Do you know the man in the picture?

[erikpolcrack]

Sterling Hayden (crazy general in Dr. Strangelove, crooked police captain in The Godfather) won the Silver Star as an Army ( Oops, Marine ) lieutenant in the OSS, running guns by boat to the Yugoslav resistance, parachuting behind enemy lines to link up with resistance fighters, and establishing an aircrew rescue line in occupied territory.

 

[31FordA]

Sterling Hayden (crazy general in Dr. Strangelove, crooked police captain in The Godfather) won the Silver Star as an Army lieutenant in the OSS, running guns by boat to the Yugoslav resistance, parachuting behind enemy lines to link up with resistance fighters, and establishing an aircrew rescue line in occupied territory.

Sterling Hayden was actually Marine Corps officer. There were a number of Marines with the OSS in Europe. I have a book called "Stars in the Corps" about all the celebrities who served in the Marine Corps. There were a bunch of them, for example Tyrone Power was a Marine aviator.

 

[Rustyt1953]

This is quite the list:

100 Actors Who Served in the Military | Stacker

 

[THE PILGRIM]

Ted is visiting the AF at Suwon.
He just crash landed his shot-up F9F.

 

[cmj8591]

What Holden did, I have no idea, but I remember that he was an officer.

He blew up the bridge on the river Kwai.

 

[cmj8591]

"The Splendid Splinter" was the last MLB player to hit over .400. He now resides in a vat (Two vats actually because his head is in one and his body in another.) of liquid nitrogen waiting for the day when medical science can figure out how to put him back together and cure whatever killed him so he can get back to left field at Fenway Park. A bit of an ignoble end for the greatest natural hitter to ever play the game.

 

[Cooter Brown]

Spelled M A N.

 

[smoothshooter]

Leadership positions for those in the flying business was probably a normal occurence. They were flight leads or aircraft commanders, and they probably had some squadron, group or wing leadership positions as well. Brigadier General Jimmy Stewart was the highest ranking officer of all the celebrities. If you haven't seen the movie, "Strategic Air Command" it is certainly worth a watch.

Jimmy Stewart | The American Legion

Almost all military pilots have started out as officers, and have been since the beginning of WWI and aviation as a military occupation.

 

[Delta Expatriate]

This is quite the list:

100 Actors Who Served in the Military | Stacker

Thank you for posting that, Rusty. I went through the list twice, and did not see James Arness, who I think fought in the Italian campaign during WWII, and I believe was wounded. I hope I didn't miss his name. I also don't recall seeing Eddie Albert's name, who I think operated a landing craft in the Pacific. Somebody correct me if I am wrong, since I have not had time to research and confirm this.

I think maybe a lot of WWII veterans used the GI Bill of Rights to study drama and acting after the war (?). Of course, Jimmy Stewart, Henry Fonda and Clark Gable, etc., were allready established stars when we entered the war.

 

[Muley Gil]

Just to set the story straight, Ted Williams enlisted in the Naval Reserve on May 22, 1942. Rather than play baseball for the Navy, Williams elected to become a pilot. Upon finishing flight training in 1944, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marine Corps and was awarded the wings of a naval aviator.

Williams served as a flight instructor at Pensacola NAS. After a year, he was sent to Pearl Harbor to be deployed to the front, but WW II ended before he could be sent overseas.

He remained in the Marine Corps Reserve and was recalled to active duty for service in Korea in January 1952. He flew 39 combat missions before the armistice.

All Marine pilots are naval aviators.

 

[cmj8591]

Just to set the story straight, Ted Williams enlisted in the Naval Reserve on May 22, 1942. Rather than play baseball for the Navy, Williams elected to become a pilot. Upon finishing flight training in 1944, he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Marine Corps and was awarded the wings of a naval aviator.

Williams served as a flight instructor at Pensacola NAS. After a year, he was sent to Pearl Harbor to be deployed to the front, but WW II ended before he could be sent overseas.

He remained in the Marine Corps Reserve and was recalled to active duty for service in Korea in January 1952. He flew 39 combat missions before the armistice.

All Marine pilots are naval aviators.

