My Dad joined up right after Pearl Harbor. He told me one story about crossing the Pacific. And stories from training in the desert because they were supposed to go to North Africa. Instead he fought and got shot at in the Pacific theater. He showed me pictures of bullet holes in trucks. Brought back some souvenirs and pictures. Discharged and somehow met one of my maternal Uncles and was introduced to my Mom. Thinking of you Dad. （´-`）. ｡oO（）
My dad was in high school during WWII, but took a job with the air force after graduating from college and was sent to Japan in 1959. We lived there until 1964. Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there.
Most of us here had family in WWII. My father was 4F with diabetes when it was a death sentence but his brother was in the Battle of the Bulge and two BILs were in the Pacific. One was on Corregidor and suffered all that entailed.
My dad was doing forced labour in Germany at the end of WWII. When he was liberated by US troops, he joined them as an interpreter. They gave him a rifle and some spare fatigues and he was assigned to an administrative unit, whose task it was to set up some sort of local government (mayor, fire brigade, utilities and so forth) in liberated towns. He had tons of stories about that, luckily he wrote a book about that period in his life. When I read it now, the memory of him telling us about it, with a glow in his eye, is very present. Thinking of him on Father’s Day.
My dad was a stoker on merchant ships before, during (1939-1945) and after the war. He was on many convoys, transatlantic, South African and coastal, and his ships were torpedoed twice. He had many stories about those times, but I was really too young to take them in. Laterly, the Internet has allowed me search on some of the incidents he described, and he was accurate. It was also interesting to see pictures of some of the ships he was on: from (apparent) rust-buckets to the ‘Queens’.
A very good and meaningful strip today. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. My Dad was in the Navy during the war, training airplane mechanics in Florida. He was being transferred to the Pacific when the war ended. He was a good Dad and I’m glad to have known him and many of his life stories. Happy Father’s Day to everyone.
My Dad was a Navy vet, I think that he had enlisted before WW2. He always played his cards pretty close to his vest. He didn’t talk about his own life and I didn’t seem to be able to formulate questions that would elicit illumination from him. Although I had regular visits with him after my parents broke up when I was 9, we drifted apart during my adolescence and adulthood. When I was in my 30’s a dispute cropped up between us related to a trivial incident involving, of all things, a case of lube oil. Out of this, however, came a resolution and we developed a much more mature relationship. It was not possible to salvage the missing links, of course, but we became closer in a sort of mixture of filial/parental friendship. One Tuesday evening in early July, when I was in my 40’s, I pulled up at home from work and he was parked in front of the house. We went to a local beanery and had supper together. Back at home we shot the breeze for a while until he saddled up and drove home, wanting to arrive before dark. At about 9 Thursday morning his next door neighbor called me at work and told me that Dad had died of a massive coronary Wednesday evening. One never knows ….
Most of my scant knowledge of Dad’s life I got second hand, and from photos in a album belong to his sister which I found at his house, after he died.
My dad was 4F due to polio he had as an infant. He didn’t walk until he was almost three. But I have a stack of…shoot, can’t think of them now, where he went every four months trying to sign up and getting turned down so he went to work at Willow Run. It’s where he met my mother. He assembled the B-24 engines and she ran them on the Dyno. He’s been dead a long time, but he’d tell me stories of working at the plant. I found them very interesting.
My father in law served in the Pacific. He was a Navy man and he doesn’t talk about his time though we’ve tried to draw him out. Some people just find it too hard, I think. He turned 98 this past April and except for his legs no longer working well, is still sharp. There are too few of them left now. I’ve thought for a long time about doing a series of interviews with the survivors. I think their stories need to be saved and heard.
Nice comic. A year ago I decided to try to start writing the funny stories of my life for my granddaughter, have about 15 so far. I then asked my 92-year-old dad to do the same (he started using a computer when he was 80.) He allowed me to read his drafts. Interesting how his stories mostly revolve around growing up in the depression. Then there was a little about his 4 Navy years in Korea, and barely a couple of lines about his 30 years working when I was growing up, and nothing on his retirement travels.
LOVE this. Glad my dad told us a lot about his life (mom, too) — and we knew our grandparents and had family photo albums… although, I got the feeling there were things dad saw while working as a radar operator in his stint in the army, stateside during the Korean era, that he felt obligated to keep secret, although he did tell us about the time the plane carrying the famous leader of a big band crossed into the restricted airspace and was in danger of being shot down by one of their missiles.
This hits home. It’s too late for me to ask my father (and my mother) these things. I’ve told my son to ask me ANYTHING about my life. I just hope that he takes me up on it someday.
My Uncle had a Desk Job in the South Pacific, and my Dad, who was too young to join up until late in the War, was training to be a Fighter Pilot when the War in Europe ended, so he was transferred to Bomber Pilot Training, and then the War in the Pacific ended. He decided to tour Europe after the War, and that’s when he met my Mom. After they married, she joined his Tour. After he died, I found a Journal of sorts of a part of this European Tour, where they traveled through Germany. The people were very friendly and pleasant, but one amazing fact was that, due to all sorts of shortages, many of the men with jobs that required Uniforms, there were quite few dressed in “War” Uniforms!
What a great cartoon. So many of these stories which we consider important later in our lives are lost forever. My sister was very thoughtful and got much of the family history from my grandparents and their siblings while they were still around. I know that her daughter got many stories from my mother about herself when she was younger, and my brother who took over the family farm learned much of our dad’s experiences.
