I remember sitting glumly through the monotonous ceremony, noting that the underachieving goofballs who had done as little schoolwork as possible were getting the exact same diploma I was getting. I was only a middling student in those days, so I wasn't receiving any special accolades or awards. My own high school graduation ceremony in May 1993 was a dull, hollow experience for a number of reasons.įirst and foremost, my mother had died a few months earlier, so my family and I were still very much in mourning. Truthfully, though, I don't think they're missing out on anything too spectacular. They may feel they're being denied an important milestone in their lives, and maybe they're right. I sympathize with all the kids across America who don't get to have a real graduation ceremony this year because of the pandemic. Jason Wingreen guest stars on a 1977 episode of Happy Days. Maybe I would have been fragged.Īnyway, here's our newest show. Sometimes I wonder, though, how my life would have been different. I registered for Selective Service when I turned 18, naturally, but I never got closer than that. The draft had been eliminated by the time I came along. My dad served a few years in the Navy in the 1960s, but he enlisted because otherwise he'd have been drafted. I never got anywhere near the military, which is probably best for both me and the military. Only Potsie - simple-minded, useless Potsie - would forever remain a civilian. (It was a convenient reason to write actors Ron Howard and Donny Most out of the show.) Fonz did, too, but only in one of the show's animated spinoffs, and I think the military let him keep his trademark pompadour and leather jacket. Fortunately for the Happy Days gang, America was kind of between wars at the time.Įventually on Happy Days, both Richie and Ralph would join the Army.
(Watch how you pronounce his name!) But there's a serious side, too, as Richie's mother Marion worries about her boy being sent to die overseas in a war. Happy Days mostly plays these events for goofball comedy, with character actor Warren Berlinger appearing as the buffoonish Sgt. Specifically, "The Physical" from Februhas Richie, Fonzie, Ralph, and Potsie all reporting to an Army induction center for their physicals. Warren Berlinger (at right) bullies the Happy Days gang in "The Physical."Ī ppropriately enough, since Memorial Day was yesterday, our new episode of These Days Are Ours: A Happy Days Podcast deals with a military-themed episode of the sitcom.
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