True Hollywood Heroes

unknown

[philetus]

During 1943 to 1946, Carson was an officer in the US Navy and participated in shows to entertain the enlisted men.

[harpo11]

BOB HOPE--USO Tours of Duty

Slyfox, my Dad was stationed in Okinawa during WWII. Christmas Bob Hope was scheduled to do his famous and highly anticipated Show. Dad says the men got all spruced up as much as they could. Had the area all decked out in Christmas. Couldn't wait to see the pretty girls Bob Hope always had with him for these performances. The troops waited and waited. Bob and his troupe were not able to come in due to too much enemy activity.

Alas, the men were so disappointed and let down. However, they cheered when they heard Bob Hope would have come in but for the safety of the performers they were advised not to.

Thanks for the memories!

[AmericanChef]

I was just happy to see a pic of Tyrone Power, the handsomest man to ever live!

[silent_jonny]

From one of my favorite TV shows, Gunsmoke:

James Arness. During World War II, he served his country at Anzio where he was wounded and was awarded the Purple Heart (this is why he walks so stiffly on the show and why Dennis Weaver's Chester had such an exaggerated limp, to distract viewers from Arness').

Ken Curtis. The son of a Colorado county sheriff, Curtis left his home state to seek his fortune as a singer in Los Angeles. He quickly met up with singer Jo Stafford who sent Ken's demo recording to band leader Tommy Dorsey. Dorsey signed Ken as a replacement for Frank Sinatra. Curtis left Dorsey's band to serve in the Army during World War II.

[ma bell]

Not only integrity..but they had CHARACTER.

[nonliberal]

I read somewhere (I think it was FR) that Dennis Franz from NYPD Blue was a grunt in Vietnam.

[Proud Conservative2]

What a great thread!!! Thanks for posting this!

[fortunecookie]

It's hard to believe Jimmy Stewart's military biography. He seemed such a gentle spirit.

I fail to see the problem.

I think that is the point, Jimmy Stewart clearly understood the difference between war and peace. Our country has plenty of war heroes who've played military roles exceedingly well in movies and Hollywood and our country like to remember them that way. But many of these same men were husbands, fathers, sons, neighbors. Regular guys. Guys who were tough when they needed to be and kind and gentle when they didn't need to be tough. And hard-working, funny, multitalented,...

For me, it brings to mind two brave men in my community who stormed Normandy on D-day and lived to tell about it. They have both passed on in recent years, but both were known as good fathers and husbands, community leaders, hard workers and very gentle-spirited, like Jimmy Stewart. And they loved to tell - and we loved to hear - their war stories. Edited, if young children were present. Fwiw. :-)

[DCPatriot]

I had an uncle that had hit the beach and cliffs at Normandy come home on leave one xmas.

Holiday sentiment, family..whatever, he completely broke down the story goes. He never talked about it to anyone.

His private hell I suppose.

[Jonah Hex]

"Jackie Coogan enlisted in the Army on Mar. 4, 1941. When the U.S. entered WW II as a result of the Pearl Harbor attack, Coogan requested transfer to the AAF as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. He was sent to glider school at Lubbock, Texas and Twentynine Palms, California. Upon graduation he was made a Flight Officer. He then volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group being formed by the famous Col. Phil Cochran. In Dec. 1943, the unit was sent to India where, by using CG-4A gliders, it airlifted crack British troops under Gen. Orde Wingate during the night aerial invasion of Burma (Mar. 5, 1944), landing them in a small jungle clearing 100 miles behind Japanese lines. Coogan returned to the U.S. in May 1944 and was discharged in Dec. 1945."

One brief excerpt about Jackie Cooper, from the USAF Museum records at Wright-Patterson AFB:

"The same night the first troop transports went into our airstrip, another fleet of Command gliders landed at a second point in enemy-held Burma several miles to the south. Sudden up and downdrafts over the mountains forced the gliders to sway and dip like flying surfboards Jap ack-ack guns opened up as the gliders passed over the Chindwin River, but all got through safely. F/C (now 2nd Lt) Jackie Coogan, onetime child star of the movies, piloted the first glider to land. His tow-plane pilot was Maj William T. Cherry Jr. of Quail, TX, who had also towed the first glider into the first field. Cherry piloted Capt. Eddie Rickenbacker’s B-17 when it made a forced landing in the Central Pacific in 1942.

Coogan cut his glider loose from the tow plane at 1,000 feet, did a 360-degree turn and landed at 120 miles per hour on an unlighted field, covered with four-foot grass. While his load of Gurkha troops fanned out for security guard, he began setting out smudge pots to glide other gliders in.

All landed safely except one, which overshoot the field and crashed, killing the pilot and two GI engineers and destroying the engineering equipment it was carrying. Without the equipment, the other US aviation engineers were unable to start work on an airstrip that night. They were ordered to lie low and keep out of sight all the next day; there were fewer than 150 Gurkhas on hand to guard against any Jap thrust."

There were giants in Hollywood in those days...

[Jonah Hex]

My goof, I meant "Coogan" when I typed "Cooper".

:-(

[who knows what evil?]

This is one of the best threads I have ever seen at FR. Man...these photos bring back a lot of great movie and television memories. Today's "actors" aren't worthy to shine the boots of these wonderful AMERICAN men!

[fortunecookie]

Holiday sentiment, family..whatever, he completely broke down the story goes. He never talked about it to anyone. His private hell I suppose.

I can't imagine what torment that must have been. We know how many vets suffer in silence because of the hell they endure for our freedom. Hearing the sanitized versions of the 2 guys I knew was as dramatic as anything on Saving Private Ryan, good and bad. Just watching that movie version, it's little wonder of what your uncle and others must have suffered. It's amazing to hear the stories of anyone who survived that day, so many, many were killed right off the boats.

[silent_jonny]

Dan Blocker.
From a 1964 interview in TV Guide: In Korea something happened which drastically altered his attitude. On Christmas Eve 1951 he was on patrol near Hill 255 when his squad was ambushed. 'Our squad leader was killed, our tanks cut off, we were pinned 10 hours, and it looked like it was all over. I tasted real mortal fear and realized for the first time that I was not indestructible."

[Rockingham]

Thanks. I've never heard of it, but I'll take a look. The book has had good reviews. I read Patrick O'Brien's sea novels and enjoyed them immensely, so The Voyage looks appealing.