My father was a RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force) Bomber pilot in WW II. He flew many successful missions, always getting his crew back safely…or I would not be here right now. I love you Dad, you always were and always will be my hero. I wish you were still with us.
My dad came from south Georgia to work at the Naval Shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina during the war and started his own plumbing company there in 1945. He became a figure in local politics and worked in civil rights in the 1950s through the 70s. Thanks, Dad. You made it better for all of us.
Never had a father, don’t even know who he was, my Mom was raped, then I came along. But I am a father and a dam good one according to my son, raised him as a single Dad since his Mother lost custody in court when he was young. He turned out great and has a family of his own and gave me two of the greatest Grandsons a man could ask for. He’s got what I always wanted, a happy family…That’s the best fathers day present a Dad could ask for, and the night vision goggles were nice also :)
Thank you, Jimmy. I can’t remember the last a comic strip brought me to tears, but this one did. The morning after Pearl, my dad rode his Indian motorcycle down from Walker Mine in northern CA to San Francisco to enlist in the Navy. He would head to training the following morning. Family legend has it that after they enlisted, he and my uncle got roaring drunk, and my dad rode his bike to one of the cliffs, pushed it over, and walked back into the city just in time to catch the bus.He was a wild one, and how I wish I’d known him then. Happy Father’s Day, Dad.
Dad crossed the Pacific, ships in front and back in the convoy were torpedoed. He served in China at a weather station providing information for the Fighting Tigers and bomber wings to operate. As conservative as he was, he said that the CCC was an idea that gave much hope to many who had lost it.
I got a chance to talk about such things with my dad, because of a class assignment in college. A couple years later he died. I wish I had asked better questions.
My father injured his back in boot camp (ca 1942). He was in the hospital for a while, then got discharged. It wasn’t bad enough for a medical discharge, but he had trouble with it the rest of his life.
My father met my mother in China, where her father was establishing CNAC, and my father, with his roommate from college, was bicycling across China. They courted and married, and seeing that war was inevitable, he signed up in ‘40 and went through OCS. He was sent to Australia and thence to New Guinea, where he got malaria and was sent home to meet the daughter he’d never seen, in ’44.
2. My dad helped rebuild New Salem, Illinois. It’s now a historic park where Lincoln lived.
7. Mom and dad wrote to each other (they may have known each other as kids down in Raccoon township) during WWII. Dad was in the Pacific with the 33rd Division.
8. Not sure about when they were dating, but I recall sitting on a pile of catalogs in the front seat of the car at the drive in theater.
It was too late too early. So many questions. But he was a closed-mouth father and I didn’t even know he wore dentures until many years later when my older brother told me
Downside on Father’s Day. My grandmother bribed my dad $10K in 1944 to leave my mother, he did. Gran wanted mom to stay home and take care of her. All my aunt’s and uncles bailed. My mom was driven and we got through life pretty well, she stayed around to 101
Then there was this woman, won’t call a lady, who used me to get pregnant then disappeared with my son before I realized it happened.
My grandfather and one uncle were fantastic surrogate dads. I’ve got great step-kids. They took me coming out after mom (of 30 years, less a week) died in stride.
My father had seven sons all but two served in the military. Of the two that did not one had heart issues and the other was too young. On of the brothers served in Viet Nam and received the Purple Heart Medal of Honor. All the other served during peace times.
My parents’ first date movie was Doctor Zhivago. But it’s best to not ask too many questions of their courtship because it led to a figurative shot-gun wedding which ultimately ended unhappily.
Like far too many veterans of wars, my father came to depend on alcohol during the war (lots of those wars; his was WW2…Italy and the Pacific). He would only talk about the worst things when he was unusually drunk, and I’m certain there were worse things he simply never talked about. He died in 1977 at the age of 66 – alcohol won in the end. He would have been 113 years old now. Rest easy, Dad.
Thank you for today’s cartoon, JJ.Happy Father’s Day, Daddy. I treasure every one of the 59 years I was fortunate enough to spend with you. I once worked at a carnival for a week when it came to town. I sold tickets for the Tilt-A-Whirl ride, so I can pretty well guess how the story mentioned in #5 went down. Or came up…
Daddy’s folks couldn’t afford a mule or horse. They were jealous of the only classmate whose family could.
Grandpa Green built roads in the WPA. Of a thousand men, he was one of two who could read. Grandpa was the foreman, the other was the bookkeeper.
Daddy and Uncle Junior were the water boys for those who gathered Spanish Moss for stuffing in T-Models and Model-As. They were 4 and 6 respectively.
Daddy was a cook in the Army.
Coming back from Korea in a troop ship, Daddy volunteered his entire group to help repaint the ship. He figured it would avoid boredom. It also got them crew’s cabins and mess and a longer pass when in Shanghai. He said one more day and my mother would have been Chinese.
I’m so glad that Dad answered all of these questions, or some very similar ones. During WWII he saw both Mt. Etna and Vesuvius erupt. He met my mom when she was working at a soda shop (he ordered a reverse brown cow, whatever that is), and their first date was at the movies watching Hellzapoppin. Your stories are going to the next generation, Dad.
My Father and Father-in-Law were serving under Gen. Patton. My Father-in-Law never talked much about war, my Dad said very little about Europe or his time in Korea, until I joined the Air Force. I understood the reason my mother would not let me wake him up. Sadly, both are gone now, their history was destroyed in a fire with all the other Heroes war information.
