November 11th is Veterans Day here in the United States, a federal holiday honoring those U.S. military veterans who honorably served in America's armed forces.
It also happens to be the name of a special half-hour episode of the Hey Arnold! animated series (season 4, episode 71) written by Hey Arnold! show writer Steve Viksten and directed by Tim Parsons (storyboard) and Christine Kolosov (animation) respectively. It originally aired on Saturday, November 6, 1999.
Classic animated television series shows like What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? -- another favorite of mine which I covered in a previous blog post -- have explored those who fell in military service and remembering their sacrifices, but the Hey Arnold! Veterans Day episode is one of the very few animated stories that actually deals with the subject of military veterans and their experiences.
Its also one of my personal favorite special episodes of the series for just that reason and why I'm making it the subject of today's blog post.
The Story
It's Veterans Day weekend and Arnold and Gerald are having trouble deciding how to spend their extra day off from school.
At dinner that night at the Sunset Arms Boarding House, Arnold's Grandpa, Phil,
wants to tell his story of how he fought during the Battle of the Bulge and helped defeat the Nazis in
World War II, only to be met with disinterest -- largely because he's known to tell some pretty tall tales and stretch the truth more than a little bit.
This annoys Phil and
he sadly goes to eat his dessert, only to discover it missing having been stolen by one of the boarders, Oscar.
Phil takes Arnold to nearby Slausen's Ice Cream Shop where they
run into Gerald and his father, Martin.
While Arnold and Gerald play a video game, Phil tells Martin about
how no one wanted to listen to his story. Martin sympathizes, having
served in the Vietnam War and never getting to tell anyone about his
own experiences. They lament that everyone in
Hillwood just treats Veterans Day as a day off from school and work.
Then, realizing that Washington, D.C. is just a short drive away, they decide to take the
boys on a paternal-bonding trip to the nation's capitol to teach them the real meaning of the holiday and
tell their war stories. Gerald is excited to hear about his dad's
experiences while Arnold thinks his grandpa will just tell more tall
tales, but still excited over the idea of the trip.
The next day the four set out on the drive to Washington, D.C. and the two older men tell their stories.
Phil goes first and relates his experience during
the Battle of the Bulge where he served as a private and spent most of his time apparently on KP duty peeling potatoes. Phil was then sent under orders to dump some spoiled cans of Cham (a play on Spam),
he got lost forcing him to spend the night at a farmhouse -- and apparently getting some uh, late-night companionship with one of the farmer's daughters in the barn (a story which Martin thankfully interjects in and tells Phil to skip over in front of the boys). Phil, realizing that maybe that part of the story isn't appropriate for a pair of nine-year-olds to hear, quickly skips ahead simply stating, "The next day I woke up feeling like a million bucks."
Yeah, that's 90s cartoons for y'all.
The next day after leaving the farmhouse and a weepy young woman waving him goodbye, Phil's truck blew a tire. He then initially tells a typically
over-the-top story involving his single-handedly defeating Adolf Hitler in a
hilarious slapstick fistfight that included a classic Three Stooges eye-poke and giving the goofy-mustached SOB a super wedgie, but Arnold calls him out on making that part up.
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| Hey Arnold, it was funny dude... just chill. |
Phil relents and then tells
them that he was actually captured by an entire German regiment. Upon
discovering the food supplies, he managed to convince them -- through a good bit of reverse psychology -- that the cans of Cham were
regular provisions which the enemy then consumes. The Nazi regiment then falls ill with
violent food poisoning, taking them out of commission and creating a breach in the enemy lines. The Allies
managed to get their troops through the breach and it was vital to helping
them win the battle and end the war....or so Arnold's Grandpa claims, concluding his tall tale.
Next Martin tells his story and Gerald is eager to hear if his experience
was just as exciting. However, Gerald is disappointed to learn that his
dad, due to being sick with the flu during most of basic training,
mostly just worked as a desk clerk and saw very little actual combat.
The closest he got to combat was driving through an area where a battle
had taken place and finding a man only named Private Miller in the episode who
was bleeding. Martin used some files to make a bandage for him and went
on his way.
After stopping over at a motel later that night, Arnold is convinced that Phil's story was all made up while Gerald dismisses his dad's job as a
paper pusher, something Mr. Johanssen is sad to overhear.
The group makes it to Washington, D.C. the next day and visits several
monuments -- among them Arlington National Cemetery -- and watches the Veterans Day parade together.
Phil and
Arnold wonder off on their own in the woods so Phil can show Arnold
something. He shows Arnold a monument of him that confirms his story. Arnold is happy to learn his Grandpa really was a hero and he can
(kinda) tell a mostly honest story.
Meanwhile, Martin and Gerald are at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall. Martin tells Gerald he knows that Gerald's disappointed that he wasn't a
big war hero, but Gerald says it's okay and he knows his dad did his
best.
Right after this, they are approached by the same Private Miller
that Martin met back in Vietnam. It turns out that Miller was bleeding
to death when Martin came across him and his emergency first-aid
ultimately ended up saving his life. Private Miller goes on to explain
that he's been waiting twenty years to personally thank him for saving
his life, which Martin is very touched by.
Martin introduces Gerald to
Private Miller, who claims that Gerald's dad is a real hero. Private
Miller then introduces his own family (his wife and their son and
daughter) to Martin and Gerald. Private Miller's wife and daughter seem
very moved while his son salutes Gerald's dad. Both families then watch the
big fireworks presentation as the episode concludes.
My Thoughts
The message in this episode is a powerful one that does not glorify war, but rather the service of the individual soldier. Both stories show that no job is unimportant and that the definition of a "hero" means quite different things for every person.
"Being a veteran’s not about carrying a weapon or fighting in battles," Martin explains to Gerald. "It’s about service to your country, and there’s a lot
of ways you can serve."
As always, the creators and writers for the series Hey Arnold! pulled off a powerful message with just enough humor mixed in with the dramatic elements. Y'all should definitely check this episode out, especially today.
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| Happy U.S. Veterans Day Today, Y'all! |
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