George Gobel
comedian taught fighter pilots, I believe it was in Oklahoma.
Johnny Carson made a big deal about it once on the Tonight Show,
to which George said, "The Japs didn’t get past us!"
Sterling Hayden,
US Marines and OSS. Smuggled guns into Yugoslavia and
parachuted into Croatia.
James Stewart,
US Army Air Corps. Bomber pilot who rose to
the rank of General.
Ernest Borgnine,
US Navy. Gunners Mate 1c, destroyer USS Lamberton.
Ed McMahon,
US Marines. Fighter Pilot. (Flew OE-1
Bird Dogs over Korea as well.)
Telly Savalas,
US Army.
Walter Matthau,
US Army Air Corps., B-24 Radioman/Gunner and cryptographer.
Steve Forrest,
US Army. Wounded, Battle of the Bulge.
Jonathan Winters,
USMC. Battleship USS Wisconsin and Carrier
USS Bon Homme Richard. Anti-aircraft gunner, Battle of Okinawa.
Paul Newman,
US Navy Rear seat gunner/radioman, torpedo bombers
of USS Bunker Hill.
Kirk Douglas,
US Navy. Sub-chaser in the Pacific. Wounded
in action and medically discharged.
Robert Mitchum,
US Army.
Dale Robertson,
US Army. Tank Commander in North Africa under
Patton. Wounded twice. Battlefield Commission.
Henry Fonda,
US Navy. Destroyer USS Satterlee.
John Carroll,
US Army Air Corps. Pilot in North Africa.
Broke his back in a crash.
Lee Marvin
US Marines. Sniper.
Wounded in action on Saipan. Buried in Arlington
National Cemetery, Sec. 7A next to Greg Boyington and Joe Louis.
Art Carney,
US Army. Wounded on Normandy beach, D-Day.
Limped for the rest of his life.
Wayne Morris,
US Navy fighter pilot, USS Essex. Downed seven
Japanese fighters.
Rod Steiger,
US Navy. Was aboard one of the ships that
launched the Doolittle Raid.
Tony Curtis,
US Navy. Sub tender USS Proteus. In Tokyo
Bay for the surrender of Japan.
Larry Storch.
US Navy. Sub tender USS Proteus with Tony Curtis.
Forrest Tucker,
US Army. Enlisted as a private, rose to Lieutenant.
Robert Montgomery,
US Navy.
George Kennedy,
US Army. Enlisted after Pearl Harbor, stayed
in sixteen years.
Mickey Rooney,
US Army under Patton. Bronze Star.
Denver Pyle,
US Navy. Wounded in the Battle of Guadalcanal.
Medically discharged.
Burgess Meredith,
US Army Air Corps.
DeForest Kelley,
US Army Air Corps.
Robert Stack,
US Navy. Gunnery Officer.
Neville Brand,
US Army, Europe. Was awarded the Silver Star
and Purple Heart.
Tyrone Power,
US Marines. Transport pilot in the Pacific
Theater.
Charlton Heston,
US Army Air Corps. Radio operator and aerial
gunner on a B-25, Aleutians.
Danny Aiello,
US Army. Lied about his age to enlist at 16.
Served three years.
James Arness,
US Army. As an infantryman, he was severely
wounded at Anzio, Italy.
Efram Zimbalist,
Jr., US Army. Purple Heart for a severe wound
received at Huertgen Forest.
Mickey Spillane,
US Army Air Corps, Fighter Pilot and later Instructor
Pilot.
Rod Serling.
US Army. 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific.
He jumped at Tagaytay in the Philippines
and was later wounded in Manila.
Gene Autry,
US Army Air Corps. Crewman on transports that
ferried supplies over "The Hump" in the China-Burma-India
Theater.
Wiliam Holden,
US Army Air Corps.
Alan Hale Jr,
US Coast Guard.
Russell Johnson,
US Army Air Corps. B-24 crewman who was awarded
Purple Heart when his aircraft was shot down by the Japanese
in the Philippines.
William Conrad,
US Army Air Corps. Fighter Pilot.
Jack Klugman,
US Army.
Frank Sutton,
US Army. Took part in 14 assault landings,
including Leyte, Luzon, Bataan and Corregidor.
Jackie Coogan,
US Army Air Corps. Volunteered for gliders
and flew troops and materials into Burma behind enemy lines.
Tom Bosley,
US Navy.
Claude Akins,
US Army. Signal Corps., Burma and the Philippines.
Chuck Connors,
US Army. Tank-warfare instructor.
Harry Carey Jr.,
US Navy.
Mel Brooks,
US Army. Combat Engineer. Saw action
in the Battle of the Bulge.
Robert Altman,
US Army Air Corps. B-24 Co-Pilot.
Pat Hingle,
US Navy. Destroyer USS Marshall
Fred Gwynne,
US Navy. Radioman.