My dad would ramble on, telling stories, not just of his childhood, but ofhis grandparents, great-uncles, etc. I’ve told these to my kids and grandkids, but my one regret is that I never had him record these.
My relationship with my late father, also a ww2 vet, was sometimes good, sometimes bad. Approach of fathers day had me dwelling on the bad but Jimmy Johnson’s ace comic today has provided some real healing. Put things into a wider perspective. Thanks JJ.My father (like most of my other relatives of that generation) didn’t want to talk about his wartime experiences. But the questions I’d really like to ask him now if I could are different from the ones he wouldn’t answer then. I didn’t know about PTSD then…
I know very little about my fathers life except his work. I know he was a mechanic in the Navy during WWII and after but his personal life he never spoke much about and we never had the time to listen. There is much I would like to ask him but I can’t. I guess it carries over. My kids know nothing about me except what they grew up with.
Thanks Jimmy…. For us Baby Boomers…They were and are…. The Greatest Generation … Today I am going to visit my 99 year old Uncle Joe…. He served in WW II ..then trained as a later when he became a surgeon he served again in the 1950’s….. We’re going to take a ride to the cemeteries… Visit my Dad and Mom… Grandparents and Great Grandparents…. Uncles and Aunts…. and …. ………Remember … k
JJ your Dad looked very brave and handsome in his uniform. For what he, and others did, I am grateful and in awe. I served in the Viet Nam era and my son served in the gulf. The flow of life goes on…
Great strip Jimmy. Pardon the personal question but I was curious about your question about getting kicked off bus made me wonder was your dad a man of color?
Lord, I know my dad is just “In the next room”, only a heart beat and breath away, but I miss him terribly! I know that he knows what I want him to know, and he can see what his grandchildren are doing and have become…I just wish there was a better way for him to let me know that he could confirm that…
Lately I’ve been learning about my genealogy, and realize how many questions I have, not just for my dad, but his dad and his mother. So many questions about WWII, the reasoning behind several family moves, personalities and relationships. Daddy used to tell stories about Wwii. He was in Europe, arriving after the invasion because of schools the Army had sent him to. Most of the stories were funny, but he died young in 1972, so I never had the opportunity to ask adult questions. Ask while you can; parents, aunts and uncles, family friends. You never know when that opportunity will be gone.
Too late for me too. I’m 71 now and my Dad has been gone for 23 years. Of course now there are a million questions I’d like to ask my parents. I probably heard many of the answers many years ago, but now I could understand and appreciate them so much more! I often wonder about what it will be like for my kids when they are in the position I am now.
My dad had to get his mother’s permission to join the Navy at age 17 in early 1945. He was stationed in the Philippines and was to drive a landing craft in the invasion of Japan. Fortunately, Japan surrendered, and no invasion was needed. After the war he married my mom but had trouble finding steady work and joined the Marines. He did not have to serve his full service with the Marines which was probably lucky for me as I was born in 1951.
Sage advice. My dad died 3 years ago, but I was lucky to have 54 years with him. Still so many things I would have liked to talk with him about. Happy Fathers Day, Dad.
Gotta admit this simply brilliant, award-worthy episode choked me up. It is so true. My father, who died in 2000, rarely talked about the war. He served as a supply sergeant in New Guinea and the Philippines. A year or so before Pearl Harbor, he actually memorized the eye chart to get his year of service before we entered the conflict. He served until the end of the war. I think this had a lot to do with his opposition to war in general and especially to the inexcusable and avoidable Viet Nam conflict. After he died, I discovered so much going through his papers — including a mysterious photo of him in his 20s with a simply beautiful woman with her child. We’ve never been able to discover from whence he came as an infant from somewhere in Hungary in 1918, in part because his biological father died (I’ve got no idea what his last name was) or what ship transported him and his mother (and possibly his step father) to Ellis Island. Frustratingly anybody who would have a clue is long gone. So this particularly Arlo & Janis really hit home. If only I could find a DeLorean to go back to the early 1990s to ask him all of the questions about his life that I’ve had for the past 20 years and to tell him about his wonderful great grandchildren.
Not that I want to get othes here to shed more tears, but I’d like to share two incredibly heartfelt songs about fathers who served in WWII. The first is from Joe Grushecky and this fellow called “The Boss.” It’s entitled “1945” and you can hear it at >
My Dad’s flight crew was assigned to be sent to the Pacific, but they had to have medical exams first. Dad had a hernia, so he was held back for surgery, and another man was sent in his place. Dad’s crew with the substitute man was shot down with no survivors. Dad never told me about that — my mother told me after he died of cancer in 1978. He spent the rest of the war stateside, patrolling off the coast of Florida and then in Alamogordo NM. If it weren’t for his hernia, he’d have died with his buddies and my brother and I would never have been born.Thank you for your service and your love, Dad. I miss you.
My Dad told the story of shipping out of New York harbor with lots of other fully loaded ships; at night. he woke up under water, but made it to the surface, was picked up by another ship, and they barely slowed down. They need men over there quickly.
When I was growing up, it seemed that every kid’s dad was a WWII veteran, and that most of the older men my grandfather’s age were WWI veterans! I wish so much I could talk to them now!
My father would have turned 100 on June 14, (Flag Day.) He enlisted in the Army at 18, was in combat in WW2, Korea and Viet Nam. He was a medic. He received a Battlefield Commission in Korea so retired as an officer at age 38. We never heard horror stories, just the funny ones. He taught us all the Army drinking songs. He was a blast!
