# Why do so many American servicemen in WWII look so old? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 31, 2015, 4:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231 "2015-10-31T04:00:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/61 "2015-11-05T10:45:41Z")
What about WWII would be complete without a mention of Eugene Sledge? In case someone is not aware of him, he wrote a memoir about his war in the Pacific. it’s been the basis of many, many documentaries and docudramas (“The Pacific” by HBO) and is pretty much the infantryman’s bible as far as WWII goes. Just thought I would post a link to his [online collection of memorabilia](http://diglib.auburn.edu/collections/ebsledge/)—photos, letter exchanges etc. Lots of photos of young men looking very, very old! If ever a truer tale were told about the horrors of being shot at and shooting back, this is it. ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/62 "2015-11-05T18:56:18Z")
> [@bump](#): > > In my grandfather’s case, his squadron photo (549th of 385th bomb group flying B-17s out of Great Ashfield), was taken at the hairiest part of the air war over Germany; sometime between early September 1943 and Dec 31, 1943, so I imagine you’re definitely right as far as the facial expressions go. > > But overall, wartime photos notwithstanding, I’m pretty sure that it’s mostly facial expressions. Look at[this photo of today’s Rangers](http://specialoperations.com/447/usasoc/), and they look old, yet most of those guys are like E-4 - E6 (with the exception of the Colonel in front), which would probably imply mid-20s, yet there’s not _much_ difference between those guys and the likely mid-late 40s colonel standing leftmost in the shot. The Rangers look older, but unfortunately in this photo most of them are squinting by necessity and a lot of their faces are hidden by their berets. I wonder what they would look like face-on, no hats and in a studio in a black and white photo. ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/63 "2015-11-05T18:58:47Z")
> [@russian\_heel](#): > > So it’s not at all feasible that compared to today, lower health care standards, more disease, less nutritional info, less government assistance, harsher working conditions. Etc etc could cause many people from this era to age faster than if they were the same age today? My dad drank and smoked (the latter a bit more than most) but he lasted to 86 (born in 1922, died in 2009). He was not overweight and he walked for 30 minutes a day for most of his years after age 60 or so. ---
**Author:** ![Kamakiri](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f04885/32.png) [@Kamakiri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamakiri)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2015, 7:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/64 "2015-11-05T19:02:34Z")
> [@astro](#): > > This. Many men smoked like chimneys and it beats the living crap out of your face. Regular smokers often have faces that look 10 years older than non smokers the same age. Smoking probably killed FDR, Stalin, Churchill (well, obesity helped the latter two) and, thinking about it, probably shortened the lives of entire generations who were born in the years 1900—1950. I myself (1957) smoked like a chimney for ten years (age 15—25) before I saw the light. Most of my father’s generation who smoked [smoked until they died.](https://youtu.be/D-y_N4u0uRQ) ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/65 "2015-11-07T04:10:29Z")
> [@Kamakiri](#): > > Smoking probably killed FDR, Stalin, Churchill (well, obesity helped the latter two) and, thinking about it, probably shortened the lives of entire generations who were born in the years 1900—1950. I myself (1957) smoked like a chimney for ten years (age 15—25) before I saw the light. Most of my father’s generation who smoked [smoked until they died.](https://youtu.be/D-y_N4u0uRQ) Churchill lived to be 90. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/66 "2015-11-07T05:21:00Z")
> [@Jim\_s\_Son](#): > > Churchill lived to be 90. If he just hadn’t smoked, he might still be here! ---
**Author:** ![russian\_heel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f05b48/32.png) [@russian\_heel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/russian_heel)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 9:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/67 "2015-11-07T09:10:47Z")
he . . . had to have . . . that one last damned cigar . . . Good point about the smoking. I don’t care what anyone says, smoking ages you prematurely. So does drinking, and man, people from back in the day would drink all day long. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/68 "2015-11-07T11:55:42Z")
