumpets, No Drums" is a story of great sadness involving war orphan Micheline (brilliantly played by Andrea Darvi.) Caje is on a roll beating up Germans every step of the way when he accidentally kills another Frenchman. He immediately goes into shock and cannot stop blaming himself. Sergeant Saunders does a terrific job of trying to mitigate circumstances surrounding the death. But Caje is still going through guilt and feels he must spend time with Micheline, the Frenchman's daughter, to help her through it all. Ironically, this is one episode where total truth is not warranted, somewhat awkward.
Dialog between Saunders and Caje is terrific, a testament to great screen writing by Ed Lakso. Dialog & interaction between Caje and Micheline is also outstanding. The 3 actors take over the show big time; you hardly notice any of the others. Pierre Jalbert should have gotten an Emmy nomination for this one. In real life you could tell he has a way with children.
Heavy artillery and combat scenes are prolific and outstanding, a tribute to the great special effects of coordinator A.D. Flowers.
Richard Donner directed a real gem in his only Combat credit. Scenes are very graphic and almost seem as though they could tell the story without words.
"No Trumpets, No Drums" is an emotionally moving episode guaranteed to touch anyone with a heart. And extremely well done! Great way to end the first season of the Combat series.