My father tried to join the armed forces but was rejected because of flat feet (at least that is what he told me). He did join the reserves or home guard and I have a photo of him in uniform marching in a parade. My uncle-by-marriage, however, having moved to Canada from the USA when his parents died, went back to the states and, along with his older brother, joined the US Marines. After the war he returned North, married a wonderful woman from a nearby town and worked for the Canadian National Railway. Years later, after I retired, I would take him out once a week for coffee. We had great conversations, some of which involved his Marine training (very tough stuff), and about my father, who had died before I got to know him as an adult … very revealing stories that enhanced my childhood memories. In the war, in the Pacific, my uncle had been in the intelligence corps … the group that went after the initial attack by the Marines. They surveyed the area for potential bases and other stuff. He said he and a small group of Marines were walking along a beach when a puff of sand appeared right in front of them. Then, they heard the gunshot. Taking cover behind the sandbank, they searched for the sniper. My uncle said they looked all along the rows of palm tree lining the beach and spotted movement in one. They all (3 or 4 of them) pointed their rifles at this one tree and fired. The sniper tumbled down, dead! He said that was the most “excitement” he had in his war career, but refused to talk any more about it. I still admire anyone who serves in the military, even in the reserves, as their lives are on the line!
My dad enlisted in the Army in February 1942. He later volunteered for Airborne training and got his jump wings in August 1942. Shortly thereafter the army created separate branches of the airborne and he joined the 82nd Airborne. He was in A Company, 1st Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was in North Africa and jumped in Sicily, Italy (Salerno) and France on D-Day. His records show he had an Arrowhead which meant his unit was one of the first ones in. He was also in the Battle of the Bulge and for all this he was wounded three times (Purple Heart with two clusters). Never got to Germany.
Dad lived down the block from my Mother. He wrote a lot of letters and they got married on August 6, 1945. That was the day they dropped the first atomic bomb. What a sendoff. Dad never talked about his service and died at age 51 of cancer.
My dad was a wonderful man who died in 1995. During WW2 he was in the Navy Seabees at an ammunition depot in Hawaii. Since he knew how to type, he served primarily in the office, handling personnel transfers, making announcements over the PA, etc. Occasionally driving a big double-clutch dump truck.
Yakety Sax 6 months ago
My Dad joined up right after Pearl Harbor. He told me one story about crossing the Pacific. And stories from training in the desert because they were supposed to go to North Africa. Instead he fought and got shot at in the Pacific theater. He showed me pictures of bullet holes in trucks. Brought back some souvenirs and pictures. Discharged and somehow met one of my maternal Uncles and was introduced to my Mom. Thinking of you Dad. （´-`）. ｡oO（）
Ambush Kitten 6 months ago
One of the better Father’s Day messages I’ve seen. It really hits home for me. Good job, JJ
Ruth Brown 6 months ago
Really love this.
Lyrak 6 months ago
Da'Dad 6 months ago
Most of us here had family in WWII. My father was 4F with diabetes when it was a death sentence but his brother was in the Battle of the Bulge and two BILs were in the Pacific. One was on Corregidor and suffered all that entailed.
L'Europeo Premium Member 6 months ago
My dad was doing forced labour in Germany at the end of WWII. When he was liberated by US troops, he joined them as an interpreter. They gave him a rifle and some spare fatigues and he was assigned to an administrative unit, whose task it was to set up some sort of local government (mayor, fire brigade, utilities and so forth) in liberated towns. He had tons of stories about that, luckily he wrote a book about that period in his life. When I read it now, the memory of him telling us about it, with a glow in his eye, is very present. Thinking of him on Father’s Day.
stillfickled Premium Member 6 months ago
It’s already too late. But it’s ok.
mobeydick 6 months ago
My dad was a stoker on merchant ships before, during (1939-1945) and after the war. He was on many convoys, transatlantic, South African and coastal, and his ships were torpedoed twice. He had many stories about those times, but I was really too young to take them in. Laterly, the Internet has allowed me search on some of the incidents he described, and he was accurate. It was also interesting to see pictures of some of the ships he was on: from (apparent) rust-buckets to the ‘Queens’.
Egrayjames 6 months ago
A very good and meaningful strip today. Thank you, Mr. Johnson. My Dad was in the Navy during the war, training airplane mechanics in Florida. He was being transferred to the Pacific when the war ended. He was a good Dad and I’m glad to have known him and many of his life stories. Happy Father’s Day to everyone.
JessieRandySmithJr. 6 months ago
Camp Polk is right down the road from me in Louisiana, it then became Fort Polk and last year was renamed Fort Johnson.
well-i-never 6 months ago
This is something.
ralphtucker 6 months ago
My Dad was the provost marshall in China working for Claire Chennault.
Dobby53 Premium Member 6 months ago
A State Park we go to (Letchworth S.P. in western NY state) has a great memorial for the CCC.
A# 466 6 months ago
My Dad was a Navy vet, I think that he had enlisted before WW2. He always played his cards pretty close to his vest. He didn’t talk about his own life and I didn’t seem to be able to formulate questions that would elicit illumination from him. Although I had regular visits with him after my parents broke up when I was 9, we drifted apart during my adolescence and adulthood. When I was in my 30’s a dispute cropped up between us related to a trivial incident involving, of all things, a case of lube oil. Out of this, however, came a resolution and we developed a much more mature relationship. It was not possible to salvage the missing links, of course, but we became closer in a sort of mixture of filial/parental friendship. One Tuesday evening in early July, when I was in my 40’s, I pulled up at home from work and he was parked in front of the house. We went to a local beanery and had supper together. Back at home we shot the breeze for a while until he saddled up and drove home, wanting to arrive before dark. At about 9 Thursday morning his next door neighbor called me at work and told me that Dad had died of a massive coronary Wednesday evening. One never knows ….
