- Narrator: [narration as John 'John Boy' Walton, Jr. reading from his journal] Joy and tragedy walked hand in hand during the dark days of World War Two. When good news came it always seemed to be tinged with sadness. The words "your son is alive" were too often followed by the phrase "he is badly injured". When those words came to my family it meant that the long wait was not over, it had just begun.