As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.
War's aftermath is a lot less fun when you can't move
forward in life.
forward in life.
- Let's face it, none of the returning veterans have had entirely pleasant lives since the war's end.
- Fred got broke during the war, can no longer apply to his previous job as a soda man that he had pre-war, and he had trouble finding a another job he was good at. He also has a terrible relationship with his wife, Marie who cheated on him while he was in the war, and has constant nightmares about the war he had fought in.
- Al has two kids named Rob and Peggy who grew up while he was in the war, and he never got to watch as they evolved into young adults and can't relate to them as much as he used to.
- Let's not forget about Homer, who's probably the biggest example. He lost both his hands after he burned them in a sinking ship and had to get fish hooks and learn how to use them. Then there's a scene with him returning home, where his own mother gasps in horror upon seeing his metal hooks. And Homer flashes a pained expression across his face... Then he isolated himself from his family and Wilma since he didn't a lot of self-confidence and wanted to be treated like a normal man. He seems to be able to handle the situation very well, but it still fits to a degree.
- A real-life example: Harold Russell, who played Homer, fell into economic difficulties later in life and ended up having to sell his Best Actor Oscar in an auction.note
- Towards the end, as Fred finds himself in the bombers' graveyard, row upon row of rusting hulks no longer needed with the war over, symbolizing his own worthlessness as a war hero with nowhere else to go. When he crawls into one wreck to relive yet another flashback, you're crying for him. Subverted when he's discovered by a guy overseeing that graveyard who's starting a project to break the hulks down into metal housing for the families of returning war vets. Fred finds out they're hiring.