Most of my scant knowledge of Dad’s life I got second hand, and from photos in a album belong to his sister which I found at his house, after he died.
Tigrisan Premium Member 6 months ago
My dad was 4F due to polio he had as an infant. He didn’t walk until he was almost three. But I have a stack of…shoot, can’t think of them now, where he went every four months trying to sign up and getting turned down so he went to work at Willow Run. It’s where he met my mother. He assembled the B-24 engines and she ran them on the Dyno. He’s been dead a long time, but he’d tell me stories of working at the plant. I found them very interesting.
My father in law served in the Pacific. He was a Navy man and he doesn’t talk about his time though we’ve tried to draw him out. Some people just find it too hard, I think. He turned 98 this past April and except for his legs no longer working well, is still sharp. There are too few of them left now. I’ve thought for a long time about doing a series of interviews with the survivors. I think their stories need to be saved and heard.
jbmlaw01 6 months ago
Nice comic. A year ago I decided to try to start writing the funny stories of my life for my granddaughter, have about 15 so far. I then asked my 92-year-old dad to do the same (he started using a computer when he was 80.) He allowed me to read his drafts. Interesting how his stories mostly revolve around growing up in the depression. Then there was a little about his 4 Navy years in Korea, and barely a couple of lines about his 30 years working when I was growing up, and nothing on his retirement travels.
i_am_the_jam 6 months ago
Miss you too, Dad (1943-2019).
DaBump Premium Member 6 months ago
LOVE this. Glad my dad told us a lot about his life (mom, too) — and we knew our grandparents and had family photo albums… although, I got the feeling there were things dad saw while working as a radar operator in his stint in the army, stateside during the Korean era, that he felt obligated to keep secret, although he did tell us about the time the plane carrying the famous leader of a big band crossed into the restricted airspace and was in danger of being shot down by one of their missiles.
atomicdog 6 months ago
This hits home. It’s too late for me to ask my father (and my mother) these things. I’ve told my son to ask me ANYTHING about my life. I just hope that he takes me up on it someday.
NeedaChuckle Premium Member 6 months ago
My father was in the CCC and he did have a job stoking coal into boilers for a factory, 2 tons a night.
ChessPirate 6 months ago
My Uncle had a Desk Job in the South Pacific, and my Dad, who was too young to join up until late in the War, was training to be a Fighter Pilot when the War in Europe ended, so he was transferred to Bomber Pilot Training, and then the War in the Pacific ended. He decided to tour Europe after the War, and that’s when he met my Mom. After they married, she joined his Tour. After he died, I found a Journal of sorts of a part of this European Tour, where they traveled through Germany. The people were very friendly and pleasant, but one amazing fact was that, due to all sorts of shortages, many of the men with jobs that required Uniforms, there were quite few dressed in “War” Uniforms!
rbrt6956 6 months ago
What a great cartoon. So many of these stories which we consider important later in our lives are lost forever. My sister was very thoughtful and got much of the family history from my grandparents and their siblings while they were still around. I know that her daughter got many stories from my mother about herself when she was younger, and my brother who took over the family farm learned much of our dad’s experiences.
DawnQuinn1 6 months ago
My father was a RCAF Royal Canadian Air Force) Bomber pilot in WW II. He flew many successful missions, always getting his crew back safely…or I would not be here right now. I love you Dad, you always were and always will be my hero. I wish you were still with us.
atomicdog 6 months ago
My dad came from south Georgia to work at the Naval Shipyard in Charleston, South Carolina during the war and started his own plumbing company there in 1945. He became a figure in local politics and worked in civil rights in the 1950s through the 70s. Thanks, Dad. You made it better for all of us.
fuzzbucket Premium Member 6 months ago
I wish they’d give back the ‘like’ button for the comics, but I’m hoping for a ‘that sucks’ button, too.
Man of the Woods 6 months ago
Never had a father, don’t even know who he was, my Mom was raped, then I came along. But I am a father and a dam good one according to my son, raised him as a single Dad since his Mother lost custody in court when he was young. He turned out great and has a family of his own and gave me two of the greatest Grandsons a man could ask for. He’s got what I always wanted, a happy family…That’s the best fathers day present a Dad could ask for, and the night vision goggles were nice also :)
OHSOFUN 6 months ago
Thank you, Jimmy. I can’t remember the last a comic strip brought me to tears, but this one did. The morning after Pearl, my dad rode his Indian motorcycle down from Walker Mine in northern CA to San Francisco to enlist in the Navy. He would head to training the following morning. Family legend has it that after they enlisted, he and my uncle got roaring drunk, and my dad rode his bike to one of the cliffs, pushed it over, and walked back into the city just in time to catch the bus.He was a wild one, and how I wish I’d known him then. Happy Father’s Day, Dad.
diskus Premium Member 6 months ago
My dad lived through occupation by the germans then the russians. its been way too long.
