Movie stars of WW2

BritinBritain

BritinBritain

Per Ardua Ad Astra
WW2 Film Stars

I received this email that I'd like to share.



WHAT HAPPENED TO THE WW II MOVIE STARS?

In contrast to the ideals, opinions
And feelings of today's 'Hollywonk' the real actors Of yester-year loved the United States . They had both class and integrity. With the advent of World War II many of our actors Went to fight rather than stand and Rant against this country we all love.

They gave up their wealth, position and fame to Become service men & women, many as simple 'enlisted men'.

This page lists but a few, but from this group Of only 18 men came over 70 medals in honor of Their valor, spanning from Bronze Stars, Silver Stars, Distinguish Service Cross', Purple Hearts And one Congressional Medal of Honor.

So remember; while the 'Entertainers of 2008' have Been in all of the news media lately I would like to Remind the people of what the Entertainers of 1943 were doing, (65 years ago).

Most of these brave men have since passed on.

'Real Hollywood Heroes'

Alec Guinness (Star Wars) operated a British Royal Navy landing craft on D-Day.

James Doohan ('Scotty' on Star Trek) Landed in Normandy with the U. S. Army on D-Day.

Donald Pleasance (The Great Escape) really was an R. A. F. Pilot who was shot down, Held prisoner and tortured by the Germans.

David Niven was a Sandhurst graduate and Lt. Colonel of the British Commandos in Normandy .

James Stewart Entered the Army Air Force As a private and worked his way to the rank of Colonel. During World War II, Stewart served as a bomber Pilot, his service record crediting him with leading More than 20 missions over Germany , and Taking part in hundreds of air strikes during his tour of duty. Stewart earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, France's Croix de Guerre,and 7 Battle Stars during World War II. In peace time, Stewart continued to be an active Member of the Air Force as a reservist, reaching The rank of Brigadier General before retiring in the late 1950s.

Clark Gable (Mega-Movie Star when war broke out)
Although he was beyond the draft age at the time the U.S. Entered WW II, Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the AAF on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles. He attended the Officers' CandidateSchool at Miami Beach , Fla. And graduated as a second lieutenant on Oct. 28, 1942 . He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943 He was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook Where he flew operational missions over Europe in B-17s. Capt. Gable returned to the U.S. In Oct. 1943 and was relieved From active duty as a major on Jun. 12, 1944 at his Own request, since he was over-age for combat.

Charlton Heston was an Army Air Corps Sergeant in Kodiak.

Ernest Borgnine was a U. S.
Navy Gunners Mate 1935-1945.

Charles Durning was a U. S. Army Ranger at Normandy Earning a Silver Star and Awarded the Purple Heart.


Charles Bronson was a tail gunner In the Army Air Corps, more Specifically on B-29's in the 20th Air Force out of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan


George C. Scott was a decorated U. S. Marine.


Eddie Albert (Green Acres TV) Was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroic action As a U. S. Naval officer aiding Marines at the horrific battle on the Island of Tarawa in the Pacific Nov. 1943.


Brian Keith served as a U.S. Marine rear gunner in Several actions against the Japanese on Rabal in the Pacific.


Lee Marvin was a U.S. Marine on Saipan during the Marianas campaign when he was Wounded earning the Purple Heart.


John Russell: In 1942, he Enlisted in the Marine Corps Where he received a battlefield Commission and was wounded and Highly decorated for valor at Guadalcanal

Robert Ryan was a U. S. Marine Who served with the O. S. S. In Yugoslavia .
Tyrone Power (an established Movie star when Pearl Harbor was bombed) joined the
U.S. Marines, was a pilot flying supplies into, and wounded Marines out of, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Audie Murphy, little 5'5' tall 110 pound guy from Texas who played cowboy parts :
most Decorated serviceman of WWII and earned: Medal of Honor,
Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Star Medals, Legion of Merit,
2 Bronze Star Medals with 'V', 2 Purple Hearts, U.S. Army Outstanding
Civilian Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, 2 Distinguished Unit Emblems,
American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign
Medal with One Silver Star, Four Bronze Service Stars
(representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead
(representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France) World War II
Victory Medal Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp,
Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Marksman Badge
with Rifle Bar, Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar, French Fourragere in
Colors of the Croix de Guerre, French Legion of Honor, Grade of Chevalier,
French Croix de Guerre With Silver Star, French Croix de Guerre with Palm,
Medal of Liberated France, Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 Palm.

