Best Years Of Our Lives (1946)

I recently re-watched this movie  when it was on TV. It is about three World War 2 veterans returning to their hometown and back to their family and loved ones after the war.  Millions upon millions of soldiers left the military in the 1940s and had almost no help in rebuilding their lives. A man (played by Dana Andrews) who was an officer dropping bombs during the war comes back to be a soda jerk and then a trash man. Another guy (played by Fredric March) was a regular soldier during the war and comes back to work in a bank. The third man (played by Harold Russell) was a star athlete in school before the war then a sailor and lost both of his hands. Each man has to go from being a soldier back into a civilian. They have to also deal with the changes that occurred within themselves as well as their family, loved ones and everyone else on the homefront. Not only are their physical changes in their hometown, but also emotional ones - ie. dealing with people's stance that the war is over, forget it and move on.

 

Even though this movie was made in 1946 and is about World War 2 it contains the same themes that have affected every war before and since and the men and women who served in the military. Back in World War 2 every American was either fighting in the war, had a family member in the war or knew someone who was in the war and so it affected every household and people took notice. Nowadays, soldiers are coming back from numerous deployments in warzones and most Americans don't even notice. I heard on a PBS show called "The Draft" (about the military draft during Vietnam in the 1960s-70s) that from World War 1 through Vietnam people took more notice about the wars, etc that were going on because their husbands, sons, fathers, etc were liable to be drafted to go fight in it.  In 1973 the draft ended and for the past 40 years ordinary Americans have focused on themselves and given little thought to the men and women risking everything for them. The program also said that less than 1% of all Americans know anyone who is a soldier nowadays and since it doesn't directly affect them they don't pay much attention to the outside world.

 

Soldiers today face the same issues and problems coming back from war and trying to rejoin the civilian life as they did back in the 1940s when this movie was made. More needs to be done by the Government, the VA, the military, businesses as well as the American people to help returning soldiers deal with all the emotional, physical and financial issues so they can transition more easily into civilian life.