MRBLUESKY529 6 months ago
Too late for me. But I think he knows. Miss you Dad (1922-2007)
B Gibbs Premium Member 6 months ago
This stoked some memories, thanks! And Happy Father’s Day!
mourdac Premium Member 6 months ago
Dad crossed the Pacific, ships in front and back in the convoy were torpedoed. He served in China at a weather station providing information for the Fighting Tigers and bomber wings to operate. As conservative as he was, he said that the CCC was an idea that gave much hope to many who had lost it.
Rayrayld Premium Member 6 months ago
Jimmy, ya went and done it. Best Fathers Day cartoon ever
360guy Premium Member 6 months ago
I got a chance to talk about such things with my dad, because of a class assignment in college. A couple years later he died. I wish I had asked better questions.
david_42 6 months ago
My father injured his back in boot camp (ca 1942). He was in the hospital for a while, then got discharged. It wasn’t bad enough for a medical discharge, but he had trouble with it the rest of his life.
geohawkins3734 Premium Member 6 months ago
My father met my mother in China, where her father was establishing CNAC, and my father, with his roommate from college, was bicycling across China. They courted and married, and seeing that war was inevitable, he signed up in ‘40 and went through OCS. He was sent to Australia and thence to New Guinea, where he got malaria and was sent home to meet the daughter he’d never seen, in ’44.
assrdood 6 months ago
That one hit me right in the “feels”.
feralcat_52 6 months ago
My Dad passed in 2012, I still think of him at least once almost every day. Happy Father’s Day, Dad.
morningglory73 Premium Member 6 months ago
My Dad made aircraft wheels during WWII and lost his hearing. He wasn’t a soldier but he lost many friends who were.
poppacapsmokeblower 6 months ago
2. My dad helped rebuild New Salem, Illinois. It’s now a historic park where Lincoln lived.
7. Mom and dad wrote to each other (they may have known each other as kids down in Raccoon township) during WWII. Dad was in the Pacific with the 33rd Division.
8. Not sure about when they were dating, but I recall sitting on a pile of catalogs in the front seat of the car at the drive in theater.
jarvisloop 6 months ago
JJ: This is one of your best ever.
MontanaPhil50 6 months ago
It was too late too early. So many questions. But he was a closed-mouth father and I didn’t even know he wore dentures until many years later when my older brother told me
Flatlander, purveyor of fine covfefe 6 months ago
Downside on Father’s Day. My grandmother bribed my dad $10K in 1944 to leave my mother, he did. Gran wanted mom to stay home and take care of her. All my aunt’s and uncles bailed. My mom was driven and we got through life pretty well, she stayed around to 101
Then there was this woman, won’t call a lady, who used me to get pregnant then disappeared with my son before I realized it happened.
My grandfather and one uncle were fantastic surrogate dads. I’ve got great step-kids. They took me coming out after mom (of 30 years, less a week) died in stride.
So if you have happy memories, cherish
dave.mcconnell 6 months ago
So Sorry but I did wait far to Late
tee929 6 months ago
Talk to your father today if you can!
MuddyUSA Premium Member 6 months ago
My father had seven sons all but two served in the military. Of the two that did not one had heart issues and the other was too young. On of the brothers served in Viet Nam and received the Purple Heart Medal of Honor. All the other served during peace times.
Ermine Notyours 6 months ago
My parents’ first date movie was Doctor Zhivago. But it’s best to not ask too many questions of their courtship because it led to a figurative shot-gun wedding which ultimately ended unhappily.
Balgaire 6 months ago
Lost my Dad in March. Needed this today. Thank you.
daisypekin01 6 months ago
AMEN!
joedon2007 6 months ago
JJ really hit a home run with this one
magicfever495 6 months ago
My Dad was Korea and Vietnam.
Stationed in Hawaii when his unit was called to deploy.
They were called back to train other Security Police units for action.
Happy Father’s Day in Heaven Pop.
flagmichael 6 months ago
Like far too many veterans of wars, my father came to depend on alcohol during the war (lots of those wars; his was WW2…Italy and the Pacific). He would only talk about the worst things when he was unusually drunk, and I’m certain there were worse things he simply never talked about. He died in 1977 at the age of 66 – alcohol won in the end. He would have been 113 years old now. Rest easy, Dad.
GR6 6 months ago
Thank you for today’s cartoon, JJ.Happy Father’s Day, Daddy. I treasure every one of the 59 years I was fortunate enough to spend with you. I once worked at a carnival for a week when it came to town. I sold tickets for the Tilt-A-Whirl ride, so I can pretty well guess how the story mentioned in #5 went down. Or came up…
David Huie Green LoveJoyAndPeace 6 months ago
Daddy’s folks couldn’t afford a mule or horse. They were jealous of the only classmate whose family could.
Grandpa Green built roads in the WPA. Of a thousand men, he was one of two who could read. Grandpa was the foreman, the other was the bookkeeper.
Daddy and Uncle Junior were the water boys for those who gathered Spanish Moss for stuffing in T-Models and Model-As. They were 4 and 6 respectively.
Daddy was a cook in the Army.
Coming back from Korea in a troop ship, Daddy volunteered his entire group to help repaint the ship. He figured it would avoid boredom. It also got them crew’s cabins and mess and a longer pass when in Shanghai. He said one more day and my mother would have been Chinese.
cracker65 6 months ago
Wow. Very powerful and touching comic. Reminds me of the song, The living years, by Mike and the mechanics.
