Cpl. Nathan "Deacon" Greer

Cpl. Deacon "Deacon" Greer is the main protagonist of Saints and Soldiers. He is portrayed by Corbin Allred.

Early Life
Unlike most characters in war movies, Deacon's early life is talked about at great lengths. He is from Snowflake, Arizona. He is a devout Mormon and has served as a missionary in Germany, where he stayed with the Gertz family, befriended their son, Rudolph "Rudi," and learned German. A skill that would come in handy later... hint hint.

Deacon's favorite activity was to hunt. This was probably the reason he was such a good shot in the army.

Deacon met a girl, and eventually got married. It is later revealed she is pregnant. Though the sex of the baby is never revealed, Deacon says that his wife knows it will be a girl.

World War 2
Deacon, like all other war movie heroes, ended up in the army. Specifically, the 101st Airborne, where he met SSgt. Gordon Gunderson, they became good friends. He earned the Monicker "The Deacon" because he didn't smoke, drink, or drink coffee. It was shortened to "Deacon," and then (apparently people were lazy back then) "Deke."

Deacon made the jump during D-Day, landing somewhere outside of St. Mere Englise. At some point, he found a kid who had been shot up and was beyond saving. He held the kid and prayed with him until he passed away.

After D-Day, Deacon continued with Allied forces across Europe, eventually ending up in Belgium.

Gunderson was with him the entire way.

Shellshock
On the morning of the December 17, Deacon received a letter from his wife. She is pregnant, and the baby is due in a few months, on the Gunderson's birthday.

Later, Deacon, Gordon, and the rest of their unit were ordered to take a town held by the Germans. The battle went well, and the Germans fell back, but a sniper was left in a tower.

Gunderson, with his infinate wisdom, sent Deacon to take out the sniper. As Deacon approached the building, someone tried to shoot him. Deacon threw a grenade into the room and sprayed it down with his rifle. When he entered the house, he found the remains of a family he had killed.

Deacon lost it, and Gunderson got a jeep to take him to a hospital in St. Vith. On the way, they were captured by Germans, and brought to Malmedy.

Malmedy
Deacon and Gunderson were put in a field with other prisoners. A German tried to take Deacon's Book of Mormon, which contained a picture of his wife. Deacon, speaking German, convinces him not to take it. But he loses his lemon packets. His replacement for coffee.

Soon after, all hell breaks loose, and the Germans begin to kill the prisoners. Deacon makes it to the trees, where he hides behind a tree. He sees the SS Soldier a soldier and about to kill a second, a Medic, by the name of Steven Gould. Deacon knocks the German over and takes his weapon.

Deacon, much to Gould's anger, does not kill the German. They argue, but Gunderson breaks them up and they run for cover. Later, they are joined by Shirley "Shirl" Kendrick. They decide to hang out behind enemy lines until the Germans are pushed back. Deacon and co. head out and find an overturned ambulance. Deacon is forced to take a heavy coat from the dead by Gunderson. He is then ordered to look for shelter. As Deacon trudges through the snow, he notices a doll, the same one he saw in the house where he had accidently murdered a family. Shocked, he looks away, and back again, no doll.

The Mission
Deacon eventually finds a shed, where he brings the rest of the small band to. Deacon takes first watch, and he prays, while looking at a picture of his wife. He loks up, and sees one of the people he killed. He raises his rifle, but the person is gone. He continues to pray, and looks up again, only to see a German jeep heading toward him and the rest.

Deacon runs back to the shed and warns everyone, Gould opens a small compartment he found, and they pile in. The Germans enter, one of them is the soldier Deacon subdued. They listen to the Germans, Deacon translating most of this (obviously not outloud). A plane crashes outside, and the Germans leave to investigate. Deacon, who heard where they are going, leads the group to the crash. On their way, they find Flt. Sgt. Oberon Winley, a British RAF pilot who was in the plane.

Back at the shed, Winley tells everyone that he has intelligence vital to the Allied war effort. And so The Gang set off toward Allied lines.

