A day late, but ...

[leethet]

Because it was so cool to see other people's veteran dads (but it's a big pic so behind the cut)





The story goes that when war broke out my dad, who was in England and apparently enjoyed dual citizenship (U.S./U.K.), went into a British war office to sign up and said "I want to be a pilot." They basically said "Get real, son." So he said "Screw you" and went to the U.S. Army war office. They didn't let him be a pilot either. :-)

The photo was taken around 1941.

EDIT: I should add, my memory places the picture at 1941, but as it's a studio shot, it's not dated, and it seems to me pretty early for him to look so adult, now I think about it. He was in the army 'til the very early 50s, so in theory it could be that late, but I do think it was during the war.

Comments

[leethet.livejournal.com]

Well, that's exactly it, of course - you're young and healthy and full of yourself, and being a pilot was, then as now, a highly romantic and heroic position. :-) But not everybody gets to be a fighter pilot.

I always think of a line from one of the "Alias Smith and Jones" tie-in novels: "Healthy young animals in love with life." That's probably every young man who signed up in those days.