G.I. Joe and I

Born in 1964, the same year as G.I. Joe, I was lucky to catch the tail-end of the original military series when my mom received a hand-me-down Hasbro footlocker full of G.I. treasure from a co-worker whose son allegedly had outgrown the stuff.  Chances are that poor kid has regretted it ever since!  I never made that mistake and tenaciously hung onto nearly every piece of a considerable collection from the A.T. era, although it all eventually went into boxes in a dusty garage c. 1976. 

Fast-forward to 2003, by which time my continued interest in military things had led to a degree in history and a great job teaching at a community college.  Christmas shopping for my son, I discovered the new line of Joes and bought him one.  Although he has yet to develop any great enthusiasm for 1/6 adventure, he played along with good humor when dad began buying new Joes for himself in summer 2004, mostly on eBay, as well as retrieving the original collection from Grandma’s garage, where it would not have survived much longer otherwise.

Our collection now includes many dozens of figures and several vehicles with main emphasis on the period 1898-1945, especially U.S. Marines, British, and Japanese.  Not only my family, but also students in my history courses have learned to smile and nod patiently during quirky 1/6 show-and-tell sessions.  Silly?  Sure.  But by Jingo, they’re more likely to remember Theodore Roosevelt and Douglas MacArthur after playing with them in class!