Gasoline Alley by Jim Scancarelli for February 03, 2010

Good idea Joe. I hope he has time. Seems like that would take awhile to make.

Come to that, Skeezix could have his uniform altered. Heck, it’s probably what he DID do back in WWII; it’s not as if they came tailor-fitted.

I wonder if Skeezix knew Sgt. Fury and his Howling Commandoes?

Or Sgt. Rock

… or saw Cap and Bucky on the front lines…

Alterations to the old uniform may or may not work; it depends on how much the uniform has “shrunk” and more importantly, the condition of the fabric.

Interestingly, a relative of mine told me that during WWII, upscale men’s stores such as Brooks Brothers were used to fit and dispense uniforms to newly-commissioned officers. Probably a good idea, too, as government contracts likely helped these businesses survive while clothing was rationed.

Could you imagine how nice a standard-issue dress uniform looked after receiving custom tailoring? Another cool example of how everyone was involved in the war effort “for the duration.”

He could donate it to a community theatre organization…maybe he would luck out and someone else donated one in his current size that he could borrow.

Hope he’ll give his talk to high school or college students. WW II must be unreal to them. It wasn’t exactly current events when I was in high school…and my class was all “war babies.”

GA started just as WW1 ended, and depicted Walt in his youth as a slow, tall, fat man with a small head and mellow temperament, about the last guy you’d associate with the word “swashbuckling.”

He was old enough to have served in WW1, but it would have had to be a flashback even then.

Those darned asterixes are getting annoying (not the Gaulish one).

Skeezix would have been more likely to see all of his comic strip brethren that entered the various services. Can you imagine Skeez encountering the Dragon Lady? The mind reels.

Mr. Doty,

I thought the war ended in August, 1945 - that’s what my mother told me (and she and Dad were both working for Lockheed at that time). If I’m wrong, please straighten me out.

Can Skeezix find an army buddy whose lost weight and the uniform is too big. They can switch!

Oh, Skeezix, you should have sent your medals to Medals Of America. For a nominal fee, they’ll mount them and you can pin them on you good suit rather than trying to fit into your camphor smelling old uniform!

Airboy20 said, Skeezix would have been more likely to see all of his comic strip brethren that entered the various services. Can you imagine Skeez encountering the Dragon Lady?

OK, that’s a good thought! But I bet he’d have rather encountered Burma.

The Army had what they called a Constabulary Force in Germany for many years after the war. Their mission was basically the same as our guys in Iraq right now. It was a Constabulary Force up until Germany created it’s own Federal Police (Der Polizei) in 1952. US forces remained in Germany as basically an occupying force until 1955 and then as part of NATO after 1955.

I’d just like to point out that the time we’ve spent so far in Iraq is nothing compared to how long we’ve been in Germany, Korea or Japan. And we’ve been in Bosnia since 1995. Folks talking about us leaving Iraq just don’t have a clue. It’ll never happen. Notice when the President talks about troops leaving he is always careful to specify ‘combat troops’.

Axe, Man, I loved Sgt. Fury comics. His Howling Commandos Rocked! I hated it when Nick Fury ended up joining the spy biz. He was a much better soldier.

I think Stan Lee called it “the war comic for people who hate war.”

If so, he was pulling our collective legs. Aside from a few serious issues (and now, a very special issue of SFATHC), all I remember are them wisecracking their way through mowing down wave after wave of Nazis.