DO YOU REMEMBER THESE MEN?
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.
Sterling
Hayden, US Marines and OSS. Smuggled guns into Yugoslavia and parachuted
into Croatia. Silver Star.
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. 10 years active duty. Discharged 194, re-enlisted
after Pearl Harbor.
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.
William
Holden, US Army Air Corps.
Alan Hale Jr, US Coast Guard.
Harry
Dean Stanton, US Navy. Battle of Okinawa.
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 the 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.
Robert Stack, US Navy. Gunnery Instructor.
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, 1 938-1942, then US Army, 1 942-1945. 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. 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, 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
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
that "First" generation, I'm forever humbly in their debt.