On World War II heroes, and one who isn't.
One of the very popular things on the Right is to hold John Wayne up as a Great American Hero (tm). Once again, they have confused fact and fiction, illusion and substance.
The man was an actor. He played heroes. And he did them well. I enjoy a John Wayne movie as much as anyone else. This is not a commentary on his acting skills.
When war time came around, he begged the Department of Defense to NOT be sent. We call that "pulling strings" and "draft-dodging" today.
Not so heroic in an era when everyone else was enlisting. Even Errol Flynn tried, but a heart murmur (coupled with a heart-attack in '42), chronic back pain (and a morphine habit that attended it), chronic tuberculosis and malaria rendered him 4-F.
Clark Gable, The Hottest Property of the day, entered the Army Air Force as a private, went through officer school and flew 5 combat missions as an observer-gunner. After a flack near-miss, MGM pulled strings and had him sent stateside. He was discarged as a Major, when he was too old for duty.
Phillip Holmes (An American Tragedy), Leslie Howard (Gone with the Wind), Lee B. Powell (Flash Gordon, Lone Ranger), Hal Walters (The Man Who Knew Too Much) and band leader Glen Miller were all killed in action.
Ronald Reagan's nearsightedness kept him stateside, but he still served, earning the rank of Captain. His film units produced over 400 army training films.
Don Adams (Maxwell Smart, Tennessee Tuxedo): Marine. Wounded at Guadalcanal. Served as a DI after the war.
Russell Johnson (the Professor, Gilligan's Island): Purple Heart, for injuries in a battle after his bomber was shot down over the Phillipines.
Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster): Navy radioman
Dick Van Dyke: failed to enlist as a pilot 3 times for being underweight, got in on the fourth try, but spent the war stateside as a military radio announcer
James Doohan (Scotty, Star Trek): shot SIX TIMES by a German machine gun at Normandy, costing him his middle finger. (I do hope he was flipping it defiantly at the Germans)
James Arness (Marshall Dillon, Gunsmoke): Severely wounded at Anzio. The trademark limp came from that. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze star devices, World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.
Hedy Lamarr (Sampson and Delilah): helped invent radio controlled torpedos, which were the basis for moder mobile telecommunications. If you have a cellphone, Hedy Lamarr helped invent it!
Christopher Lee: Ministry of Ungentlemanly Activities. Most of what he did (in the company of Ian Fleming) is STILL classified. Butthe pinnicle was Operation Gunnerside: train a crack commando unit of former-Vikings to join SOE on a secret mission to destroy a heavy water plant in Norway before the Nazis could build an atomic bomb with it.
Julia Child (TV cook): Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section of the Office of Strategic Services (at 6'2" she was too tall for regular military). She discovered SHARk REPELLANT! Let me repeat, Julia Child discovered shark repellant to keep sharks from blowing up missiles meant for U-boats.
Audry Hepburn: Dutch Resistance agent, smuggled out messages in her ballet slippers.
Mel Brooks: Army combat engineer, i.e. landmine defuser! at the Battle of the Bulge
Gene Autry (the singing cowboy): Army Air Corps, repeatedly flew the single most hazardous supply route of the war.
Mickey Rooney: Army. Earned the Bronze Star.
Patrick Troughton (Dr. Who): Served in the Royal navy
David Niven: Lt. Col. with the British Commandos at Normandy
Alec Guinness: Piloted a landing craft on D-Day for the Royal Navy.
Desmond Llewellyn (Q of the James Bond Movies): British army. POW in Germany for 5 years.
Audie Murphy, cowboy actor, was the single most decorated serviceman of the War.
Next time some rightist gets on about John Wayne being a great hero, tell him Julia Child has a more impressive war record. Anyone whose service can be eclipsed by Mickey Rooney, Herman Munster and a cartoon penguin is not a hero, not in that generation.
