Dont know how many of you have seen that hokey old spam mail about Mr. Rogers being a green beret or Capt. Kanagaroo saving Lee Marvins butt on Iwo Jima, but I know of one Actor who served in WWII that not everyone knows about. Charles Durning.Have you ever looked up the entry on him on Wikipedia? Heres what they had to say:
"
Charles Durning (born
February 28,
1923) is a
Golden Globe Award-winning
American actor of stage and screen.
Early life
Durning was born in
Highland Falls,
New York, the son of Louise and James Durning. He was raised in an impoverished family, and left his home as soon as possible to ease the financial pressure on his mother.[
citation needed]
(Heres the really interesting part)
Military service
Durning served as a soldier in
World War II, during which he was awarded a
Silver Star, three
Purple Heart medals, and a Good Conduct Medal. He was drafted into the
U.S. Army at the age of 21, and landed on
D-Day in the
Normandy Invasion on
June 6,
1944. Some sources state he was in the
1st Infantry Division at the time, but it is unclear if he was a rifleman or in an artillery unit by 1944.
On
Omaha Beach itself, Pvt. Charles Durning was among the first troops to land. Drafted early in the war, he was first assigned as a rifleman with the 398th Infantry Regiment, but later served overseas with the
3rd Army Support troops and the 386th Anti-aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion. Durning was wounded by an
“S” Mine on
June 15,
1944, at Les Mare des Mares. He was transported by the 499th Medical Collection Company to the 24th Evacuation Hospital. By
June 17, he was back in England at the 217th General Hospital. Although severely wounded by shrapnel in the left and right thigh, right hand, the frontal region of the head and the interior left chest wall, Durning recovered quickly and was determined to be “fit for duty” on
December 6,
1944. Durning was present for the
Battle of the Bulge, the German counter-offensive in December 1944.
[1] He was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge, and was one of the few survivors of the infamous Malmedy massacre of American
POWs, perpetrated by a battlegroup under
Joachim Peiper of the
1st SS Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. "He escaped with two others, and returned to find the remainder murdered."
[1]
After being wounded in the chest, Durning was repatriated to the United States where he remained in army hospitals, receiving treatment for both physical and psychological wounds, until discharged with the rank of
Private First Class on
January 30,
1946.
Durning has said that he still suffers from nightmares about his war experiences (which is common among veterans living with
post-traumatic stress disorder, although Durning himself is not confirmed to have suffered PTSD).[
citation needed] He was nominated for an
Emmy Award for his extraordinary portrayal of a Marine veteran in "Call of Silence", an unusual episode of the television series
NCIS, first broadcast
November 23,
2004. Clearly drawing on his first-hand knowledge of the
lingering effects of battle-induced stress, Durning's character turns himself in to authorities, insisting that he must be prosecuted for having murdered his buddy during ferocious combat on
Iwo Jima six decades earlier.
[2] The real truth of the incident only becomes known for certain when the guilt-stricken veteran goes through a
cathartic reliving of the battlefield events.
Durning is well-known for participating in various functions to honor American veterans. He was the chairman one year of the U.S. National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans.
[3]
Speaking of Hollywood actors.....
