Having been discharged from the Marines for a hayfever condition before ever seeing action, Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) delays the return to his hometown, feeling that he is a failure. While in a moment of melancholy, he meets up with a group of Marines who befriend him and encourage him to return home to his mother by fabricating a story that he was wounded in battle with honorable discharge. They make him wear a uniform complete with medals and is pushed by his new friends into accepting a Hero's welcome when he gets home where he is to be immortalized by a statue that he doesn't want, has songs written about his heroic battle stories, and ends up unwillingly running for mayor. Despite his best efforts to explain the truth, no one will listen.
Eddie Bracken | Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith |
Ella Raines | Libby |
Raymond Walburn | Mayor Everett D. Noble |
William Demarest | Sgt. Heppelfinger |
Franklin Pangborn | Committee Chairman |
Elizabeth Patterson | Libby's Aunt |
John F. Seitz | Cinematographer |
Georgia Caine | Mrs. Truesmith |
Stuart Gilmore | Editor |
Al Bridge | Political Boss (as Alan Bridge) |
Freddie Steele | Bugsy |
Bill Edwards | Forrest Noble |
Harry Hayden | Doc Bissell |
Jimmy Conlin | Judge Dennis |
Jimmie Dundee | Cpl. Candida |
Chester Conklin | Western Union Man |
Esther Howard | Mrs. Noble |
Eddie Hall | Man Swigging Beer at the Bar (uncredited) |
Tom McGuire | Town Councilman (uncredited) |
Frank Moran | Town Painter (uncredited) |
Dewey Robinson | Train Conductor (uncredited) |
Robert Warwick | Marine Colonel (uncredited) |
Miriam Nelson | Tap Dancer |
Werner R. Heymann | Original Music Composer |
George Anderson | Bartender |
William Brandt | One of the Guardsmen |
Haldane Douglas | Art Direction |
Nora Cecil | Train Ticket Clerk |
James Damore | Pfc. Jones |
Hans Dreier | Art Direction |
Stephen Seymour | Set Decoration |
Pauline Drake | Telephone Operator |
Edith Head | Costume Design |
Dot Farley | Mamie's Mother |
Wally Westmore | Makeup Artist |
Jim Farley | Undetermined Secondary Role |
Franklyn Farnum | Town Councilman |
Maxine Fife | Daughter of Colonel |
Bess Flowers | Woman at Train Station |
Julie Gibson | Singer |
Kenneth Gibson | Town Councilman |
Stephen Gregory | Pfc. Bill Swenson |
The Guardsmen | Singing Quartet |
Mildred Harris | Wife of Marine Colonel |
Len Hendry | Pfc. Juke Gillette |
Arthur Hoyt | Rev. Upperman |
Earl Hunsaker | One of the Guardsmen |
Henry Iblings | One of the Guardsmen |
Tiny Jones | Townswoman |
Allen Kay | Village Photographer |
Ida Kitaeva | Dancer |
Dudley Kuzelle | One of the Guardsmen |
Philo McCullough | Town Councilman |
George Melford | Sheriff |
Torben Meyer | Mr. Schultz |
Charles R. Moore | The Porter |
Marjean Neville | Mamie |
Jack Norton | Second Bandleader |
'Snub' Pollard | Townsman |
Paul Porcasi | Cafe Owner |
Victor Potel | Progressive Bandleader |
Merrill Rodin | Alfie |
John Sinclair | American Legion Bandleader |
Hal Taggart | Townsman |