Excellent post and replies; in a seriously tardy reaction, I'd like to toss in one more interconnection between Don's status as vet and the historicizing of context. Vance Packard's 1957 expose of advertising technique and attitude sold o ...
Thanks to Gary for his excellent post and to the respondents; I'd simply follow up Jeremy's observation and point out that, when the sequence concludes, all the trappings of professional power and status have disappeared, and our figure stares ...
As commenter
Dick/Don as Korean War Vet
Gary's post and the credit sequence thread