History Main / KeepTheHomeFiresBurning

* In a non-romantic version of this, in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''ColdDays'', when Harry goes back to visit Chicago, he finds, to his shock [[spoiler:his Godmother, Leanansidhe]] has been keeping his obligations current during his absence. Due to the nature of the benefactor, he is more than a bit concerned.

* The last book in the ''All of a Kind Family'', ''Ella of All of the Kind Family'', has all the children doing home-front things during WorldWarI. Ella and her best friend fit the romantic side; both have boyfriends in the armed forces.
* Kate Seredy's ''The Singing Tree'' happens during WorldWarII. The farm keeps on plugging with the news in the background, the father having gone off to war, Russian prisoners being brought in to work, and WarRefugees, children, being brought to the farm so they could eat.
* The last AnneOfGreenGables work, ''Rilla of Ingelside'', is about WorldWarI in Canada. The central character is Anne's youngest daughter, who is not really the LoveInterest until the very end.

* The British WorldWarI patriotic song "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_the_Home_Fires_Burning_(1914_song) Keep the Home-Fires Burning ('Till the Boys Come Home)]]."

Can lead to UnfortunateImplications when the act of waiting is portrayed as passive, the spouse left to endure is AlwaysFemale, or the waiting person is put in a negative light as a NeutralFemale -- happy to stay home while TheHero wanders afield having adventures. Can also deconstruct the facade of a proud military family by realistically depicting the StepfordSmiler-levels of emotional stress and isolation that MyGirlBackHome shoulders with HeroicResolve, as well as the accepted but implicit pain caused when TheHero chooses LovedINotHonorMore.

Can lead to UnfortunateImplications when the act of waiting is portrayed as passive, the spouse left to endure is AlwaysFemale, or the waiting person is put in a negative light if not a perfect, patient ProperLady -- happy to stay home while TheHero wanders afield having adventures. Can also deconstruct the facade of a proud military family by realistically depicting the StepfordSmiler-levels of emotional stress and isolation that MyGirlBackHome shoulders with HeroicResolve, as well as the accepted but implicit pain caused when TheHero chooses LovedINotHonorMore.

[[AC:LiveActionTelevision]]

* The ''HighlanderTheSeries'' episode "They Also Serve..." focused on the Watchers, the mysterious organization who observed and recorded the constant warfare between the immortals but (theoretically) never interfered in the ongoing fights.

->''Let no tears add to their hardships''
->''As the soldiers pass along,''
->''And although your heart is breaking,''
->''Make it sing this cheery song:''
->''Keep the Home Fires Burning,''
->''While your hearts are yearning.''
->''Though your lads are far away''
->''They dream of home.''
->''There's a silver lining''
->''Through the dark clouds shining,''
->''Turn the dark cloud inside out''
->'''Til the boys come home.''
-->-- '''Ivor Novello & Lena Ford''', "[[http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/keepthehomefiresburning.htm Keep the Home-Fires Burning]]"

* The French film ''Film/AVeryLongEngagement'' is about a woman (played by AudreyTautou) trying to find out what happened to her fiance who fought in WorldWarOne.
* Colonel Moore's wife, Julie, in ''WeWereSoldiers'' has scenes of this. In one, the taxi driver delivering death notification letters to widows stops at Colonel Moore's house to ask his wife for directions to another house. [[TearJerker She initially thinks her husband has died,]] and is not pleased to find out why she just got the scare of her life.

-->-- Ivor Novello & Lena Ford, "[[http://www.firstworldwar.com/audio/keepthehomefiresburning.htm Keep the Home-Fires Burning]]"

* In a non-romantic version of this, in the new ''DresdenFiles'' novel ''ColdDays'', when Harry goes back to visit Chicago, he finds, to his shock [[spoiler:his Godmother, Leanansidhe]] has been keeping his obligations current during his absence. Due to the nature of the benefactor, he is more than a bit concerned.

* Literature/YouKnowWhenTheMenAreGone by [[http://siobhanfallon.com/ Siobhan Fallon]] is a collection of short stories focused mainly on the inner lives of U.S. military families waiting in Fort Hood. Fallon is herself a military wife.

* The poem [[http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/an-ancient-gesture/ "An Ancient Gesture"]] by EdnaStVincentMillay, also about [[Literature/TheOdyssey Penelope]].

* Éowyn was ordered by Théoden and Aragon to stay behind in Edoras, she does not take it well.

* Or any police officer's family.