Karl Malden,
US Army Air Corps. 8th Air Force, NCO.
Earl Holliman.
US Navy. Lied about his age to enlist.
Discharged after a year when they Navy found out.
Rock Hudson,
US Navy. Aircraft mechanic, the Philippines.
Harvey Korman,
US Navy.
Aldo Ray.
US Navy. UDT frogman, Okinawa.
Don Knotts,
US Army, Pacific Theater.
Don Rickles,
US Navy aboard USS Cyrene.
Harry Dean Stanton,
US Navy. Served aboard an LST in the Battle
of Okinawa.
Soupy Sales,
US Navy. Served on USS Randall in the South
Pacific.
Lee Van Cleef, US Navy.
Served aboard a sub chaser then a mine sweeper.
Clifton James,
US Army, South Pacific. Was awarded the Silver
Star, Bronze Star, and Purple Heart.
Ted Knight,
US Army, Combat Engineers.
Jack Warden,
US Navy, 1938-1942, then US Army, 1942-1945.
101st Airborne Division.
Don Adams.
US Marines. Wounded on Guadalcanal, then served
as a Drill Instructor.
James Gregory,
US Navy and US Marines.
Brian Keith,
US Marines. Radioman/Gunner in Dauntless dive-bombers.
Fess Parker,
US Navy and US Marines. Booted from pilot training
for being too tall, joined Marines as a radio operator.
Charles Durning.
US Army. Landed at Normandy on D-Day.
Shot multiple times. Awarded the Silver Star and Bronze
Star and three Purple Hearts. Survived Malmedy
Massacre.
Raymond Burr,
US Navy. Shot in the stomach on Okinawa and
medically discharged.
Hugh O’Brian,
US Marines.
Robert Ryan,
US Marines.
Eddie Albert,
US Coast Guard. Bronze Star with Combat V for
saving several Marines under heavy fire as pilot of a landing
craft during the invasion of Tarawa.
Cark Gable,
US Army Air Corps. B-17 gunner over Europe.
Charles Bronson,
US Army Air Corps. B-29 gunner, wounded in
action.
Peter Graves,
US Army Air Corps.
Buddy Hackett,
US Army anti-aircraft gunner.
Victor Mature,
US Coast Guard.
Jack Palance,
US Army Air Corps. Severely injured bailing
out of a burning B-24 bomber.
Robert Preston,
US Army Air Corps. Intelligence Officer
Cesar Romero,
US Coast Guard. Coast Guard. Participated
in the invasions of Tinian and Saipan on the assault transport
USS Cavalier.
Norman Fell,
US Army Air Corps., Tail Gunner, Pacific Theater.
Jason Robards,
US Navy. was aboard heavy cruiser USS Northampton
when it was sunk off Guadalcanal. Also served on the USS
Nashville during the invasion of the Philippines, surviving
a kamikaze hit that caused 223 casualties.
Steve Reeves,
US Army, Philippines.
Dennis Weaver,
US Navy. Pilot.
Robert Taylor,
US Navy. Instructor Pilot.
Randolph Scott.
Tried to enlist in the Marines but was rejected
due to injuries sustained in US Army, World War 1.
Ronald Reagan.
US Army. Was a 2nd Lt. in the Cavalry Reserves
before the war. His poor eyesight kept him from being
sent overseas with his unit when war came so he transferred
to the Army Air Corps Public Relations Unit where he served
for the duration.
John Wayne.
Declared "4F medically unfit" due to pre-existing
injuries, he nonetheless attempted to volunteer three times
(Army, Navy and Film Corps.) so he gets honorable mention.
And of course we have Audie
Murphy,
America’s most-decorated soldier, who became a Hollywood
star as a result of his US Army service that included his being
awarded the Medal of Honor.
Would someone please remind me again how many of today’s Hollywood
elite put their careers on hold to enlist in Iraq or Afghanistan?
The only one who even comes close was Pat Tillman, who turned
down a contract offer of $3.6 million over three years from
the Arizona Cardinals to enlist in the US Army after September
11, 2001, and serve as a Ranger in Afghanistan, where he died
in 2004. But rather than being lauded for his choice and
his decision to put his country before his career, he was mocked
and derided by many of his peers.
Ladies and Gentlemen, I submit to you that this is not the America
today that it was seventy years ago. And I, for one, am
saddened. My generation grew up watching, being entertained
by and laughing with so many of these fine people, never really
knowing what they contributed to the war effort. Like
millions of Americans during the WWII, there was a job that
needed doing they didn’t question, they went and did it, those
that came home returned to their now new normal life and carried
on, very few ever saying what they did or saw.
They took it as their “responsibility”, their “duty” to Country,
to protect and preserve our freedoms and way of life, not just
for themselves but for all future generations to come.
Both the men and the women of this generation
(WWII) were the GREATEST GENERATION!
As a member of a later
generation, ALL OF US are forever in their debt.
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