[RightOnline]

By the time G.I. Joe rolled around, I was nearing 10 years of age and remember eschewing ol' Joe because I believed that "only girls played with dolls!!!" No, we played with toy guns...........HUGE, whole neighborhood "war games". He with the coolest gun(s) ruled. It was great.

Try THAT today in neighborhoods like the one I live in, where everyone's just a tad too prissy (yes, men included).

[centexan]

Toy maker Hasbro first debuted G.I. Joe in 1964 and named the action figure after the movie, "The Story Of G.I. JOE."

That movie is based on Ernie Pyle's writings and the title role of Captain Walker, played by Robert Mitchum, was based on my Uncle, Capt. Henry Waskow. Pyle wrote what was probably his most famous story relating the tale of Capt. Waskow's body being brought down the mountain by mule and of his troops saying goodbye to their Captain.