* Eowyn was ordered by Theoden and Aragon to stay behind in Edoras, she does not take it well.

* ''Comicbook/{{Spider-Man}}'': [[FieryRedhead Mary Jane Watson-Parker]] struggles between her desire to support [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Peter Parker]] in his role as Spider-Man and her real fear that ''this'' time could be the night she sent her husband out to die. This is notably a factor in the [[http://spiderfan.org/comics/reviews/spiderman_web/031.html Kraven's Last Hunt]] storyline when [[spoiler: for two weeks MJ doesn't know if Peter is dead]].

* The French film ''AVeryLongEngagement'' is about a woman (played by AudreyTautou) trying to find out what happened to her fiance who fought in WorldWarOne.

* ''ArmyWives''

* The [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHXtQQlyaR0 video]] for "This Is Me Missing You" by JamesHouse.

* ''{{Spider-Man}}'': [[FieryRedhead Mary Jane Watson-Parker]] struggles between her desire to support [[ChronicHeroSyndrome Peter Parker]] in his role as Spider-Man and her real fear that ''this'' time could be the night she sent her husband out to die. This is a notably a factor in the [[http://spiderfan.org/comics/reviews/spiderman_web/031.html Kraven's Last Hunt]] storyline when [[spoiler: for 2 weeks MJ doesn't know if Peter is dead]].

* Colonel Moore's wife, Julie, in WeWereSoldiers has scenes of this. In one, the taxi driver delivering death notification letters to widows stops at Colonel Moore's house to ask his wife for directions to another house. [[TearJerker She initially thinks her husband has died,]] and is not pleased to find out why she just got the scare of her life.

* The ''HighlanderTheSeries'' episode "They Also Serve..." focused on the Watchers, the mysterious organization who observed and recorded the constant warfare between the immortals but never interfered in the ongoing fights.

[[AC:{{Anime}} and {{Manga}}]]
* ''FullMetalAlchemist: Brotherhood'' went more in depth with the families of both the Fuhrer and others in the military than the first manga and the burdens the lifestyle placed upon them.
** As he lies dying, [[spoiler:Wrath]] says he has no final message for his wife because all that needed to be said between them was said long ago. And indeed, she understands very well what has occurred and moves forward far more readily than many others of the cast who suffered loss.
--->'''[[spoiler:Wrath]]''': My wife understands. She is the one that ''I'' chose to live by my side. There are no more words that need to pass between us now. That's what it means to be [[spoiler:the wife of the Fuhrer]].

* As he lies dying in ''FullMetalAlchemist: Brotherhood'', [[spoiler:Wrath]] says he has no final message for his wife because all that needed to be said between them was said long ago. And indeed, she understands very well what has occurred and moves forward far more readily than many others of the cast who suffered loss.
-->'''[[spoiler:Wrath]]''': My wife understands. She is the one that ''I'' chose to live by my side. There are no more words that need to pass between us now. That's what it means to be [[spoiler:the wife of the Fuhrer]].

* [[http://blogs.static.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/40324.html Dogs Welcoming Home Soldiers.]] "These reunion videos—for me, at least—shed a tiny beam of light on how emotionally draining being a military family can be. [[EverythingsPreciousWithPuppies They'll also make you want a dog.]]"

The DeterminedHomesteadersWife can be this, if she doesn't wind up the DeterminedWidow.

* The ''{{Highlander}}'' episode "They Also Serve..." focused on the Watchers, the mysterious organization who observed and recorded the constant warfare between the immortals but never interfered in the ongoing fights.

* YouKnowWhenTheMenAreGone by [[http://siobhanfallon.com/ Siobhan Fallon]] is a collection of short stories focused mainly on the inner lives of U.S. military families waiting in Fort Hood. Fallon is herself a military wife.

Lots of stories are about TheHero and comrades as TheyFightCrime. This story focuses on the lovers, family, and friends of TheHero back home, often in a LowerDeckEpisode, as they try to keep the home fires burning and not go crazy from loneliness and worry. Lovers typically find renewed determination that IWillWaitForYou or succumb to AbsenceMakesTheHeartGoYonder.

The usual portrayal involves families of the [[MilitaryAndWarfareTropes military]]: soldiers are subject to long, distant deployments with little contact back home, and combat situations always involve the fear of injury and death. Families of police officers, sailors, and superheroes can also feel like this.

* The British WorldWarI patriotic song "[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keep_the_Home_Fires_Burning_(1914_song) Keep the Home Fires Burning]]."