ramblin_rosie (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
ramblin_rosie) wrote2014-07-25 02:12 am
ramblin_rosie) wrote2014-07-25 02:12 am
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Brain dump re: Henry Winchester
For some reason, my brain got stuck on the subject of Henry's backstory tonight. So have some headcanon.
Firmest headcanon: Henry did not see combat in WWII or Korea.
I think this for two reasons. One, I know enough veterans to find it hard to believe that anyone who had been on the front lines would react the way Henry did to Abaddon's attack. Two, he says, "The adventures I prefer are usually literary in nature." Had he been a combat veteran, he more likely would have said something like, "I haven't seen a bloodbath like that since [Anzio/Peleileu/Omaha Beach/whatever]"--or even "Since the war, the adventures I prefer...."
(Corollary headcanon: Samuel Campbell was Regular Army, and Cuthbert Sinclair was sent to infiltrate the SS and got a little too into his part.)
Now, there are several ways Henry could have avoided combat. The one I prefer, as you may have seen in my fics, is age-related. If Henry turned 18 after V-J Day, he obviously couldn't have served during WWII; that would also make him 30-ish in 1958, which I think would square with his rank within the Men of Letters. As for Korea, married men were exempt from the draft at the war's start, and though the rules changed partway through the war, married men with children remained exempt. John was probably born somewhere between 1950 and 1954, so Henry was clearly married before then and thus exempt from service for the entire war.
But what if Henry was old enough to serve in WWII--if, say, he was 36 in 1958? That would mean he turned 18 in 1940. But that still doesn't automatically mean he would have seen combat.
- He could have had a health problem that rendered him 4F.
- Regardless of health, he could have served his entire hitch away from the front lines, in Intelligence or some other non-combat mode of service. I could see him as a cryptographer, for example.
- He could have been married already, and thus exempt from the draft.
- He could have received a deferment because of being in college.
- We don't know anything about the rest of his family. If he was an only child (or had only sisters) and if his father had died, he would have been exempt as the only son of a widowed mother.
- And of course, because he's a legacy, there's always the possibility that his father or someone else in the Men of Letters pulled strings on his behalf. That's the least honorable option, IMO, but it doesn't rule out the possibility of his case being like John Wayne's--Duke wanted to serve, but John Ford insisted that he not be allowed even to enlist.
So there we are. :D
Firmest headcanon: Henry did not see combat in WWII or Korea.
I think this for two reasons. One, I know enough veterans to find it hard to believe that anyone who had been on the front lines would react the way Henry did to Abaddon's attack. Two, he says, "The adventures I prefer are usually literary in nature." Had he been a combat veteran, he more likely would have said something like, "I haven't seen a bloodbath like that since [Anzio/Peleileu/Omaha Beach/whatever]"--or even "Since the war, the adventures I prefer...."
(Corollary headcanon: Samuel Campbell was Regular Army, and Cuthbert Sinclair was sent to infiltrate the SS and got a little too into his part.)
Now, there are several ways Henry could have avoided combat. The one I prefer, as you may have seen in my fics, is age-related. If Henry turned 18 after V-J Day, he obviously couldn't have served during WWII; that would also make him 30-ish in 1958, which I think would square with his rank within the Men of Letters. As for Korea, married men were exempt from the draft at the war's start, and though the rules changed partway through the war, married men with children remained exempt. John was probably born somewhere between 1950 and 1954, so Henry was clearly married before then and thus exempt from service for the entire war.
But what if Henry was old enough to serve in WWII--if, say, he was 36 in 1958? That would mean he turned 18 in 1940. But that still doesn't automatically mean he would have seen combat.
- He could have had a health problem that rendered him 4F.
- Regardless of health, he could have served his entire hitch away from the front lines, in Intelligence or some other non-combat mode of service. I could see him as a cryptographer, for example.
- He could have been married already, and thus exempt from the draft.
- He could have received a deferment because of being in college.
- We don't know anything about the rest of his family. If he was an only child (or had only sisters) and if his father had died, he would have been exempt as the only son of a widowed mother.
- And of course, because he's a legacy, there's always the possibility that his father or someone else in the Men of Letters pulled strings on his behalf. That's the least honorable option, IMO, but it doesn't rule out the possibility of his case being like John Wayne's--Duke wanted to serve, but John Ford insisted that he not be allowed even to enlist.
So there we are. :D