So how do you feel the real heroes of the silver screen acted when ompared to the hollywonks today who spew out anti-American drivel as they bite the hand that feeds them?

Can you imagine these stars of yester-year saying they hate our flag,
making anti-war speeches, marching in anti-American parades and saying they hate our president?

I thought not, . neither did I!

If you enjoyed this bit of history, please share it
 
Hmmm...where's Ronald Reagan? Straight from the wikipedia...

After completing fourteen home-study Army Extension Courses, Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve[24] on April 29, 1937, as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa.[25] He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937, and on June 18 was assigned to the 323rd Cavalry.[26]
Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on April 18, 1942. Due to his nearsightedness, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas.[27] His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office.[28] Upon the approval of the Army Air Force (AAF), he applied for a transfer from the Cavalry to the AAF on May 15, 1942, and was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the 1st Motion Picture Unit (officially, the "18th AAF Base Unit") in Culver City, California.[28] On January 14, 1943 he was promoted to First Lieutenant and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of This Is The Army at Burbank, California.[28] He returned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit after completing this duty and was promoted to Captain on July 22, 1943.[25]
In January 1944, Captain Reagan was ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the opening of the sixth War Loan Drive. He was re-assigned to the 18th AAF Base Unit on November 14, 1944, where he remained until the end of World War II.[25] He was recommended for promotion to Major on February 2, 1945, but this recommendation was disapproved on July 17 of that year.[29] He returned to Fort MacArthur, California, where he was separated from active duty on December 9, 1945.[29] By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the AAF.[25]

He appears to have only fought the battle of hollywood...but he is there in the service.

:shock:
 
Great list, just a couple of additions:

Paul Newman - US Navy, turret gunner, WWII
James Garner - US Army, Korean War.
Sid James - S. African Army (entertainment - did pretty well out of it)
Richard Burton - RAF

Could be plenty more, let's see who else get's dug up....
 
Spike Milligan Royal Artillery in North Africa and Italy. Milligan was wounded in Italy and suffered from shell shock, which affected him throughout his life.

Milligan met a a prostitute, Milligan said, "She must love me, she only charges me half of what she charges other blokes."

Harry Secombe also served in the Royal Artillery in North Africa. He referred to his unit as 5 mile snipers. He met Milligan in Tunisia. Milligan's artillery battery had a larger calibre artillery piece that was too big for the gun pits Secombe's unit's cannon had used. The rest of Secombe's battery had already moved and he was with the last elements in some tents at the foot of a cliff below their former position. The officers in Milligan's battery didn't bother to enlarge the pits. When Spike's cannon fired its first shell, the recoil drove the gun up out of the pit and over the cliff. Secombe recalled that when the weapon fell outside the tent, he and his mates thought, "My God! They're throwing cannons at us!" A moment later, the flap of the tent opened and Spike poked his head in and said in his Eccles' voice, "Has anyone seen a gun?"

Michael Bentine was called up for RAF service in 1940.

He was appearing in a Shakespearean play in doublet and hose in the open-air theater in London's Hyde Park when two RAF MPs marched on stage and arrested him for desertion. Unknown to him, an RAF conscription notice had been following him for a month as his company toured.

Once in the RAF he went through flight training. He was the penultimate man going through a medical line receiving inoculations for typhoid with the other flight candidates in his class (they were going to Canada to receive new aircraft) when the vaccine ran out. They refilled the bottle to inoculate him and the other man as well. By mistake they loaded a pure culture of typhoid. The other man died immediately, and Bentine was in a coma for six weeks.

When he regained consciousness his eyesight was ruined, leaving him myopic for the rest of his life. Since he was no longer physically qualified for flight, he was transferred to RAF Intelligence and seconded to MI9 a unit that was dedicated to supporting resistance movements and help prisoners escape. His immediate superior was the Colditz escapee Airey Neave.
 
