I don’t know what comes to mind when you read the headline, Parkinson’s disease sufferer, 54, held by police at Olympic cycling road race ‘because he would not smile’, but what popped into my head was … well, let’s read a bit of the newspaper report first, shall we?

A father with Parkinson’s disease was arrested as he watched the Olympic cycling road race because he ‘failed to smile or look like he was enjoying himself’.

Mark Worsfold, a martial arts trainer and former soldier, claims that he was thrown to the floor and handcuffed just as cyclists passed by.

If you’re a certain generation of comic book fan, you’ll certainly think of the classic EC Comics story “The Patriots,” written by Al Feldstein and drawn by Jack Davis, which first appeared in Shock SuspenStories #2 (April-May 1952). “The Patriots” tells of another former soldier who was punished for his insufficient exuberance … though in a far more tragic manner.

Wally Wood’s powerful cover to that issue drew its scenario from that tale.

So did the news story above bring back memories of “The Patriots” for any of you? If not, that’s probably only because you haven’t read it yet. You’d have remembered. So—read!

Check out the entire story below, which I’ve smurched from the Unhallowed Consecration blog.

I’m glad that real-world Mark Worsfold avoided the fate of the fictional protagonist from “The Patriots.”