Surely almost every male member of their generation did. I don't recall it ever being mentioned in the entire run of the show. Maybe Ralph could have gotten out of military service due to his weight, but what stopped Norton?
Boston and Philly love to slander us, but they don't have as many fans as us
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042114/board/thread/230489898
"You can't go wrong drowning politicians Henry." The Black Swan (1942)
I don't know why you would think they didn't, just because it wasn't mentioned. The show only ran one year and it just never came up.
I think there probably was a wish to not focus on the experience for any reason and truthfully move on.
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They would have all done military duty, so it was something you didn't continuously talk about. It was your duty, your honor and so forth. If they didn't agree with what transpired, such as seeing comrades die and so forth, they chose not to discuss the entire matter.
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Well, hero is tossed around now because today's military choose to serve and lay their life on the line, so to speak, whereas during the fifties, it was still expected of every able-bodied male, and women had to pursue their 'right' to serve also.
Interesting Blondie movie with Penny Singleton listing off women's ranks and positions in the military at the end.
And compare that to Margaret Houlihan on MASH, who clearly was not drafted and enlisted of her own accord.
My father had three brothers, and the first three sons all enlisted, as was required, one in the Air Force, one in the army, one in the navy (but at different times), but the last one didn't. Even an aunt went into the Air Force.
My mother said even if the youngest had wanted to enlist, no branch would take him, because the family had already 'served their country' with three sons in the military (tho none of them saw battle of any kind).
But back to dear ol' Ralph and Ed, expecting them to discuss their military duty would be about like expecting them to talk about their first kiss or homework assignments from school; everybody had done it, so why signify it.
The only time on I Love Lucy when Fred or Ricky being in the service was discussed was when they were doing the play 'on opposite sides' and they thought Lucy and Ethel were each having a baby, and when Fred was a 'dough boy' and was in Germany in the war, when they travelled to Europe.
It's not like it had to be endlessly discussed.
Gilligan's Island of course had the Skipper dreaming he was in the service again and fixing the radio and was hypnotized to see everyone as Japanese soldiers.
We didn't get any military duty for the Professor or Mr. Howell.
Gilligan had to 'put on weight' to get back in service, it seemed. I guess if being a crew member on a tourist boat required (or he chose) to have some military ranking to do so.
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shareEd makes mention about the G.I. bill in one epidode
shareThere's at least a couple of occasions when Norton mentions being in the Navy. In the Blabbermouth episode he talks about receiving his "draft notice".
Considering his age he must have been a WWII vet.
I could picture Ralph being too much of a hothead. He'd throw everybody out of the barracks.
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Yeah I was just thinking of that! He typed something for Ralph. Ralph was impressed that Norton could type so fast and Norton said he studied under the G.I. Bill.
That led to one of Norton's funniest sewer related comments. Ralph asked him why he didn't apply for an office job and Norton replied that he "couldn't stand the idea of being cooped up in a stuffy office all day." lol
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Bus drivers and sewer works didn't have to serve in WW2
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Probably never came up. If the series lasted more than 1 year, they might have had an episode. Still, a lot of post WWII sitcom fathers didn't mention the war either.
Off topic, but here is something interesting from Wiki:
During World War II, Jackie Gleason was initially exempt from military service, since he was a father of two. However, in 1943 the US started drafting men with children. When Gleason reported to his induction, doctors discovered that his broken left arm had healed crooked (the area between his thumb and forefinger was nerveless and numb), that a pilonidal cyst existed at the end of his coccyx, and that he was 100 pounds overweight. Gleason was therefore classified 4-F and rejected for military service.
Art Carney was drafted into the United States Army in 1943 as an infantryman and machine gun crewman during World War II. During the Battle of Normandy serving in the 28th Infantry Division, he was wounded in the leg by shrapnel and walked with a limp for the rest of his life. As a result of the injury, his right leg was ¾-inch (2 cm) shorter than his left. Carney was awarded a Purple Heart, the American Campaign Medal, the European–African–Middle Eastern Campaign Medal and the World War II Victory Medal, and was discharged as a private in 1945.
This takes place ten years after the war was over.
shareHahaha, 9 years ago.
Q. - Why didn't Ralph and Ed serve in WW II?
A. - Because we wanted to win the WWII. ;-)
When I was a kid in the 1950s and 1960s, almost all men had been in the military, either in WWI, WWII, or the Korean War. Unlike today, when a fuss is often made about veterans, back then it wasn't talked about much. It was just taken for granted, and rarely mentioned. The fact that Ed and Ralph don't harp on their military service all the time doesn't mean they weren't veterans.
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