The Journey
Deacon, Gould, Kendrick, Gunderson, and Winley head toward Allied lines. Deacon continues to hallucinate, and they are getting increasingly bad. Deacon also isn't sleeping, each time he falls asleep, he has a nightmare and wakes up.

Being the best soldier and Gunderson's best friend, Deacon is constantly on point. Gould's uncertainty about Deacon being combat fit grows.

The hallucinations climax when the ghosts of some of the people he killed actually approach him. In that case, he drops his rifle and begins screaming and begging for mercy, saying it was an accident. With no choice left, Gunderson tells Gould what happened in the village, and why he is so shellshocked.

Gould tells Gunderson to take Deacon off point, and give the rifle to someone else. Gould is disgusted with the crime Deacon committed and taunts him about it after a weary Deacon calls the story of when Gould first saw death "funny."

The temperature drops, and Gould continues to taunt Deacon, telling him that hunting increased his love of killing. Deacon tells Gould that the Germans are the same as them, but Gould obviously disagrees. And his dislike of Deacon deepens.

A storm rolls in, and the group takes cover in the basement of a house. They hear music overhead, and believe that the Germans are upstairs. Gunderson goes up, after refusing to take Deacon with him. Soon after, Gunderson returns with a Belgian woman, Catherin Theary, and her daughter, Sophie. Catherine gives the group bread and thanks them for fighting the Germans. Sophie kisses Deacon on the cheek, and, for the first time in days, Deacon sleeps.

Later that day, Deacon awakes, only to find Winley had left. Catherine brings down more bread. They are about to eat when a German Halftrack pulls up. Two Germans step out, and Catherine runs outside, intent on defending Sophie, who is upstairs. One of the Germans grabs her, with a sick mind. The other German walks up to the first and starts to yell at him.

Deacon grabs the rifle and runs outside, telling the Germans to surrender, one of them drop their gun, the one with Catherine raises his gun, and is subsequently shot. The German who had surrendered tries to run, Deacon tries to shoot. Deacon, for the first time, misses, and the German flees into the forest. The Americans discuss what to do now that the Germans know where they are. Suddenly, Winley brings back the German, who Deacon recognizes as Rudolph "Rudi" Gertz, his friend from when he was a missionary in Germany.

Rudi and Deacon spend the night talking, much to Gould's distaste. Catherine brings them all bread, including Rudi.

The next morning, Gould awakes to find Deacon looking at a map. Rudi is gone, and Gould angrily blames Deacon for letting him go. Gould attempts to attack Deacon, but is beaten down. Gunderson seperates them again. Gunderson blames Gould, as he had watch, and fell asleep. Deacon tells everyone that he did let Rudi go, in exchange for intel on troop movements.

They decide to leave, using the halftrack to make up some of the distance they lost. They also find some weapons captured by the Germans, and arm themselves.

The Battle
Gould and Deacon are at it again, arguing about religion, Deacon, angered, attempts to give Gould the book, but he declines it.

They come upon a column of German vehicles, but they have broken down. The men debate what to do next. Gunderson, who has a crush on Catherine, tells Deacon he wants to learn French.

Deacon is sprayed with blood from Gunderson, who was just shot in the throat by a German sniper. Deacon runs the sniper down and kills him. But returns to late, Gunderson is dead. Gould has to pretty much drag Deacon away. Deacon runs back to retrieve Gunderson's body, but the Germans are already surrounding it. Deacon notices a village not far away.

They bring Winley to the village, where they tear a bullet out of him (he was just shot). As soon as they are done, A German attempts to go #1 on them, and Kendrick shoots him. Germans swarm in, and the gang is pinned down, they send Kendrick away with Winley while Deacon and Gould attempt to hold off the Germans. A German grenade flushes them out, and they go in search for Winley and Kendrick. They find Winley alone, and he falls into a river, they cath up to him and get him out. Winley reveals that they are the only ones left, Kendrick is dead.

As they attempt to get the wet clothes off of inley, Rudi walks up to them. He tells Deacon how to escape, and then leaves. Gould's steely resolve weakens at the German's humanity. They head to an American jeep, captured by the Germans, and take the uniforms off of some of the dead Germans. They get into the car, and drive off.

