[texasflower]

I had heard this before, but it is great to hear it again.

May they rest in peace.

[NormsRevenge]

America's real heroes don't flaunt what they did, they quietly go about their day to day lives doing what they do best.

Thanks for the post. God Bless Those Who Risked All. Duty, Honor, Country...

[JennysCool]

Urban Legend, alas. Consult snopes.com.

[woofie]

How do we find out if this is true? Urban legend?

[egarvue]

Another complete fabrication, courtesy of the internet. See Snopes.com for the debunking of this story. Keeshan did join the military in 1945, but did not see any action.

[Coroner]

I think the Capt. Kangaroo story has been debunked at Snopes as well as Mr. Rogers.

[Jeanie]

http://www.snopes.com/military/keeshan.htm
http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/mrrogers.asp

[Jaysun]

On another note, there was this wimpy little man (who just passed away) on PBS, gentle and quiet. Mr. Rogers is another of those you would least suspect of being anything but what he now portrays to our youth. But, Mr. Rogers was a US Navy Seal, combat proven in Vietnam with over twenty-five confirmed kills to his name. He wore a long sleeve sweater on his show to cover the many tattoos on his forearm and biceps. A master in small arms and hand-to-hand combat, able to disarm or kill in a heartbeat.


What I wouldn't give to have seen Mr. Rogers stomping someone's ass. I didn't know this about Mr. Rogers or Captain Kangaroo. Good post.

[LiteKeeper]

SPOTREP - and pass it on.

[Paleo Conservative]

Captain Kangaroo turned 76 recently, which is odd because he's never looked a day under 76 (dob: 6/27/27). This brings to mind the following story.

...........

Johnny, I'm not lying...Sergeant Keeshan was the bravest man I ever knew... The sergeant's name is Bob Keeshan...You and the world know him as Captain Kangaroo.

Battle for Iwo Jima - World War II
February 19 to March 16,1945

That story sounds fishy. How many 17 year old seargeants have you ever heard about?

[My Dog Likes Me]

I'll tell you something that's true. Clint Eastwood served in the Navy as an enlisted aircrew member (radio or guns? I don't know). I think this was in the 1950's.

Also, Dennis Franz of NYPD Blue served in the Army in Vietnam. Eleven Bravo, I think.

[Tall_Texan]

...and Pee Wee Herman was CIA.

[tutstar]

bttt for all our brave men military men, past and future

[tutstar]

I hate when these legends come around........you have 1 strike now for posting it LOL......Nonetheless Lee is a hero.

Lee Marvin

Private First Class, United States Marine Corps

Movie Actor

Lee Marvin was born on February 19, 1924, he served with the Marine Corps during World War II in the Pacific and was awarded a Purple Heart for a wound that he received there.

On his return, he became a movie actor and starred in a number of motion pictures until his death in Arizona on August 29, 1987.

He is buried in Section 7-A of Arlington National Cemetery, not far from the Memorial Amphitheater and the Tomb of the Unknowns.

We can't say for sure whether actor Lee Marvin ever related something like the story described above to Johnny Carson on the Tonight Show (Marvin was a guest on the show seven times during Carson's tenure as host), but the details of the anecdote are undeniably false.

Lee Marvin did enlist in the U.S. Marines, saw action as Private First Class in the Pacific during World War II, and was wounded (in the buttocks) by fire which severed his sciatic nerve. However, this injury occurred during the battle for Saipan in June 1944, not the battle for Iwo Jima, which took place several months later, in February 1945. (Marvin also did receive a Purple Heart, and he is indeed buried at Arlington National Cemetery.)

Bob Keeshan, later famous as television's "Captain Kangaroo," also enlisted in the U.S. Marines, but too late to see any action during World War II. Keeshan was born on 27 June 1927 and enlisted two weeks before his 18th birthday, months too late to have taken part in the fighting at Iwo Jima. A 1997 interview with Keeshan noted that he "later enlisted in the U.S. Marines but saw no combat" because, as Keeshan said, he signed up "just before we dropped the atom bomb."

[gitmo]

I've read Mr. Roger's autobiography, and don't recall anything about military service. Perhaps he downplayed it.

[hosepipe]

a link to Lee Marvin, Keeshan and Mr. Rogers...?
excellent.. thanls...EZ...

[Louisiana]

cool read bump