My husband deployed when our son was just a few months old, and this homecoming reminds me of ours. The baby had no clue who Daddy was, and as a wife, you fight the urge to jump all over them, because after a long absence they almost feel like strangers!

This picture was taken around a year after my grandfather was born. About how old that baby looks to be. The man smoking in the window on the far left is pretty awesome.

Military personnel were not permitted to wear wedding rings or jewellery with the exception of necklaces with religious symbols, and wristwatches. Rings pose a very real danger when becoming snagged and ripping fingers off.

This great photo makes me wonder what it was like for my grandfather when he came back home to his tiny town in Oklahoma after WW I. He was in the 36th Infantry Division, the 131st Machine Gun battalion, and participated in the Argonne Forest and St. Mihiel campaigns. What an education for a boy fresh off the farm! He recalled Pershing reviewing his division in Paris! He would never discuss the war...and later developed symptoms of what we know today as PTSD, from which he recovered.

She's a beauty, but she's keeping her distance and looking noncommittal.

looks a lot like a young Sophia Loren.

Hmm. "Daddy" is not wearing a ring. I don't think he's the father of this tyke. Might have just been a photo-op with a newly returned soldier. That would explain the impatient look on the mother's face.

[Just because a guy isn't wearing a wedding band doesn't mean he's not married. And vice versa. Generally speaking, when it comes to historical photos, the presence or absence of a ring on a man or woman is an unreliable indicator of trothedeness. - Dave]

Such a happy occasion caught on film [glass] for history. Baby has mother's chin and daddy's eyes. The mother is absolutely stunning! No wonder the dad is so happy to see her again.

I did a double take when I saw this photograph because the lovely lady on the right looks so much like my mother in her youth. Interesting that we can only see her in profile, and yet we can tell she is beautiful.

and a cute baby too. Careful, he bites!

The soldier's wristwatch, or "trench watch," was basically a pocket watch on a strap issued to servicemen during World War I. While wristwatches existed prior to the war, the act of giving so many to soldiers really helped hasten the demise of pocket watches.

The happy occasion, the expressions on the faces, the composition and clarity of the whole shot make this a Shorpy masterpiece.

Thank you!

That is one lucky soldier. He made it back home, he's got a healthy kid, and his adoring wife is a flippin' fox!

The stylish, attractive lady on the right -- presumably the wife and mother -- doesn't look very happy about the homecoming.

And I'm not taklin' about grandma on the left. Yeooza what a looker!

They have exactly the same grimace on their faces.

This picture has it all. A moment in time for a group of people.

Dad doesn't know how to hold the baby but is obviously happy. Perhaps Grandma and a brother to the left. Happy too.
Random sailor who likes the scene. The guy upper left with the cigarette could care less but what a shot of him contemplating his world.

The best part, Mom. She's a beauty dressed to the nines surveying the scene with a diaper at the ready for anything that happens.

Norman Rockwell's America.

My dad was born in 1919 and mother 1918. The look of concern in mother's face can't hide that she is absolutely a classic beauty. I also wonder if the baby is being held by daddy or the uncle. Grandma was ahead of her time with those Harry Potter glasses.

A lot going on here. I'm guessing the mature woman is the mother-in-law, and the man in the coat and tie is the brother-in-law, or maybe a peddler. Dad is a good-looking Doughboy, with a beautiful wife, and Baby doesn't yet know who Daddy is. This was taken the same year my mom was born, so they would be the same age now. A great picture of a proud poppa.

The doughboy's wife on the right is very beautiful and elegant. I hope that family made it through the coming Great Depression and had a good long life.

Welcome home and thank you for your service! Oh, and, you have a very handsome wife, sir. Very handsome.

The only unhappy person is the baby! Awesome watch on the solder, BTW. I wonder the make.

if my dad put a choke hold on me like that!

didn't depict real life situations? This photo would have been perfect source material of old Norm, with not too much revision either. Great joy and happiness on most everyone's face.

The wife is absolutely gorgeous.