Famous Veterans of World War Two



Audie Murphy, little 5'5" tall 110 pound guy from Texas who played cowboy parts in movies? He is the most Decorated serviceman of WWII and earned:
The Medal of Honor
The Distinguished Service Cross
2 Silver Star Medals
Legion of Merit
2 Bronze Star Medals with "V"
2 Purple Hearts
The U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal
The Good Conduct Medal
2 Distinguished Unit Emblems
The American Campaign Medal
The 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)
The World War II Victory Medal
The Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp
The Armed Forces Reserve Medal
The Combat Infantry Badge
The Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar
The Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar
The French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre
The French Legion of Honor,Grade of Chevalier
The French Croix de Guerre With Silver Star
The French Croix de Guerre with Palm
The Medal of Liberated France
The Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 Palm
Murphy earned a battlefield commission to the rank of 2LT. He was appointed to West Point when the wounds he suffered disqualified him from military service. Upon medical discharge he found work in Hollywood.




James Doohan (of Star Trek fame) was a true war hero. An enlisted man who rose to captain in the Royal Canadian Artillery, he was with the Royal Canadian Artillery on Juno Beach on D-Day. He was shot seven times, with an eighth bullet lodging in his metal cigarette case. Three bullets shredded the middle finger of his right hand. Eventually, the finger was amputated, which is occasionally noticeable in Star Trek episodes and movies.



Charles Durning was a 21-year-old Army Ranger on Omaha Beach, June 6th, 1944. Wounded, he was the only soldier in his outfit to survive the initial assault. He was wounded in Belgium, stabbed by a German teenager wielding a bayonet. He was taken prisoner during the Battle of the Bulge in December of 1944, and survived the infamous machine-gun massacre of over 100 US POWs at Malmady. He returned to the site of the crime to help identify the bodies.
Finally, as the war wound down and he helped to liberate the Nazi death camps, Charles Durning took a bullet to the chest, effectively ending his tour of duty.
He was awarded three Purple Hearts and the Silver Star. And he spent the ensuing four years in and out of hospitals.



Alec Guinness served in the Royal Navy throughout World War II, serving first as a seaman in 1941 and being commissioned the following year. While in the military Guinness for awhile planned on becoming an Anglican priest. He commanded a landing craft taking part in the invasion of Sicily and Elba and later ferried supplies to the Yugoslav partisans.



Lee Marvin,a private first class in the Marines received a Purple Heart for wounds received during the battle for Saipan in June 1944? He was wounded in his buttocks by fire which severed his sciatic nerve. His real name was Marvin Lee. When asked about the change he said that the Marine Corps did that and he got so used to answering to it, he kept it that way in civilian life. Marvin is buried at Arlington National Cemetery.


Ed McMahon was commissioned in the Marine Corps and was trained as a fighter pilot in the F4U Corsair. He served as an instructor pilot, never seeing combat. His assignment to the Marine Carrier Group was canceled when the atomic bomb was dropped. Reactivated for the Korean War. Ed flew the O-1E completing 85 missions and was awarded six Air Medals.



Donald Pleasance who played "The Forger" in "The Great Escape" was really a RAF pilot who was shot down and held as a pow by the Germans in World War II.



Eddie Albert was awarded the Bronze Star as a Naval Landing Officer. He heroically evacuated wounded Marines during the invasion of Tarawa, NOV 1943.



George C. Scott won an Oscar for his portrayal of General Patton. He really served as a Marine Sergeant in the European Theater.



Charles Bronson was a tail gunner. He completed 25 missions and was awarded the Purple Heart.



Ernest Borgnine who played the skipper in "Mc Cales Navy" was a Navy Gunner's Mate 1935-1945 serving in the South Pacific.



James Arness (Gunsmoke) As a private in the famed Third Infantry Division he earned a Bronze Star and the Purple Heart. Because of his stature, he was chosen to be first off the landing craft (to test the depth of the water) when his division landed at Anzio, Italy. He was subsequently wounded by enemy machine gun fire and spent eighteen months recovering in overseas and stateside hospitals.


Chuck Conners (The Rifleman) left college after two years, and in 1942 enlisted in the Army at Fort Knox, Kentucky. He spent most of the war as a tank-warfare instructor, stationed at Camp Campbell, Kentucky, and later at West Point.



Art Carney (The Honeymooners) A World War II veteran, served in France as an infantryman. Wounded in leg by shrapnel and was hospitalized for nine months. He walked with a limp for the rest of his life.


James Stewart was a B-24 pilot ( not a B-17) and rose to the rank of Colonel and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross twice, the Air Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters and the Croix de Guerre. In 1959 in was promoted to Brigadier General.





Clark Gable was a B-17 gunner in Europe. He attended the Officers' Candidate School at Miami Beach, Fla. and graduated as a second lieutenant on Oct. 28, 1942. He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943, on personal orders from Gen. Arnold, went to England to make a motion picture of aerial gunners in action.





Gene Roddenberry joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941,and flew many combat B-17 Flying Fortress missions in the Pacific Theater with the 394th Bomb Squadron, the "Bomber Barons." He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. On 2 August 1943, Roddenberry was the pilot of B-17E Flying Fortress, 41-2463, "Yankee Doodle", of the 394th BS, 5th BG, when it crashed on takeoff due to mechanical failure at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, killing 2 crew.



