Combat!

[Hawker800]

I can't seem to find 12 O'clock High anywhere. [emoji57]


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[BUFF]

12 O'clock High was better when Robert Stack was the lead character. The studio was so cheap that, filming the episode his character got killed in, they wouldn't pay him to appear in it and they just had some anonymous guy in the uniform keel over pretending to be Stack and never showed Stack's face during the episode.

The show ran out of WWII B-17 combat footage pretty quickly and you saw the same stuff over and over again, which, to a 12 year old, was still pretty exciting stuff.

MAD Magazine did an absolutely hilarious send-up of 12 O'clock High, I think they called it 12 O'Cracked High or something. So funny I still remember a lot of it 45 years later.

 

[fordson]

...here's the wooden Thompson...

Why is Sgt. Saunder, USA, wearing a Camy helmet cover? Thouht only Marines wore those after '42 in the PTO.

 

[UncleEd]

Fordson,

Camo was used on a limited basis in Europe. U.S. shunned camo, I believe, because it was too much like what the German soldiers already were wearing.

Interesting story about uniforms told by a German paratrooper.
The German paratroopers, part of the Luftwaffe, wore a helmet which could easily be mistaken for the American one at a distance. For that reason, the German veteran said at least one time the Americans thought the German paratroopers were American. And the German paratroopers definitely wore camo.

 

[2ffat]

Back story on Morrow and his Thompson:

When the show was developing, Morrow personally chose the Thompson. However, his costar Rick Jason wisely picked the .30 carbine.

Morrow soon learned the Thompson was heavy, very heavy for him while doing the long hours of filming.

The prop department made for Morrow a lightweight wooden Thompson for his running, jumping action shots and the real Thompson was used for close-ups and Morrow's shooting of it.

Costar Rick Jason was more familiar with weapons and he knew his carbine would kill Germans just as effectively because that's the way the script read.

My Dad fought in the Pacific Theater in and around New Guinea. He hated the Thompson because it was so heavy. He was fighting near the equator and it was very hot and humid. Anything they could do to lighten their load they would do it.

He traded his Thompson for a .30 Carbine. Whenever the higher-ups would discover this, they would tell him to get another Thompson. He would keep it around until it was time for him to go on patrol and then he would trade it again.

Combat! was one of the few war shows my Dad liked. Maybe because he didn't fight the Germans and so the show didn't give him nightmares.

 

[the ringo kid]

Why is Sgt. Saunder, USA, wearing a Camy helmet cover? Thouht only Marines wore those after '42 in the PTO.

Saunders supposedly got it from his brother-who was a Marine.

 

[the ringo kid]

Braddock, was my favorite while he was on the show: And this episode is my over-all favorite of the series:

As Col. Clyde (what the Germans thought anyway)

 

[Walter Rego]

I can't seem to find 12 O'clock High anywhere. [emoji57]


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There are many episodes of 12 O'Clock High on YouTube. I watched a few just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[Walter Rego]

Fordson,

Camo was used on a limited basis in Europe. U.S. shunned camo, I believe, because it was too much like what the German soldiers already were wearing.

Interesting story about uniforms told by a German paratrooper.
The German paratroopers, part of the Luftwaffe, wore a helmet which could easily be mistaken for the American one at a distance. For that reason, the German veteran said at least one time the Americans thought the German paratroopers were American. And the German paratroopers definitely wore camo.

The story I heard about Saunders and the camo helmet cover was it was to make him easier to spot from a distance in the scenes. Of course he was the only one carrying a Thompson so I don't know how valid that theory was.

 

[JcMack]

My Dad watched a couple Combat episodes with me. He spent time in the ETO as Master Sargent. He'd watch the show and say "those guys are lucky they're fighting the "stupid" Germans, the ones I met were a lot smarter."

 

[rwsmith]

I was watching an episode........

Great show, but a tragic ending for the main star, Vic Morrow.

I was watching an episode and he was slogging waist deep through a river and I got a flashback of a helicopter hitting the water.

