VETERANS' DAY: LIEUTENANT COLUMBO

Today is Veteran's Day, and as we hope it is to be a tradition here at Inner Toob, we're saluting a particular TV character who served TV-America ("Telemerica") in the military. (On Memorial Day, we remember a TV character whom we've since lost.) In the past, we've honored Admiral Harriman Nelson ('Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea'), Mac Tyler ('CSI:NY') and Leroy Jethro Gibbs ('NCIS') and last year, Major Margaret Houlihan ('M*A*S*H').

This year we're saluting Lieutenant 'Columbo' of the Los Angeles Police Department, Homicide division. Not much is known about his service in the Army during the Korean War - if you do a search online for info, you'll find the same sentence over and over again which was gleaned from the book "The Columbo Phile" by Mark Dawidziak:

"After serving in the Army during the Korean War, Columbo joined the New York police force and was assigned to the 12th precinct."

(This is one of the few places that gives proper credit for that information... information... information.)

At least three of the murderers he investigated had connections to the Korean Conflict as well: General Martin Hollister, actor Ward Fowler, and double agent Nelson Brenner.

We may not have more details about his service in Korea (Columbo kept things close to the vest), but I can send you to a site that has an excellent fanfic story about his time there. And best of all for Toobworld, it has a connection to a certain other show that was set in Korea during the war.....

DISCHARGE BY DEATH

(Has a nice Quinn Martin feel to that title, doesn't it?)

Think of all the other TV characters he might have met over there - Jim Rockford, Bob Hartley, Don Draper - oops! I mean, Dick Whitman.....

And when you finish that story, and if you're interested in more along those lines for 'Columbo' stories, check out the rest of Martin's site,

JUST ONE MORE PARAGRAPH.

So here's to you, Lieutenant Columbo. Toobworld Central salutes you and your service to your country.

BCnU!

PS

The image of Peter Falk in wartime is anachronistic, not to mention from the Cineverse and not from Toobworld. It's from the movie "Anzio".