Mickey Rooney served in the U.S. Army in Europe. Rooney was trained as a sniper but was assigned to do morale boosting "Jeep Shows" along the front lines. While at the front, he was known to sneak away and as he put it, "Practice the craft that the Army had trained him to do." Rooney was awarded the Bronze Star with clusters.


Henry Fonda, who played the second Commander in Chief-Pacific (CINCPAC II) in In Harm's Way (1965), was actually a naval veteran of World War II who served in the Pacific Theater. After making The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Fonda enlisted in the Navy to fight in World War II, saying, "I don't want to be in a fake war in a studio." He served in the Navy for three years, initially as a Quartermaster 3rd Class on the destroyer USS Satterlee; later, Fonda was commissioned as a Lieutenant Junior Grade (O-2) in Air Combat Intelligence. For his service in the Central Pacific, he won the Bronze Star, the fourth highest award for bravery or meritorious service in conflict with the enemy. After the War, Fonda starred in "Mister Roberts" on stage and later in the movie. The cap he wore as Cmdr Roberts was his uniform cap which he wore in the Navy.


Rod Steiger joined the Navy at age 16 to get away from home and served as a Torpedoman aboard a destroyer escorting the U.S.S. Hornet as part of Task Force 18 on the Doolittle Raid. Surprise was crucial and it was feared that the Task Force had been spotted by a Japanese fishing boats. Steiger was credited in sinking one of these vessels with machine gun fire.

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ray w.

you missed my favourite. david niven. a good scots reg before the war and phantom by end of war when he voluntary returned from states.

ray,

Enjoyed reading all of these stories! Not sure how I missed this one... well done sniper

Jem

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Teach your kids about 911 ~ Location, phone number, & chief complaint. Saves lives and property

Great list, good to see someone else remembers James Doohan!

Sumner Redstone, owner/founder of National Amusements (the company that owns Viacom inturn Paramount, BET, MTV, etc) is a war veteran of the Pacific Theater.

I'll add this one.

Rod Serling served as a U.S. Army paratrooper and demolition specialist with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 11th Airborne Division in the Pacific Theater in World War II from January 1943 to January 1945. He was seriously wounded in the wrist and knee during combat and was awarded the Purple Heart and Bronze Star.

Rod Serling - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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"Faint heart never won fair maiden", so I say "Go for it!"

Lou

It is interesting to see who either walked away from Hollywood/celebrity careers to serve or those who became celebrities following their service.

Also see:

http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-films-tv/15663-actors-wwii.html

http://www.ww2f.com/military-service-record-genealogical-research/32524-sgt-neville-brand.html

http://www.ww2f.com/roll-honor-memories-wwii-obituaries/20920-2nd-lt-audie-l-murphy.html

http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/30649-hollywood-combat-not-combat-hollywood.html

http://www.ww2f.com/wwii-general/18770-celebrities-wwii.html

http://www.ww2f.com/free-fire-zone/17114-few-stars-wwii.html

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Regards, Michelle

Oliver Goldsmith, "I love everything that's old: old friends, old times, old manners, old books, old wines."

I have to add one more - Christopher Lee

He volunteered to the Finnish forces against the Russians during the Winter War. Like all the other British volunteers, they didn't see real combat at all and Christopher Lee actually stayed in Finland only a fortnight.

He went to serve in the Royal Air Force and intelligence services during the WWII. Eyesight problems caused that he was dropped from the pilot training and he eventually ended up as a Cipher Officer in RAF in north Africa. He was with RAF trough Sicily and Italy.

Japanses Actor and favorite of mine: Toshiro Mifune was in the Imperial Japanese Army.

Werner Peters was in the Wehrmacht.

Tillman (Til) Kiwi-aka Eduard Kieffer-was in the Luftwaffe, was captured in North Africa and also became an RKT.

Ronald Reagan--Army.

Charlton Heston--Army.

Brian Donlevy-Army I think??

Johannes Messmer served in the Wehrmacht.

Humphrey Bogart--Navy.

Oskar Werner--Wehrmacht.

Johannes Meissner--Wehrmacht.

Anton Differing--Wehrmacht.

O.E. Hasse-German Army.

Another Japanese Actor and favorite of mine: Sessue Hayakawa-Imperial Japanese Army.

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Lost are only those, who abandon themselves) Hans-Ulrich Rudel.

Great post, sniper. I had no idea about Charles Durning's story. Fascinating stuff.

This has been an entertaining thread to say the least. It's neat to tie movie and TV faces with WWII facts. In regards to Audie Murphy, I've always been puzzled as to why he was ever awarded the Legion of Merit. That medal is normally reserved for officers LT.COL and above for distinguished meritorious service commensurate with achievement to their rank. At best, he was a 1st LT or CPT.

In 1994, Durning narrated a documentary about D-Day and the Normandy Campaign.

Greg C.

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"These are my credentials!"-Brig. Gen. Charles D.W. Canham [pointing to GI's of Company I, 13th Infantry Regiment, 8th Infantry Division] to General der Fallschirmjager Hermann Bernhard Ramcke, Crozon Peninsula September 19, 1944.

thanks mark,I would have replied sooner but my laptop called it a day,and I just gave up trying,I'm on my sisters at present until next weekend, when I'll be back on track,ray..

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ray w.

thanks to all for a good response to thread,ray..

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ray w.