 

[the ringo kid]

Liked the Cajun guy in Combat. Sgt Saunders was always having him check out spots for Germans. Remember him saying "check it out Caj". Also neat to have him interpret French with the locals. Great show.

Just saw "Caje" in an episode of: Custer--as a 7th Cav scout.

 

[ordnanceguy]

It's nice to know that I am not the only former kid who spent part of his youth watching COMBAT! It had as much of an influence on me and my nere-do-well pals as anything on TV. It was the subject of many animated arguments in the back woods where the show's fine points and tactics would be discussed in great detail among us 10 year old military experts.

Rick Jason was utterly convincing as the Lt. It seemed that he was always trying to get Checkmate King 2 on the radio and never could. It is sad to know that Jason committed suicide in 2000.

One thing that always stood out for me what the theme song and the opening and closing credits. Properly martial. The simulated "artillery" fire heard against the backdrop of the stylized M1 bayonets and Vic Morrow's helmet was very clever. I can hum it to this day.

For those who revere the old COMBAT! series there is a website devoted to it with lots of trivia and details on the cast, crew and writers. You can find it here: Combat TV Series

 

[Lt JL]

there was a very similar show on another network. It didn't last. Was it the Gallant Men? I think I liked it better then

 

[ParadiseRoad]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjTCaiSF6Ko[/ame]

 

[ParadiseRoad]

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQbztpMlWuk[/ame]

 

[model70hunter]

My Dad watched a couple Combat episodes with me. He spent time in the ETO as Master Sargent. He'd watch the show and say "those guys are lucky they're fighting the "stupid" Germans, the ones I met were a lot smarter."

Your Dad was right.

My Dad told me he really respected the German military and their soldiers, very smart folks. they were in the war to win and he said at that time they all believed in what they were doing.

The ruination of the German Military were the leaders at the top. I recently read that Hitler had standing orders to not be awaken until 10 or 11 AM. When D-Day started we had a 6 hour start on Adolph.

 

[Texas Star]

It's nice to know that I am not the only former kid who spent part of his youth watching COMBAT! It had as much of an influence on me and my nere-do-well pals as anything on TV. It was the subject of many animated arguments in the back woods where the show's fine points and tactics would be discussed in great detail among us 10 year old military experts.

Rick Jason was utterly convincing as the Lt. It seemed that he was always trying to get Checkmate King 2 on the radio and never could. It is sad to know that Jason committed suicide in 2000.

One thing that always stood out for me what the theme song and the opening and closing credits. Properly martial. The simulated "artillery" fire heard against the backdrop of the stylized M1 bayonets and Vic Morrow's helmet was very clever. I can hum it to this day.

For those who revere the old COMBAT! series there is a website devoted to it with lots of trivia and details on the cast, crew and writers. You can find it here: Combat TV Series

Those bayonets always bugged me. True, some were shortened from the longer WWI style, and the points were ground that way. But the blades here are upside down!

Artists often depict blades upside down, and some idiot who designed a manual describing the M-3 fighting knife couldn't figure out when it was right side up! The upper quillon is the one bent forward, to allow advanced thumb placement on the guard.

I saw one VHS video box in a shop that depicted a Buck Model 120 with the blade inverted in the handle, too. The Model 120 is a Hollywood favorite, BTW, appearing in a number of movies and TV shows, most notably perhaps, the Scream series.

 

[HOUSTON RICK]

I used to watch it with my Mattel Tommy Gun handy. See the bad guys coming and "brrrrrrrrriiiiiipp!"

Both my brother and I, wearing our green fatigues and Rat Patrol Goggles with Mattel Tommy Gun

 

[Ron AZ]

My Dad, who fought in ETO 1st as infantry, then as Sgt crew chief for an anti-tank gun, normally would not watch COMBAT! His issue (other than a lot of bad memories) was that almost exclusively featured patrol action. He said that was not what it was really like, most action were battles that he said you could not even see what you were shooting at. Imagine that ... a lack of realism in TV!

But as a young kid, I lapped it up. Only quirk that eventually got me was seeing the same wash, gully, canyon, and trees that only grew in CA over and over again. They were not big on realistic location settings.