He was drafted in 1942, applied for and received a deferment based on his claim that he was his mother's care taker. This caused his sponsors, particularly Quaker Oats, to pull their support. About 6 months later, he enlisted in the Naval Reserve and about a year after that, he was activated and sent to flight training. While he was at flight training in 1943, he was allowed to go back to the Sox to play in the all star game. He did play baseball for the Navy including the time he was at Pensacola where he played with another famous Red Sox, Johnny Pesky. While he was waiting for deployment at Pearl Harbor at the end of WW2, he played in a Navy league that included several other pros who played for the Yankee's. Williams was activated from the inactive reserve when they became desperate for pilots for Korea. At the time, he was at the peak of his base ball career and was not very happy about going back in. This was where he made his name as a fighter pilot. I don't want to take away from that, because he was a great pilot, but it's a bit of an urban legend that he dropped everything and went in based on some patriotic motivation. The reality is he went in kicking and screaming.

 

[glowe]

Even though he was not an actor, don't forget Major GLenn Miller who lost his life over the English Channel in 1944 during WWII. His commission was certainly honorary since he led a 50 piece orchestra to England. It was said that in the late 1930s and early 1940s he was the most famous entertainer in the U.S. Not my generation, but I love big band music like "In the Mood" and "Moonlight Serenade"! Nothing more appropriate for WWII era entertainment.

[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ws6DdrDtyo[/ame]

 

[BSA1]

Thank you for posting that, Rusty. I went through the list twice, and did not see James Arness, who I think fought in the Italian campaign during WWII, and I believe was wounded. I hope I didn't miss his name. I also don't recall seeing Eddie Albert's name, who I think operated a landing craft in the Pacific.

James Arness served in the Army. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He was wounded in the hip and leg during the battle at Anzio. Later in his career as Matt Dillon the hip injury caused him difficulty with getting on a horse. If you watch his late season episodes you might catch a glimpse of him limping a bit.

Eddie Albert served in the Navy. He was awarded the Bronze Star for making repeated trips with his landing craft rescuing marines (most of them wounded) who were in the water under heavy fire during the invasion of Tarawa. I saw a interview with him and he was very modest about what he did.

 

[DWalt]

One movie that shows up occasionally on TCM is "Orchestra Wives", I think from 1942. Glenn Miller is not actually the lead, but he plays the leader of a traveling orchestra. It contains most of the Glenn Miller standards. Well worth watching. He made another musical-themed movie called "Sun Valley Serenade", along with a young Milton Berle and Sonja Henne. Also worth watching. Then there is "The Glenn Miller Story" starring Jimmy Stewart.

Theory is that while flying across the English Channel, his plane was hit by a bomb dropped on it from a returning American bomber flying above. The practice was that if bombers returning from a mission had undropped bombs, they would be jettisoned into the channel before landing. Bad timing for that plane.

 

[Rule3]

He blew up the bridge on the river Kwai.

My sisters FIL was there. I have his revolver and holster. M1917

 

[Rule3]

That's Ted Williams!

He enlisted in the Navy in WWII and got his wings, but never saw combat. He was called back for the next conflict. K-13 was an air base in Korea.

I have lots of his fine "products) Remember when Sears was such a great store?

 

[THE PILGRIM]

My FIL got a Army Reserve Commission, Infantry, when he graduated from Indiana Univ.
He was admitted to Medical School up in Indianapolis.
While there he often went back down to Bloomington and taught some ROTC classes.
One day he gets an Official Letter.
He's now a Reserve Lieutenant in the Medical Corps.
Now he's got two Commissions but he just keeps on trucking.
Oops! Another letter. Uncle Sam wants you. He being called up in the Walking Army.
He takes all his papers down to the Draft Board. Tells them he'll go Infantry or Medical.
They tell him, we'll be in touch. They probably never encountered anybody with two Commissions.
Another Letter. Infantry Commission is Terminated.
And sure enough, when he completes medical School he is called up.

 

[DWalt]

James Arness served in the Army. He was awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. He was wounded in the hip and leg during the battle at Anzio. Later in his career as Matt Dillon the hip injury caused him difficulty with getting on a horse. If you watch his late season episodes you might catch a glimpse of him limping a bit.

On set, he often wore slippers rather than cowboy boots because they hurt his feet. Most scenes in Gunsmoke did not show his feet.

 

[DWalt]

I have lots of his fine "products) Remember when Sears was such a great store?

I had my problems with Sears, but I was sorry to see them go. When I was growing up, for awhile they were the only store in town selling new guns. Montgomery Wards came in later and their gun department was better than Sears' They had lots of Milsurps.

 

[Alk8944]

It's funny but I have seen this same "Do you know who this is?" question several times in my life in various contexts. Most of the time the answer has been "Ted Williams", just like this time. There were many sports figures that were in the various services during WWII and Korea, but Ted Williams seems to be the one who gets the most attention? I assume this is because of his association with Sears Roebuck and Co. and their lines of sporting goods.