Poster boy

Vet donates World War II advertisement to Valley group

March 6, 2007

By SHARON G. McBRIDE

Frontiersman

WASILLA - He was just trying to get home to see his mama before he went off to war, and he ended up on a poster for future generations to see.

Homer Thacker, 87, a World War II veteran, was traveling home to West Virginia in 1942 after completing pre-deployment training at Fort Knox, Ky., when someone snapped his photo while he was traveling on the train.

&#8220My buddy and I were wondering what that was all about,” Thacker said. &#8220We didn't know it was the federal government. Later, we saw ourselves on posters at all the post offices, and when we went to the movies they flashed it up on the big screen. We thought we were movie stars.”

At 21, he was far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, but was headed to a war that claimed millions of service members.

&#8220We weren't thinking about dying,” Thacker said.

&#8220I just made sergeant. I sat on the arm rail for two-and-half-hours on that train ride. But it was worth it. I wanted to see my mother.”

Thacker said the trains were always overcrowded those days.

&#8220The government was transporting troops to two coasts,” he said.

&#8220The train I was on was headed to Washington, D.C. They wanted all the trains to transport troops.”

Thacker finally was able to get a copy of the poster nearly 65 years later, which he donated to the local AMVETS Post 11 earlier this month. Thacker, who now resides in Wasilla, came to Alaska in 2003 to live with his son.

The poster was one of thousands created by the government during World War II that preached &#8220to mobilize the home front, … to be thrifty with goods and services, recycling metals and other materials, growing and storing food at home, obeying price and ration controls, and buying war bonds,” according to a World War II poster site.

Money and supplies were indeed scarce, and back then a sergeant made only $52 a month, he said.

&#8220I supported my mother on that,” he said. &#8220And when I got out of the Army, I saved up enough money to buy a Chevrolet for just a little over a thousand dollars.”

Thacker served with Patton's Own, Third Army for three years. He later medically retired after receiving injuries during the war.

&#8220We just did what we had to do,” he said.

&#8220Never once have I regretted my military service.”

Contact Sharon G. McBride at 352-2250 or sharon.mcbride@frontiersman.com.