Abraham Falconer

Major **Abraham Falconer** is a U.S Army soldier serving in Belgium prior to and during the Battle of the Bulge.

Prior to the Battle of the Bulge, a ragtag squad of American soldiers, led by one-eyed Major Abraham Falconer and including Sgt. Rossi, art expert Captain Lionel Beckman, and the highly intelligent and sole African-American, Pvt. Allistair Piersall Benjamin, takes shelter in an ancient Belgian castle, the Maldorais, containing many priceless and irreplaceable art treasures. Although Falconer begins an affair with the young and beautiful Countess, he is surprised to find the Count of Maldorais Henri Tixier encouraging him; in fact, the impotent nobleman hopes the Major will impregnate the Countess so that his line may continue. Meanwhile, Beckman begins to butt heads with Falconer over both the value of the art (in the context of either saving or destroying it in the event of a German assault) as well as Beckman's own unrequited attraction to the Countess, who seems to symbolize the beauty and majesty of the European art he studied before the war. The enlisted men seek their own pleasures in the brothel of the nearby town, the psychedelic "Reine Rouge" run by a mystical madam, whilst Beckman marvels at the castle's artworks, many of which are stored beneath the castle for safekeeping.

Although the men are eager to sit out the war that they feel will soon end, the experienced Major Falconer predicts that Germans will attack the thin American positions in the Ardennes and that the castle is a strategic point in the Germans advance towards the crossroads of Bastogne. The Major's theories are confirmed when he sees German star shell signals and successfully ambushes a German reconnaissance patrol led by a German officer who was once billeted in the castle and was a lover of the Countess as well.

Captain Beckman and the Count are horrified that the Major will not abandon the castle, a decision that will surely lead to its destruction. Falconer prepares defensive positions around the castle and sends his unit into town. The Germans are initially taken by surprise, as Falconer directs the local sex workers at the "Reine Rouge" to draw them into a trap with Molotov cocktails; however, the defenders soon find themselves outnumbered and outgunned. Seeing no other choice but to retreat to the safety of the castle, Falconer attempts to rally shell shocked American troops retreating from the Ardennes into the Maldorais, forcing (at gunpoint) a band of zealous, hymn-singing conscientious objectors, led by Lt. Billy Byron Bix, to lead the dazed survivors in a bizarre Pied Piper-esque procession; symbolically, they are all mostly killed by an exploding shell, all except for Falconer, who stoically returns to the castle for his last stand astride a pale white horse. He returns to find that the Count has run over to the German lines; Beckman thinks he has a scheme to betray them and let the Germans seize the castle by using the underground storage tunnels to gain access; however, it is soon revealed that the Count was really only trying to buy as much time for the Americans as possible so that they could make it to the castle and strengthen their defenses. As soon as his ruse is discovered, he is gunned down trying to run from the Germans. Falconer and Beckman put aside their personal and ideological differences and grimly prepare for the oncoming assault with a .50 caliber machine gun pointed across the castle grounds.

Pvt. Benjamin and the pregnant Countess, escape to safety using the art storage tunnels, following the last, direct orders of Maj. Falconer. Waves upon waves of besieging Germans storm the gates using the ladder-carrying fire trucks, and much of the castle (along with its art treasures) is eventually obliterated by artillery, incendiaries and other weapons. Falconer, the last defender left alive, guns down the rapidly approaching swarms of German soldiers when a shell finally lands on top of his position and explodes killing him.

## Awards

* Combat Infantryman Badge
* Distinguished Service Medal
* American Defense Service Medal
* American Campaign Medal
* European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal, with Battle Stars