p 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 三九 s welcome when he gets home where he is to be immortalized by a statue that he doesn 三九 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 p