A Medal of Honor recipient from WWII, Ernie Yost, turns himself in and confesses to the team the murder of his friend 60 years ago.
Tropes:
- An Arm and a Leg: Ernie's best friend, Wade, lost his leg after stepping on a Japanese landmine.
- Bait-and-Switch: The old Japanese gentleman who helps Gibbs recreate the night that Wade died. Gibbs very broadly implies that he's another veteran of Iwo Jima — a survivor from the Japanese garrison. In the episode tag, he reveals that yes, the Japanese man is an Imperial Army veteran. But he wasn't on Iwo Jima. He was on Guadalcanal.
- Conviction by Contradiction: Inverted by Gibbs. Yost believes he killed his friend Wade on purpose because they were in love with the same woman. Gibbs proves that he's wrong by asking who Yost's best man was supposed to be at his wedding. It was Wade, of course — and Wade readily agreed, saying that he had no hard feelings. Obviously, if Yost asked Wade to be his best man and Wade agreed, there really were no hard feelings on either side, and Wade's death was what the record said: an accidental death in combat, not murder.
- Cool Old Guy: Ernie Yost, a pleasant old man who has a tenuous grasp on the here-and-now because of grief, PTSD, and a touch of senility. Even while he's being investigated for murder, he keeps reverting to the charming young man he was as a marine.
- Insistent Terminology: Kate is amazed by the thought that this overweight, kindly, soft-spoken old man, who clearly doesn't have all his marbles anymore, won the Medal of Honor. Gibbs sets her straight:Gibbs:You don't 'win' the Medal of Honor, Kate. You're awarded it, for conspicuous gallantry above and beyond the call of duty.
- My God, What Have I Done?: When Ernie remembers why he accidentally killed Wade, he breaks down crying how sorry he was.
- Shell-Shocked Veteran: Ernie is traumatized by his experiences at the Battle of Iwo Jima when he accidentally killed his best friend in combat.
