Woodrow Lafayette Pershing Truesmith (Eddie Bracken) is a small town boy whose father, "Mademoiselle from Armentières" Truesmith, was a United States Marine Corps who died a hero in World War I. Woodrow has been discharged from the Marine Corps after only a month owing to his chronic hay fever. Rather than disappoint his mother (Georgia Caine), he pretends to be fighting overseas in World War II while secretly working in a San Diego shipyard.