Gould reveals one of his deepest secerets to Deacon. They become friends.

Escape
The group (or what's left of it) reaches a German checkpoint. The SS Officer there becomes suspicious that they are heading to the front lines, even though Winley, who is acting sick, should go to the hospital. They drive off. Germans attempt to shoot them, but miss. As they near the American line, a German mortar knocks the car over.

After helping Winley out of the car, they open fire on their German pursuers. By this time, the Americans on the one side of the line realize the people in the jeep are Americans. They attempt to surpress the Germans.

The group is close to being killed, and they are running low on ammunition. Deacon tells Gould to take Winley and go. Gould refuses, but Deacon tells Gould that he will be right behind him. Gould reluctantly grabs Winley and runs. Deacon opens fire, and hits the SS Soldier whom he had let go at Malmedy. Though he only wounds him.

Deacon is out of ammo, but Gould's rifle is in the snow, albeit, out of cover from the jeep. Deacon throws a grenade and dives for the rifle. As he stands up, he is hit by the SS Sniper. Again, and again. After three hits, Deacon succumbs and falls over, as he passes away, he sees the ghosts that had haunted him for so long.

He died with a clear concious.

Legacy
After the fight, the only survivor of the Malmedy massacre approaches a body with a clothe draped over it. It is Gould, and he pulls the clothe back to reveal Deacon. Gould takes Deacon's Book of Mormon, and finds the picture of Deacon's wife.

Gould puts the picture into Deacon's hand, and tells him to be at peace.

Relationships

 * 1) Gunderson- Deacon shares a close friendship with Gunderson. They were together from the start and have gone through much hardship together. When Deacon becomes shellshocked, Gunderson takes it upon himself to watch take care of Deacon. Deacon is extremely distraught when Gunderson is killed.
 * 2) Winley- Deacon never really befriends Winley, though he cares a great deal for his safety.
 * 3) Kendrick- Like Winley, Deacon doesn't exactly befriend him, however, this is hard because Kendrick is suspicious about Deacon's reliability. Kendrick describes Deacon as being: "A nice enough fellow."
 * 4) Gould- The only character in the movie Deacon expresses dislike in, Deacon despises Gould for his blind hatred toward the Germans. Their dislike of each other only grows when Gould learns the truth about Deacon's shellshock. At the end of the movie, they reconcile.
 * 5) The Thearys- Deacon cares for the safety of the Belgian family. He saves Catherine from the German, even though it meant giving away their position. Deacon views Sophie as being representative of the famiy he killed. Sophie is the one that elps him finally sleep.
 * 6) Rudi- Deacon shares a close friendship with the German. This is especially apparent when they both go back on their morales and help each other survive. The friendship could be compared to Deacon and Gunderson's.

Trivia

 * A Deacon is a person who services the Christian church, their roles vary depending the form of christianity.
 * Deacon is derived from the Greek word diakonos, meaning; "servant", "waiting-man," "minister" or "messenger."
 * One of Deacon's most closely kept secrets is the fact he never kissed his wife until they were married.
 * It is interesting to note Deacon did not suffer any shell shock from the Malmedy Massacre.
 * Played by actor Corbin Allred.
 * Only one of the main five characters to have a wife and child.
 * the photo of his wife is actually a picture of his grandmother. The picture was carried by his grandfather in WW2.
 * Contrary to popular belief, Deacon will not be returning in Saints and Soldiers: Airborne Creed. It is just the same actor. Characters are different too. Rossi starts with a R, Deacon starts with D.
 * Of the three main characters that died, he is the only one who's body was recovered. It is unknown what happened to Kendrick's body, as Winley left it in the wilderness, and Gunderson's body was last seen being looted by Germans.
 * Deacon is seen putting the Book of Mormon into his left pocket throughout the movie however, when Gould takes it, it is in his right pocket.
 * The 101st was never near Malmedy, they were not yet deployed.
 * Deacon says he killed two women and six kids, but when he sees them all as he is passing away, there are two women and four kids.
 * Uses an M1 Garand primarily.
 * When he kills the family, he has a bayonet on his rifle.