The first is a personal request from an estranged friend: Sergeant Eugene Tree' Jackson, who grew up with Billy, is part of the 617th Tank Destroyers, the battalion poised to make history by being the US Army's first combatant African American company. But making history isn't easy - the 617th faces racism at every turn. One of Tree's men has been arrested for a crime he almost certainly didn't commit. Tree knows US top brass won't care about justice in this instance, and asks Billy to look into it.'
