[John Beaman]

Originally Posted by fsbofk

Ah yes . . . how fondly I remember that show. Every Tuesday night at 7:30, my brother and I would be all washed up after dinner, pjs on, and ready to watch Combat (and then hit the sack when it was over). Great stories, authentic equipment (at least to an 11 year old's eyes), cool sound effects (I still remember the sound of the M-1, though it didn't sound like it does in more recent movies), good characters (but you always knew the new guy was going to get killed by the end of the show), whistleable theme song, and educational too (that's how I learned what a Cajun was !). And, then my brother and I would be ready to play army the next weekend with the other guys on the block, using our dads' helmets, belts, and canteens, running up and down the neighborhood and everyone's backyards "shooting" each other with our arsenal of Mattel Tommy Guns, Parris Springfields, Defenden Dan machine gun, and Remco bazooka (there was always competition to see who could "die" the most dramatically; had to count to 50 before we could get back up). Strangely, I haven't seen an episode since its original run on TV, even though it's been on cable (though not my service), and I haven't bought the DVDs (yet). I did buy a book a few years ago called Combat! A Viewer's Companion to the Classic TV Series by Jo Davidsmeyer (Forward written by Rick "Lt. Hanley" Jason) ISBN 0-9640338-4-4. It tells the whole story of the show - creation, actor bios, season-by-season story summaries, with lots of photos. If you bought the DVD set, you'll want this book (probably available through Amazon).

Gee, you had all that neat equipment--I'm jealous. We had to use dirt clods and green pine cones! Still have a scar from a direct hit of one of those!