Mark Conley said:
Hmmm...where's Ronald Reagan? Straight from the wikipedia...

After completing fourteen home-study Army Extension Courses, Reagan enlisted in the Army Enlisted Reserve[24] on April 29, 1937, as a private assigned to Troop B, 322nd Cavalry at Des Moines, Iowa.[25] He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry on May 25, 1937, and on June 18 was assigned to the 323rd Cavalry.[26]
Reagan was ordered to active duty for the first time on April 18, 1942. Due to his nearsightedness, he was classified for limited service only, which excluded him from serving overseas.[27] His first assignment was at the San Francisco Port of Embarkation at Fort Mason, California, as a liaison officer of the Port and Transportation Office.[28] Upon the approval of the Army Air Force (AAF), he applied for a transfer from the Cavalry to the AAF on May 15, 1942, and was assigned to AAF Public Relations and subsequently to the 1st Motion Picture Unit (officially, the "18th AAF Base Unit") in Culver City, California.[28] On January 14, 1943 he was promoted to First Lieutenant and was sent to the Provisional Task Force Show Unit of This Is The Army at Burbank, California.[28] He returned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit after completing this duty and was promoted to Captain on July 22, 1943.[25]
In January 1944, Captain Reagan was ordered to temporary duty in New York City to participate in the opening of the sixth War Loan Drive. He was re-assigned to the 18th AAF Base Unit on November 14, 1944, where he remained until the end of World War II.[25] He was recommended for promotion to Major on February 2, 1945, but this recommendation was disapproved on July 17 of that year.[29] He returned to Fort MacArthur, California, where he was separated from active duty on December 9, 1945.[29] By the end of the war, his units had produced some 400 training films for the AAF.[25]

He appears to have only fought the battle of hollywood...but he is there in the service.

:shock:
Click to expand...

I am no fan of the Gipper, but at least he did enlisted, that's more than I can say for the Lord Chickenhawk himself...John Wayne. Spent all of WWII avoiding getting drafted, took the role in war movies of several actors (who were older than he was) who REALLY were fighting in Europe and then to disguise his own cowardice because a outspoken, unapologetic hawk (encourging young men to enlist) for such later wars such as Vietnam...then proceeded to make "Green Berets".

Its one thing not to volenteer when everyone else in the country is doing it, its worse to take the roles of your colleugues (enhancing his career at their expense I might add) who really were at war, but its simply outrageous to encourge people to fight afterword when you yourself made every attempt to avoid it yourself.
 
I believe that Jack Palance was on American bombers during WW2 and got badly burnt when the one he was on crashed.

Still we have john Wayne and Errol Flynn who managed to keep making films all through the war
 
BritinAfrica said:
Spike Milligan Royal Artillery in North Africa and Italy. Milligan was wounded in Italy and suffered from shell shock, which affected him throughout his life.

Milligan met a a prostitute, Milligan said, "She must love me, she only charges me half of what she charges other blokes."

Harry Secombe also served in the Royal Artillery in North Africa. He referred to his unit as 5 mile snipers. He met Milligan in Tunisia. Milligan's artillery battery had a larger calibre artillery piece that was too big for the gun pits Secombe's unit's cannon had used. The rest of Secombe's battery had already moved and he was with the last elements in some tents at the foot of a cliff below their former position. The officers in Milligan's battery didn't bother to enlarge the pits. When Spike's cannon fired its first shell, the recoil drove the gun up out of the pit and over the cliff. Secombe recalled that when the weapon fell outside the tent, he and his mates thought, "My God! They're throwing cannons at us!" A moment later, the flap of the tent opened and Spike poked his head in and said in his Eccles' voice, "Has anyone seen a gun?"

Michael Bentine was called up for RAF service in 1940.

He was appearing in a Shakespearean play in doublet and hose in the open-air theater in London's Hyde Park when two RAF MPs marched on stage and arrested him for desertion. Unknown to him, an RAF conscription notice had been following him for a month as his company toured.