> [@WF\_Tomba](#): > > Dental and orthodontic care (or the lack thereof) can really change the appearance of the mouth. I wonder if young men back then had more crooked teeth, or fewer teeth in their mouths than we would expect today. Both. Braces for purely cosmetic reasons didn’t become common in the US until the '70s, and many people’s idea of a dental visit was asking someone to yank out the offending tooth. A guy I used to know was shocked when, joining the US Army in the late 1980s, he was assigned to work as a dental assistant and encountered black and missing teeth in teenagers. Previously he’d moved among the top 10%: those soldiers were from the bottom 10 and many of them had not had previous access to any dental care. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_s\_Son](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19adc/32.png) [@Jim\_s\_Son](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_s_Son)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2015, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/69 "2015-11-07T14:48:02Z")
Looking at a small sample size, for decades John Adams was the U.S. President who lived the longest reaching 90. Herbert Hoover reached 90 but Adams’s record lasted until the World War II era had Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford reach 93. Jimmy Carter and George H. W. Bush are younger but still served in the military in WWII and are both 91. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/70 "2015-12-08T00:52:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I don’t think it’s just WWII or even B&W photos. I noticed a long time ago that people photographed in general in times gone by tend to look older than their present-day counterparts of an equal age. Just spotted this article with composites taken from high school yearbook photos over the last century or so, which may provide evidence about any change in appearances over that time period. [History of the American yearbook photo](http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2015/12/07/history_of_the_american_yearbook_photo.html) ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/71 "2015-12-08T03:23:12Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I don’t think it’s just WWII or even B&W photos. I noticed a long time ago that people photographed in general in times gone by tend to look older than their present-day counterparts of an equal age. Our brains are exquisitely adapted to sense small differences in human faces (see ‘Uncanny Valley’). So, I think we are just seeing small differences in things like hair styles and facial expressions which change over time and vary like fashions. For an extreme example, think of today’s ‘Fish lips’ and ‘Duck face’ selfies that seems to fill my Facebook feed. Less extreme expressions and poses are part of older photos. Couple that with the fact that WWII photos are of are parents and grandparents - who we always think of as old - and we automatically age the photos we see of others. Another example popped into my mind tonight as I watched an episode of Last Man on Earth. In that show, January Jones looks like a twenty-something who could be my daughter. Yet in Mad Men, she looks old to me - like the friends of my mother in the 50s and 60s. Same person, just different hair, makeup and expressions. ---
**Author:** ![race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c4cdca/32.png) [@race\_to\_the\_bottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/race_to_the_bottom)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2015, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/72 "2015-12-08T20:04:03Z")
My uncle was born in 1899 and was drafted for WWII. ---
**Author:** ![mlees](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba8739/32.png) [@mlees](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mlees)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/73 "2015-12-09T14:57:22Z")
> [@UncaStuart](#): > > Gotta say “me too” on this. > > For another submission in the WWII photos examples, [here’s](http://i1257.photobucket.com/albums/ii506/biddyguck/98MissionsLoRez.jpg) my dad at 23 and then at 24. In the 15 months between the two shots, he had shipped out to New Guinea, flew 98 combat missions, got malaria and dysentery. It may be just me, but I think the in the 24 shot he looks quite a bit older than one more year. I don’t see it. The earlier photo isn’t quite in focus, so the lines in his face/forhead are harder to see. To me, in the later photo, the only difference that I can see is that your dad looks like he lost a little weight, got a haircut, and isn’t smiling. (And his shirt isn’t buttoned up.) ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2015, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231/74 "2015-12-09T16:50:39Z")
> [@mlees](#): > > I don’t see it. > > The earlier photo isn’t quite in focus, so the lines in his face/forhead are harder to see. > > To me, in the later photo, the only difference that I can see is that your dad looks like he lost a little weight, got a haircut, and isn’t smiling. (And his shirt isn’t buttoned up.) Me neither. It’s the lighting, in the 24 picture it accentuates the lines, whereas the 23 picture is flatly lit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-so-many-american-servicemen-in-wwii-look-so-old/736231.md?page=3)