Trivia / The West Wing S 01 E 10 In Excelsis Deo

• Beam Me Up, Scotty!: When Toby describes the indifference the police treated Walter Hufnagle with after he died, he says, "Guy got better treatment at Panmunjom." Many viewers originally heard this as "I got better treatment in Panmunjom", which would have been a bit of a Continuity Snarl, as Toby likely wasn't even born when the Korean War was fought (certainly, Richard Schiff wasn't). Also, when George Hufnagle asks him if he was there, meaning at the same time as Walter, Toby says he was not. The fact that Toby easily recognized Walter's faded tattoo as not only a Marine symbol◊ but was able to instantly identify it as "Marine Battalion, Second of the Seventh"; and that he flinches badly when the guns go off points to his having some kind of military background, though not during the Korean War itself. This page on Toby's life has an explanation of how he could have served in Korea as late as the 1980s, with the Panmunjom reference being about how those who served in Korea, including by the time he was there, had not been treated well by the Panmunjom "Peace Talks".
  • Some Fridge Heroics and Tearjerker here: Toby finds that Walter was awarded the Purple Heart for being wounded in action in Korea. Since he was in 2/7, it's likely that happened in one of the most horrific battles of the Korean War.
• Reality Subtext: Rick Cleveland, who co-wrote the episode, based the homeless veteran plot on his father, a homeless veteran who died.
  • Tear Jerker: The Pentagon, impressed by the episode's fidelity in honoring the veterans of the Korean War, gave the producers rare permission to film its funeral scene at Arlington National Cemetary and even more rare, military personnel to perform the funeral. Every person in uniform during the funeral scene is an actual member of the United States Armed Forces, performing what would be their actual role during a military funeral. The only person missing from the scene is a member of the Arlington Ladies, an auxiliary group formed in 1973 to ensure that no service member is buried at Arlington without someone present to mourn him or her. Other than that, the only detail amiss is that the Marines are wearing their summer uniforms (as the episode was shot in early September, before Labor Day, when the US Marines would have changed over to their winter uniforms). The only indication of this to someone who is not in the military is that the Marine honor guard's trousers are white, rather than blue with red stripe for winter wear.

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