Many here that you have no doubt forgot about, this should bring
back some memories.
Have any of our current Hollywood elite made similar
contributions to the USA as those below?
Hollywood's
greatest--
 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 never got 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.
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.
As
a member of a later generation, I’m forever humbly
in
their debt.
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