Diary of a Sergeant, 1945

[NurseJackie]

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Creator(s): Department of Defense. Department of the Army. Office of the Chief Signal Officer. (09/18/1947 - 02/28/1964) (Most Recent)

Series : Documentary Films, compiled ca. 1914 - ca. 1944
Record Group 111: Records of the Office of the Chief Signal Officer, 1860 - 1985

Production Date: 1945

Access Restriction(s): Unrestricted
Use Restriction(s): Restricted - Possibly
Note: Some or all of this material may be restricted by copyright or other intellectual property rights restrictions.

Scope & Content: This film on the rehabilitation of an injured soldier who lost his hands in action stars Harold Russell, the Academy Award-winning lead actor in "Best Years of Our Lives." In this film, Harold Russell plays an American soldier who lost his hands in a training accident and goes on to tell the story of his medical rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington D.C. The scenes show how he and his fellow amputees at the hospital at first despaired, and then found new hope in the prostheses and training available to amputees through the Army's medical corps. Russell learned to wear and to operate the hooks which replaced his hands, and became competent to perform many tasks he had once thought no longer possible.

[Harker]

1. Timely choice.

Unfortunately, the Liar-in-Chief would never watch it.

[FailureToCommunicate]

2. Harold Russell was my father's friend and board member

of his disability organization. Russell was a great, and also funny guy. Always ready with a joke or self deprecating bon mot.

His acting in “Best Years of Our Lives” is so poignant, and earned him Oscars.

[NurseJackie]

3. That's where I first became aware of him...

... I love that movie so much! How wonderful that you and your father had such a personal connection to him. Thanks for sharing this.

[FailureToCommunicate]

4. This scene that gets me every time. "I know what to say Homer. I love you, and

I'll never leave you..." spoken by his girlfriend in the film- Wilma - after Homer is assuming she'll just leave him now that he's returned from war missing his hands.

It gets me because I think my mother probably said something similar to my father, a WW ll chaplain, missing both arms.

Her father said to her, when he learned of her new love for my father: "You walk along a path in the woods... and why do you have to pick up the broken branch?"

Luckily for me -and my four brothers- she ignored her father's disapproval and married my father anyway. And never left him.

[NurseJackie]

5. Thank you for sharing that...

... how wonderful! 💖💕🤗😘💏🌹