REAL AMERICAN ACTORS & HEROES that served our Great Country and kept us SAFE

Instead of today’s DRUGGY ACTORS AND SPORTS PLAYERS

These were all heroes that made America great and helped win the war. Back then the men in Hollywood were real men that loved their country and went to war to protect it!

  • Alan Hale – Jr. – US Coast Guard.
  • Aldo Ray – US Navy. UDT frogman- Okinawa.
  • Art Carney – US Army. Wounded on Normandy beach- D-Day. Limped for the rest of his life.
  • Brian Keith – US Marines. Radioman/Gunner in Dauntless dive-bombers.
  • Buddy Hackett – US Army anti-aircraft gunner.
  • Burgess Meredith – US Army Air Corps.
  • Clark Gable – US Army Air Corps. B-17 gunner over Europe .
  • Cesar Romero – US Coast Guard. Coast Guard. Participated in the invasions of Tinian and Saipan on the assault transport USS Cavalier.
  • Charles Bronson – US Army Air Corps. B-29 gunner- wounded in action.
  • Charles Durning – US Army. Landed at Normandy on D-Day. Shot multiple times, so awarded the Silver & Bronze  & 3 Purple Hearts. Survived Malmedy Massacre.
  • Charlton Heston – US Army Air Corps. Radio operator and aerial gunner on a B-25.   Aleutians (Alaska).
  • Chuck Connors – US Army. Tank-warfare instructor.
  • Claude Akins – US Army. Signal Corps. – Burma and the Philippines.
  • Clifton James – US Army- South Pacific. Was awarded the Silver Star- Bronze Star- and Purple Heart.
  • Dale Robertson – US Army. Tank Commander in North Africa under General Patton’s command. Wounded twice. Battlefield Commission.
  • Danny Aiello – US Army. Lied about his age to enlist at 16. Served three years.
  • DeForest Kelley – US Army Air Corps.
  • Dennis Weaver – US Navy. Pilot.
  • Denver Pyle – US Navy. Wounded in the Battle of Guadalcanal . Medically discharged.
  • Don Adams – US Marines. Wounded on Guadalcanal – then served as a Drill Instructor.
  • Don Knotts – US Army- Pacific Theater.
  • Don Rickles – US Navy aboard USS Cyrene.
  • Earl Holliman . US Navy. Lied about his age to enlist. Discharged after a year when the Navy found out.
  • Ed McMahon – US Marines. Fighter Pilot. (Flew OE-1 Bird Dogs over Korea as well.)
  • 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 .
  • Efram Zimbalist Jr. – US Army. Purple Heart for a severe wound received at Huertgen Forest .
  • Ernest Borgnine – US Navy. Gunners Mate 1c- destroyer USS Lamberton. 10 years active duty. Discharged 1941- re-enlisted after Pearl Harbor .
  • Fess Parker – US Navy and US Marines.  Booted from pilot training for being too tall- joined Marines as a radio operator.
  • Forrest Tucker – US Army. Enlisted as a private- rose to Lieutenant.
  • Frank Sutton – US Army. Took part in 14 assault landings- including Leyte- Luzon- Bataan and Corregidor .
  • Fred Gwynne – US Navy. Radioman.
  • Gene Autry – US Army Air Corps.  Crewman on transports that ferried supplies over “The Hump” in the China- Burma-India Theater.
  • George Gobel – comedian, Army Air Corps, taught fighter pilots.  Johnny Carson made a big deal about it once on the Tonight Show, to which George said “the Japs didn’t get past us.”
  • George Kennedy – US Army. Enlisted after Pearl Harbor – stayed in sixteen years.
  • Harry Carey Jr – US Navy.
  • Harry Dean Stanton – US Navy. Served aboard an LST in the Battle of Okinawa .
  • Harvey Korman – US Navy.
  • Henry Fonda – US Navy. Destroyer USS Satterlee.
  • Hugh O’Brian – US Marines.
  • Jack Klugman – US Army.
  • Jack Palance – US Army Air Corps.  Severely injured bailing out of a burning B-24 bomber.
  • Jack Warden – US Navy- 1938-1942- then US Army- 1942-1945. 101st Airborne Division.
  • Jackie Coogan – US Army Air Corps. Volunteered for gliders and flew troops and materials into Burma behind enemy lines.
  • James Arness – US Army. As an infantryman- he was severely wounded at Anzio – Italy .
  • James Gregory – US Navy and US Marines.
  • James Stewart – US Army Air Corps.  Bomber pilot who rose to the rank of General.
  • 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.
  • John Carroll – US Army Air Corps.  Pilot in North Africa.  Broke his back in a crash.