Flossie Mud Duck 6 months ago
I’m so glad that Dad answered all of these questions, or some very similar ones. During WWII he saw both Mt. Etna and Vesuvius erupt. He met my mom when she was working at a soda shop (he ordered a reverse brown cow, whatever that is), and their first date was at the movies watching Hellzapoppin. Your stories are going to the next generation, Dad.
rugeirn 6 months ago
Yes, you’d better ask these questions soon. About 16 million Americans served in WWII. About 120,000 are still alive.
rugeirn 6 months ago
There would be a whole different set of questions to ask the Vietnam veterans, some just as painful, some even more so.
Searcy9320 6 months ago
My Father and Father-in-Law were serving under Gen. Patton. My Father-in-Law never talked much about war, my Dad said very little about Europe or his time in Korea, until I joined the Air Force. I understood the reason my mother would not let me wake him up. Sadly, both are gone now, their history was destroyed in a fire with all the other Heroes war information.
seismic-2 Premium Member 6 months ago
I wish I could cast more than one “like” for today’s strip, which was the best Father’s Day tribute on the comics page. (Runner-up was “Zits”.)
Just So So Premium Member 6 months ago
My dad would ramble on, telling stories, not just of his childhood, but ofhis grandparents, great-uncles, etc. I’ve told these to my kids and grandkids, but my one regret is that I never had him record these.
ZTH 6 months ago
My relationship with my late father, also a ww2 vet, was sometimes good, sometimes bad. Approach of fathers day had me dwelling on the bad but Jimmy Johnson’s ace comic today has provided some real healing. Put things into a wider perspective. Thanks JJ.My father (like most of my other relatives of that generation) didn’t want to talk about his wartime experiences. But the questions I’d really like to ask him now if I could are different from the ones he wouldn’t answer then. I didn’t know about PTSD then…
SpacedInvader Premium Member 6 months ago
I know very little about my fathers life except his work. I know he was a mechanic in the Navy during WWII and after but his personal life he never spoke much about and we never had the time to listen. There is much I would like to ask him but I can’t. I guess it carries over. My kids know nothing about me except what they grew up with.
kennnyp 6 months ago
Thanks Jimmy…. For us Baby Boomers…They were and are…. The Greatest Generation … Today I am going to visit my 99 year old Uncle Joe…. He served in WW II ..then trained as a later when he became a surgeon he served again in the 1950’s….. We’re going to take a ride to the cemeteries… Visit my Dad and Mom… Grandparents and Great Grandparents…. Uncles and Aunts…. and …. ………Remember … k
flushed 6 months ago
JJ your Dad looked very brave and handsome in his uniform. For what he, and others did, I am grateful and in awe. I served in the Viet Nam era and my son served in the gulf. The flow of life goes on…
Brent Rosenthal Premium Member 6 months ago
Great strip Jimmy. Pardon the personal question but I was curious about your question about getting kicked off bus made me wonder was your dad a man of color?
jwarrenphd 6 months ago
So true.
RonMcCalip 6 months ago
Lord, I know my dad is just “In the next room”, only a heart beat and breath away, but I miss him terribly! I know that he knows what I want him to know, and he can see what his grandchildren are doing and have become…I just wish there was a better way for him to let me know that he could confirm that…
tauyen 6 months ago
Not a day goes by that I don’t regret the questions never asked. It’s too late now.
jarvisloop 6 months ago
My deepest regret on Father’s Day and every other day is that I was not a better son. Dad deserved a great deal more.
GG_loves_comics Premium Member 6 months ago
Lately I’ve been learning about my genealogy, and realize how many questions I have, not just for my dad, but his dad and his mother. So many questions about WWII, the reasoning behind several family moves, personalities and relationships. Daddy used to tell stories about Wwii. He was in Europe, arriving after the invasion because of schools the Army had sent him to. Most of the stories were funny, but he died young in 1972, so I never had the opportunity to ask adult questions. Ask while you can; parents, aunts and uncles, family friends. You never know when that opportunity will be gone.
GG_loves_comics Premium Member 6 months ago
Also, I’d love to hear the story about his buddies, the Nu-Grape soda, and the tilt-a-whirl!
WF11 6 months ago
Too late for me too. I’m 71 now and my Dad has been gone for 23 years. Of course now there are a million questions I’d like to ask my parents. I probably heard many of the answers many years ago, but now I could understand and appreciate them so much more! I often wonder about what it will be like for my kids when they are in the position I am now.
sobrown51 6 months ago
My dad had to get his mother’s permission to join the Navy at age 17 in early 1945. He was stationed in the Philippines and was to drive a landing craft in the invasion of Japan. Fortunately, Japan surrendered, and no invasion was needed. After the war he married my mom but had trouble finding steady work and joined the Marines. He did not have to serve his full service with the Marines which was probably lucky for me as I was born in 1951.
thudsonz 6 months ago
Sage advice. My dad died 3 years ago, but I was lucky to have 54 years with him. Still so many things I would have liked to talk with him about. Happy Fathers Day, Dad.
