Could anyone tell me what happened at last?

[deleted]

Just to add to what the other person said...These are lines from the script...It's not complete, but it might give you a better idea of the ending:



Dolan: The old man says: "If he ain't out of here in one hour, I'll throw him off!"
Doug: Is that all he said?
Dolan: That's all he said.
Doug: After fighting this thing for two years, you'd think he'd say more than that.
Captain: Guard, I don't want no man closer than ten feet! Understand?
Doc: What's that?
Dolan: A new botanical garden. Ain't you heard?
Doc: No.
Dolan: When we anchored this morning, he sent Olsen out with a special detail. Dug up a new palm tree. He's already set a 24-hour watch on that new baby, with orders to shoot to kill! Oh, that reminds me, Ensign Pulver, the Captain wants to see you right away.
Frank: What about?
Dolan: I don't know, sir. I'll come back to say good-bye later, Mr. Roberts. Come on, Ensign Pulver.
Frank: I bet those guys down in the laundry starched his pajamas again!



Doc: You're pretty happy, aren't you?
Doug: Yep. You're happy about it, too, aren't you, Doc?
Doc: I think it's the only thing for you. What do you think of the crew now, Doug?
Doug: They're all right. They're nice guys, all of them.
Doc: How do you think they feel about you?
Doug: They like me well enough, till the next guy comes along.
Doc: You don't think you're necessary to them?
Doug: Doc, no officer is necessary to a crew.
Doc: Are you going to leave this ship believing that?
Doug: It's nothing against them, Doc. They're too busy looking out for themselves to worry about anybody else.
Doc: Well, take a good, deep breath, Buster. What do you think got you your orders? Prayer and fasting? Sending in enough box tops?
Doug: Dolan said one of my old letters turned up.
Doc: This crew got you transferred. They were so busy thinking about themselves that they took a chance of landing in prison for five years, every one of them. You couldn't send in a letter for transfer, so they sent one in for you. They knew the Captain wouldn't sign it approved, so they didn't bother him. They signed it for him.
Doug: Doc, what do you mean? They forged the Captain's name?
Doc: That's it exactly. It was quite a thing to see, Doug. The Captain's name-signing contest. Every man in the crew trying his best to copy that little scrawl of the Captain's. Then the judges decided the winner. At the time, there was some criticism of their decision on the grounds that the judges were drunk. But apparently from the results, they chose pretty well.
Doug: How'd you find out about it, Doc?
Doc: Well, it was a great honor. I'm the only officer aboard who knows. I was a contestant. I was also a judge. This double honor was accorded me because of my character, charm, good looks and because the medical department contributed four gallons of grain alcohol to the contest.
Doug: Who won? Who signed it?
Doc: I'm not at liberty to say. Basically, they all did. And with just one idea in mind: To do something for Mr. Roberts.
Doug: I wish you hadn't told me, Doc. It makes me look pretty silly after what I just said. But I didn't mean it, Doc. I was afraid to say what I really feel. I love those guys. I think they're the greatest guys on this Earth. And all of a sudden I feel there's something terribly wrong about leaving them. Doc, what can I say to them?
Doc: Nothing. You don't know about it. After you're safely aboard your new ship, I'm supposed to write and tell you about it. At the bottom of the letter I'm supposed to say: "Thanks for the liberty, Mister Roberts. Thanks for everything."



Frank: I'm the new cargo officer. And that ain't all. I've gotta have dinner with him tonight. He likes me!



Doug: What is it?
Crew member: Open it.
Frank: What is it, Doug?
Crew member: It's a palm tree, see. It was Dowdy's idea, sir.
Crew member: Mannion made it. He cut it out of sheet brass down in the machine shop.
Crew member: Mannion drew the words on it, too.
Crew member: Stefanowski thought up the words.
Crew member: Booksie gets credit for the ribbon, from a box of candy he got from his mother.
Crew member: Read the words, Mr. Roberts.
Doug: "Order of..."
Doc: "Order of the Palm. To Lieutenant J.G. Douglas Roberts. For action against the enemy, above and beyond the call of duty."
Doug: It's very nice, but I think you've got the wrong guy.
Dowdy: We know, sir. But we'd like you to have it anyway.
Doug: Okay, I'll keep it.
Crew member: Stefanowski thought up the words.
Doug: They're fine words.



Frank: "Dear Frank, This will be short and sweet as we're shoving off in about two minutes." This was dated three weeks ago.
Doc: Does he say where he is?
Frank: Yeah, he says, "My guess about the location of this ship is exactly right." That means he's around Okinawa all right. He met Fornell. You know, that friend of mine, guy named Fornell I went to college with? This is what he says: "Fornell says that you and he used to load up your car with liquor in Omaha and then sell it at an indecent profit to the fraternity boys at Iowa city. How about that?" We did, too! "This part is for Doc. I've been..."
Doc: Go ahead and read it. It's for both of us.
Frank: "Doc, I've been aboard this destroyer for two weeks now and we've already been through four air attacks. I'm in the war at last, Doc! I've caught up with that task force that passed me by. I'm glad to be here. I had to be here, I guess. But I'm thinking now of you, Doc, and you, Frank. And Dolan, and Dowdy, and Insigna and everyone else on that bucket. All the guys everywhere who sail from Tedium to Apathy and back again, with an occasional side trip to Monotony. This is a tough crew on here, and they have a wonderful battle record. But I've discovered, Doc, that the unseen enemy of this war is the boredom that eventually becomes a faith and, therefore, a terrible sort of suicide. And I know now that the ones who refuse to surrender to it are the strongest of all. Right now I'm looking at something that's hanging over my desk. A preposterous hunk of brass attached to the most bilious piece of ribbon I've ever seen. I'd rather have it than the Congressional Medal of Honor. It tells me what I'll always be proudest of: That at a time in the world when courage counted most, I lived among 62 brave men. So, Doc, and especially you, Frank, don't let those guys down. Of course I know that by this time they must be very happy because the Captain's overhead is filled with marbles. And here comes the mail orderly. This has to go now. I'll finish it later. Meanwhile, you guys can write too, can't you? Doug."
Doc: May I see that, Frank?
Frank: This one's from Fornell.
Doc: "I'd rather have it than the Congressional Medal of Honor." Well, I'm glad he found that out.



(Then, like the previous poster stated, Frank opens the letter from Fornell, which explains that Doug was killed. He then throws the Captain's new palm tree overboard, and confronts him.)