HOW MANY OF THESE MEN DO YOU REMEMBER?
Happy Veteran's Day. I served my tour of duty back in the cold war days. I got to go camping in the woods near places like Ulm and Heidelberg Germany at least once a month and deal with two feet of snow or a foot of pure mud - all because of the Iron Curtain. Yesterday was the 25th anniversary of tearing down the Berlin Wall. I cannot describe the feeling I had when it dawned on me that many people today do not have a clue what that was all about.
I can only send this to
people around my age, (well, close to my age or gaining on it) since
today's people don't have any idea who these men
were and that's a
pity.
George Gobel, comedian,
taught fighter pilots, I believe it was in
Oklahoma,
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.
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.
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.
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 they 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,
1938-1942, then US Army, 1942-1945. 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 put their careers on
hold to enlist 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 and they didn't question it. 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 the "First" generation after them,
I'm forever and humbly in their
debt.

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