Robert Williams @ Williams Web Solutions 6 months ago
I cannot tell you how many questions I would love to ask my grandpa and grandma if they were still alive.
dlauber Premium Member 6 months ago
Gotta admit this simply brilliant, award-worthy episode choked me up. It is so true. My father, who died in 2000, rarely talked about the war. He served as a supply sergeant in New Guinea and the Philippines. A year or so before Pearl Harbor, he actually memorized the eye chart to get his year of service before we entered the conflict. He served until the end of the war. I think this had a lot to do with his opposition to war in general and especially to the inexcusable and avoidable Viet Nam conflict. After he died, I discovered so much going through his papers — including a mysterious photo of him in his 20s with a simply beautiful woman with her child. We’ve never been able to discover from whence he came as an infant from somewhere in Hungary in 1918, in part because his biological father died (I’ve got no idea what his last name was) or what ship transported him and his mother (and possibly his step father) to Ellis Island. Frustratingly anybody who would have a clue is long gone. So this particularly Arlo & Janis really hit home. If only I could find a DeLorean to go back to the early 1990s to ask him all of the questions about his life that I’ve had for the past 20 years and to tell him about his wonderful great grandchildren.
Not that I want to get othes here to shed more tears, but I’d like to share two incredibly heartfelt songs about fathers who served in WWII. The first is from Joe Grushecky and this fellow called “The Boss.” It’s entitled “1945” and you can hear it at >
Tina Rhea Premium Member 6 months ago
My Dad’s flight crew was assigned to be sent to the Pacific, but they had to have medical exams first. Dad had a hernia, so he was held back for surgery, and another man was sent in his place. Dad’s crew with the substitute man was shot down with no survivors. Dad never told me about that — my mother told me after he died of cancer in 1978. He spent the rest of the war stateside, patrolling off the coast of Florida and then in Alamogordo NM. If it weren’t for his hernia, he’d have died with his buddies and my brother and I would never have been born.Thank you for your service and your love, Dad. I miss you.
elgrecousa Premium Member 6 months ago
Let’s try to have a half decent relationship with our fathers year around, rather than just on Father’s Day.
Wendy Emlinger Premium Member 6 months ago
Thank you. This was the best and most fitting cartoon today.
miltondavis 6 months ago
My Dad told the story of shipping out of New York harbor with lots of other fully loaded ships; at night. he woke up under water, but made it to the surface, was picked up by another ship, and they barely slowed down. They need men over there quickly.
allenmichael1941 6 months ago
Not to sure how many remember the CCC.
eced52 6 months ago
My father was born in 33, so he missed the big one, but fought in Korea. I never knew him, so no real memories to remember.
Cosfather2 6 months ago
Touching sentiment. Love it.
tddrmchl 6 months ago
I should have asked my father every one of these questions. Why didn’t I do it?
Sonny 6 months ago
so many questions to ask
robwalt Premium Member 6 months ago
This is an amazing comic. Any art that can make me smile and bring a tear to my eye at the same time deserves all the praise it can get.
cnhardman 6 months ago
That’s how I send letters to my husband… <3
WF11 6 months ago
When I was growing up, it seemed that every kid’s dad was a WWII veteran, and that most of the older men my grandfather’s age were WWI veterans! I wish so much I could talk to them now!
277bartlett Premium Member 6 months ago
My father would have turned 100 on June 14, (Flag Day.) He enlisted in the Army at 18, was in combat in WW2, Korea and Viet Nam. He was a medic. He received a Battlefield Commission in Korea so retired as an officer at age 38. We never heard horror stories, just the funny ones. He taught us all the Army drinking songs. He was a blast!
HarryLime 6 months ago
My father tried to join the armed forces but was rejected because of flat feet (at least that is what he told me). He did join the reserves or home guard and I have a photo of him in uniform marching in a parade. My uncle-by-marriage, however, having moved to Canada from the USA when his parents died, went back to the states and, along with his older brother, joined the US Marines. After the war he returned North, married a wonderful woman from a nearby town and worked for the Canadian National Railway. Years later, after I retired, I would take him out once a week for coffee. We had great conversations, some of which involved his Marine training (very tough stuff), and about my father, who had died before I got to know him as an adult … very revealing stories that enhanced my childhood memories. In the war, in the Pacific, my uncle had been in the intelligence corps … the group that went after the initial attack by the Marines. They surveyed the area for potential bases and other stuff. He said he and a small group of Marines were walking along a beach when a puff of sand appeared right in front of them. Then, they heard the gunshot. Taking cover behind the sandbank, they searched for the sniper. My uncle said they looked all along the rows of palm tree lining the beach and spotted movement in one. They all (3 or 4 of them) pointed their rifles at this one tree and fired. The sniper tumbled down, dead! He said that was the most “excitement” he had in his war career, but refused to talk any more about it. I still admire anyone who serves in the military, even in the reserves, as their lives are on the line!
jlbronk 6 months ago
My dad enlisted in the Army in February 1942. He later volunteered for Airborne training and got his jump wings in August 1942. Shortly thereafter the army created separate branches of the airborne and he joined the 82nd Airborne. He was in A Company, 1st Battalion of the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment. He was in North Africa and jumped in Sicily, Italy (Salerno) and France on D-Day. His records show he had an Arrowhead which meant his unit was one of the first ones in. He was also in the Battle of the Bulge and for all this he was wounded three times (Purple Heart with two clusters). Never got to Germany.
Dad lived down the block from my Mother. He wrote a lot of letters and they got married on August 6, 1945. That was the day they dropped the first atomic bomb. What a sendoff. Dad never talked about his service and died at age 51 of cancer.
tcviii Premium Member 6 months ago
My dad was a wonderful man who died in 1995. During WW2 he was in the Navy Seabees at an ammunition depot in Hawaii. Since he knew how to type, he served primarily in the office, handling personnel transfers, making announcements over the PA, etc. Occasionally driving a big double-clutch dump truck.