In 1917
New York City, actor and dancer Jerry Jones is drafted into the
US Army, where he is encouraged by his superiors at nearby
Camp Upton to stage a musical revue for boosting morale. The production,
Yip Yip Yaphank, which features an all-soldier cast, is a rousing success, but one night orders are received to leave immediately for France; instead of the finale, the troops march up the aisles through the audience, out the theater's main entrance and into a convoy of waiting trucks. Among the teary, last-minute goodbyes, Jerry kisses his newlywed bride Ethel farewell. Overseas, in the trenches of France, several cast members from the production are killed or wounded by shrapnel from a German artillery barrage. Jerry is wounded in the leg and is forced to walk with a cane, prematurely ending his career as a dancer. Nevertheless, he is resolved to find something useful to do with his life, especially after being informed that he is now the father of a son, and eventually establishes a theatrical agency. Eddie Dibble, the troop bugler, is also among the survivors. Twenty-five years later, World War II is raging in Europe. Jerry's son Johnny P. Jones, previously his father's assistant, enlists in the Army shortly after
Pearl Harbor. He informs his sweetheart, Eddie's daughter, Eileen Dibble, that they cannot marry until he returns, as he has recently visited the family of soldier Blake Nelson, who was killed during the attack, and is unwilling to make her a widow. Many of the World War I veterans, including Jerry, Eddie and their friend Maxie Twardofsky, visit Camp Upton, discovering that their old instructor, Sergeant McGee, is still training soldiers. The older men decide to put on another show, entitled
This Is the Army, to raise money for the Army Relief Fund. Johnny reluctantly agrees to stage it. The show becomes massively popular, goes on tour throughout the United States, and eventually plays in
Washington, D.C., in front of President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt. During the show, it is announced that this is the final performance. The soldiers in the production learn that they have been ordered back to their combat units. Having recently joined the
Red Cross auxiliary, Eileen appears backstage and confesses to Johnny that she finally understands the risks of marrying a soldier. On stage, the former stars of
Yip Yip Yaphank perform a song-and-dance number, with Jerry appearing with them despite his injured leg. During an intermission in the show she brings a
minister and persuades Johnny that they should marry immediately; they proceed to do so in the alley behind the theater, with their fathers acting as witnesses. At the end of the show, the men simulate marching off to the front as their fathers did before them. ==Cast==