Source:
http://www.commonsensejunction.com/xtras/wwii-movie-stars/wwii-movie-stars.html
The man was an actor. He played heroes. And he did them well. I enjoy a John Wayne movie as much as anyone else. This is not a commentary on his acting skills.
When war time came around, he begged the Department of Defense to NOT be sent. We call that "pulling strings" and "draft-dodging" today.
Not so heroic in an era when everyone else was enlisting. Even Errol Flynn tried, but a heart murmur (coupled with a heart-attack in '42), chronic back pain (and a morphine habit that attended it), chronic tuberculosis and malaria rendered him 4-F.
Clark Gable, The Hottest Property of the day, entered the Army Air Force as a private, went through officer school and flew 5 combat missions as an observer-gunner. After a flack near-miss, MGM pulled strings and had him sent stateside. He was discarged as a Major, when he was too old for duty.
Phillip Holmes (An American Tragedy), Leslie Howard (Gone with the Wind), Lee B. Powell (Flash Gordon, Lone Ranger), Hal Walters (The Man Who Knew Too Much) and band leader Glen Miller were all killed in action.
Ronald Reagan's nearsightedness kept him stateside, but he still served, earning the rank of Captain. His film units produced over 400 army training films.
Don Adams (Maxwell Smart, Tennessee Tuxedo): Marine. Wounded at Guadalcanal. Served as a DI after the war.
Russell Johnson (the Professor, Gilligan's Island): Purple Heart, for injuries in a battle after his bomber was shot down over the Phillipines.
Fred Gwynne (Herman Munster): Navy radioman
Dick Van Dyke: failed to enlist as a pilot 3 times for being underweight, got in on the fourth try, but spent the war stateside as a military radio announcer
James Doohan (Scotty, Star Trek): shot SIX TIMES by a German machine gun at Normandy, costing him his middle finger. (I do hope he was flipping it defiantly at the Germans)
James Arness (Marshall Dillon, Gunsmoke): Severely wounded at Anzio. The trademark limp came from that. Bronze Star, Purple Heart, the European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with three bronze star devices, World War II Victory Medal, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge.
Hedy Lamarr (Sampson and Delilah): helped invent radio controlled torpedos, which were the basis for moder mobile telecommunications. If you have a cellphone, Hedy Lamarr helped invent it!
Christopher Lee: Ministry of Ungentlemanly Activities. Most of what he did (in the company of Ian Fleming) is STILL classified. Butthe pinnicle was Operation Gunnerside: train a crack commando unit of former-Vikings to join SOE on a secret mission to destroy a heavy water plant in Norway before the Nazis could build an atomic bomb with it.
Julia Child (TV cook): Emergency Sea Rescue Equipment Section of the Office of Strategic Services (at 6'2" she was too tall for regular military). She discovered SHARk REPELLANT! Let me repeat, Julia Child discovered shark repellant to keep sharks from blowing up missiles meant for U-boats.
Audry Hepburn: Dutch Resistance agent, smuggled out messages in her ballet slippers.
Mel Brooks: Army combat engineer, i.e. landmine defuser! at the Battle of the Bulge
Gene Autry (the singing cowboy): Army Air Corps, repeatedly flew the single most hazardous supply route of the war.
Mickey Rooney: Army. Earned the Bronze Star.
Patrick Troughton (Dr. Who): Served in the Royal navy
David Niven: Lt. Col. with the British Commandos at Normandy
Alec Guinness: Piloted a landing craft on D-Day for the Royal Navy.
Desmond Llewellyn (Q of the James Bond Movies): British army. POW in Germany for 5 years.
Audie Murphy, cowboy actor, was the single most decorated serviceman of the War.
Next time some rightist gets on about John Wayne being a great hero, tell him Julia Child has a more impressive war record. Anyone whose service can be eclipsed by Mickey Rooney, Herman Munster and a cartoon penguin is not a hero, not in that generation.
Source:
http://www.commonsensejunction.com/xtras/wwii-movie-stars/wwii-movie-stars.html