  • John Wayne – Declared “4F medically unfit” due to pre-existing injuries- (from playing football @ Southern Cal) – he nonetheless attempted to volunteer three times (Army- Navy and Film Corps.) so he gets ‘honorable mention’.
  • Jonathan Winters – USMC. Battleship USS Wisconsin and Carrier USS Bon Homme Richard. Anti-aircraft gunner- Battle of Okinawa.
  • Karl Malden – US Army Air Corps. 8th Air Force- NCO.
  • Kirk Douglas – US Navy. Sub-chaser in the Pacific.  Wounded in action and medically discharged.
  • Larry Storch . US Navy. Sub tender USS Proteus with Tony Curtis.
  • Lee Marvin – US Marines.  Sniper.  Wounded in action on Saipan .  Buried in Arlington National Cemetery – Sec. 7A next to Greg Boyington and Joe Louis.
  • Lee Van Cleef – US Navy.  Served aboard a sub chaser then a mine sweeper.
  • Mel Brooks – US Army.  Combat Engineer.  Saw action in the Battle of the Bulge.
  • Mickey Rooney – US Army under General Patton’s command.  Bronze Star.
  • Mickey Spillane – US Army Air Corps – Fighter Pilot and later Instructor Pilot.
  • Neville Brand – US Army- Europe.  Was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart.
  • Norman Fell – US Army Air Corps.- Tail Gunner- Pacific Theater.
  • Pat Hingle – US Navy. Destroyer USS Marshall
  • Paul Newman – US Navy Rear seat gunner/radsioman- torpedo bombers of USS Bunker Hill.
  • Peter Graves – US Army Air Corps.
  • Randolph Scott – Tried to enlist in the Marines but was rejected due to injuries sustained in US Army, during World War I.
  • Robert Altman – US Army Air Corps.  B-24 Co-Pilot.
  • Robert Mitchum – US Army.
  • Robert Montgomery – US Navy.
  • Robert Preston – US Army Air Corps. Intelligence Officer
  • Robert Ryan – US Marines.
  • Robert Stack – US Navy. Gunnery Officer.
  • Robert Taylor – US Navy. Instructor Pilot.
  • Rock Hudson – US Navy. Aircraft mechanic- the Philippines .
  • Rod Serling – US Army.  11th Airborne Division in the Pacific.  He jumped at Tagaytay in the Philippines and was later wounded in Manila .
  • Rod Steiger – US Navy.  Was aboard one of the ships that launched the Doolittle Raid.
  • 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.
  • 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 .
  • Soupy Sales – US Navy.  Served on USS Randall in the South Pacific. (that’s the ship which transported Elvis Presley…who was a tank driver in the U S Army from 1957-1960…to Bremerhaven, Germany.  In 1959 I also traveled from Southhampton, England to New York on the USS Randall.)   [ Chuck Allen…USAF aircraft radio repairman 1962-1966) ]
  • Sterling Hayden – US Marines and OSS.  Smuggled guns into Yugoslavia and parachuted into Croatia. Silver Star.
  • Steve Forrest – US Army. Wounded- Battle of the Bulge.
  • Steve Reeves – US Army – Philippines .
  • Ted Knight – US Army- Combat Engineers.
  • Telly Savalas – US Army.
  • Tom Bosley – US Navy.
  • Tony Curtis – US Navy.  Sub tender USS Proteus.  In Tokyo Bay for the surrender of Japan .
  • Tyrone Power – US Marines.  Transport pilot in the Pacific Theater.
  • Victor Mature – US Coast Guard.
  • Walter Matthau – US Army Air Corps. B-24 Radioman/Gunner and cryptographer.
  • Wayne Morris – US Navy fighter pilot- USS Essex.  Downed seven Japanese fighters.
  • Wiliam Holden – US Army Air Corps.
  • William Conrad – US Army Air Corps.  Fighter Pilot.

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, sports celebs and politicians put their careers on hold to enlist for service 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 Sept, 11, 2001 and serve as a Ranger in Afghanistan, where he died from tragic ‘friendly fire’ 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 WWII, there was a job that needed doing they didn’t question.  They just went and did what they could to help win it.  Those who came home returned to their normal life and carried on, obviously.   Very few ever saying what they did…or saw.

They took it as their “responsibility”.  Their duty to our country, to protect & preserve our freedoms & way of life.  Not just for themselves, but for all future generations to come.

They DID THE JOB!

I’m forever humbly in their debt.