Once in the RAF he went through flight training. He was the penultimate man going through a medical line receiving inoculations for typhoid with the other flight candidates in his class (they were going to Canada to receive new aircraft) when the vaccine ran out. They refilled the bottle to inoculate him and the other man as well. By mistake they loaded a pure culture of typhoid. The other man died immediately, and Bentine was in a coma for six weeks.

When he regained consciousness his eyesight was ruined, leaving him myopic for the rest of his life. Since he was no longer physically qualified for flight, he was transferred to RAF Intelligence and seconded to MI9 a unit that was dedicated to supporting resistance movements and help prisoners escape. His immediate superior was the Colditz escapee Airey Neave.
Click to expand...

Spike Milligan, how could I forget him - his wartime autobiography is classic and painfully honest. I didn't know that about Michael Bentine, perhaps that explains "Potty Time".
 
Partisan said:
Spike Milligan, how could I forget him - his wartime autobiography is classic and painfully honest. I didn't know that about Michael Bentine, perhaps that explains "Potty Time".
Click to expand...

From what I heard, Michael Bentine was a firearms expert, as is (as a matter of interest) Sir Michael Gambon
 
mmarsh said:
I am no fan of the Gipper, but at least he did enlisted, that's more than I can say for the Lord Chickenhawk himself...John Wayne. Spent all of WWII avoiding getting drafted, took the role in war movies of several actors (who were older than he was) who REALLY were fighting in Europe and then to disguise his own cowardice because a outspoken, unapologetic hawk (encourging young men to enlist) for such later wars such as Vietnam...then proceeded to make "Green Berets".

Its one thing not to volenteer when everyone else in the country is doing it, its worse to take the roles of your colleugues (enhancing his career at their expense I might add) who really were at war, but its simply outrageous to encourge people to fight afterword when you yourself made every attempt to avoid it yourself.
Click to expand...

Yeah according to Pilar Wayne, he kept making movies because he didn't wanna lose his edge. He also was offered an opportunity to serve with the Military and decided not to go.

Pilar said this "haunted" him and is the reason for his Hawkish stance afterwards.
 
I've said it before and I'll say it again, John Wayne is a hypocrite and no different from the "re-enactors" of today who buy "high speed" gear and pretend they were in some battle in Iraq etc., talking like they are some kind of elite warrior due to their airsoft "combat experience" while people their own age are out there getting shot at and blown up.
If you didn't even try to join, at least shut up.
 
the_13th_redneck said:
I've said it before and I'll say it again, John Wayne is a hypocrite and no different from the "re-enactors" of today who buy "high speed" gear and pretend they were in some battle in Iraq etc., talking like they are some kind of elite warrior due to their airsoft "combat experience" while people their own age are out there getting shot at and blown up.
If you didn't even try to join, at least shut up.
Click to expand...

Amen!
I know a few myself!
 
How about let's not forget the following:
David Niven was a Brit Commando, rank of Major, and not unlike “Guns of Navarrone” actually led several raids against German installations on islands in the Mediterranian during WW2 and was very highly decorated.
Also, lets not forget Ernest Borgnine who was Navy from 1934-45.
George Kennedy who served under Patton in WW2.
Charles Bronson who served in the Air Corps as did Russell Johnson, the “Professor” from Gilligan’s Island who received the Purple Heart, as well as James Arness of “Gunsmoke” who got the Purple Heart at Anzio.
Eddie Albert from “Green Acres” Bronze Star as a Naval Officer at Tarawa.
Jonathan Winters as a Marine in the South Pacific as well as Don Adams “Get Smart” Purple Heart as a Marine at Guadalcanal.
Jimmy Stewart was a B-17 pilot and stayed in the Reserves and retired as a Brigadier General. Incidentally, his adopted son (from his wife’s previous marriage) was a Marine Lt. who was KIA in Vietnam.
Lastly, Jason Robards served on a Destoyer in the South Pacific,and was I and saw quite a bit of Naval action. He was also stationed at Pearl during the attack on Dember 7th, but was at sea and missed the attck.
 
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