Hollywood then {WW2} and NOW

What a difference 50 years makes

Published on June 10, 2007 By Moderateman In Politics

Don Adams - USMC, Contracted malaria on Guadalcanal [Source: Internet Movie Database]

	John Agar - US Army Air Corps, Sergeant.
	Gene Autry - Flight Officer, Air Transport Command, 1942-1946
	Eddie Albert - US Navy. Drove Amtracks in several Pacific invasions. He served in the landings at Saipan in 1943, where he rescued wounded and stranded Marines from the beachhead. At Tarawa, he was wounded and lost most of his hearing and earned the Bronze Star.
	James Arness - US Army, Wounded at Anzio. Purple Heart and Bronze Star [

	Martin Balsam - US Army.
	James Best - US Army Air Corps. (
	Richard Boone - US Navy.
	Neville Brand - US Army. (
	Ernest Borgnine he served in the U.S. Navy for twelve years, joining before WWII.
	Mel Brooks (Melvin Kaminsky) joined army in WWII and became a combat engineer. Cleared German mines after the Battle of the Bulge. He organized shows for the US troops, and when the German army began transmitting propaganda over loudspeakers Brooks is said to have replied with a version of Al Jolson's 'Toot-toot-tootsie'.
	Charles Bronson - US Army.
	Richard Burton - Royal Navy.

	Art Carney - US Army. Carney went to Normandy in July of 1944 as a replacement to the 28th Division in position around St Lô. He was part of a 30 calibre machine gun squad. On 15 August 1944 he had just taken up his position and was hit in the right leg by mortar shrapnel. After receiving field treatment, he was sent back to Britain and then the US. He once said of his military career, "Never fired a shot and maybe never wanted to. I really cost the government money."
	Julia Child served with the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) in Ceylon and China during WWII. [Source: They Also Served by Scott Baron]
	Jeff Chandller - US Army.

Jackie Coogan - US Army Air Corps. Enlisted in Army March 1941. After Pearl Harbor, requested transfer to Air Corps as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. After graduating from Glider School, he was made a Flight Officer and volunteered for hazardous duty with the 1st Air Commando Group. 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.

Tony Curtis - US Navy joined 1943 at age 17. In Tokyo Bay he watched the surrender ceremonies from the Signal Bridge of the USS Proteus.

D Military Surplus for Less

	Ossie Davis - US Army
	Kirk Douglas - US Navy

Maurice Evans was in a Special Entertainment Unit that toured the South Pacific.

	Douglas Fairbanks Jr. - US Navy. He joined the naval reserves before the war. During the war he served on the Battleship Massachuesetts and was a Commando raider sent on several land attack missions. He retired from the reserves, years later, as a full Captain. He wrote about his war years in the book "A Hell of a War" which also covers his duties in helping organize the forerunners of today's Navy Seals.
	Henry Fonda - US Navy. Bronze Star for Valor.
	Glenn Ford - US Navy. In addition to his WWII service, he served in the reserves during the Korean War and the Viet Nam War. He retired as a Captain in the US Naval Reserve.

	Clark Gable - Captain, US Army Air Corps. Although beyond draft age, Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the Air Corps on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles. He attended Officers' Candidate School at Miami Beach and graduated as a second lieutenant. He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943, on personal orders from Gen. Arnold, went to England to make a motion picture of aerial gunners in action. He was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook and although neither ordered nor expected to do so, flew operational missions over Europe in B-17s to obtain the combat film footage he believed was required for producing the movie entitled "Combat America." Gable returned to the U.S. in Oct. 1943 and was relieved from active duty as a major on Jun. 12, 1944 at his own request, since he was over age for combat
	Frank Gorshin - US Army
	Shecky Greene - US Navy

Alan Hale US Coast Guard during WWII.

	Sterling Hayden USMC
	Jack Hawkins - Volunteered to serve in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers. He spent most of his military career arranging entertainment for the British forces in India [Source: Internet Movie Database]
	David Hedison
	Audrey Hepburn, as a child she was a courier for World War II resistance fighters in Holland
	Benny Hill - British Army
	William Holden - US Army

Rick Jason - US Army Air Corps

	Bob Keeshan - ("Captain Kangaroo") U.S. Marines, enlisted two weeks before his 18th birthday. He saw no combat because his enlistment was just two months before the bombing of Hiroshima
	Brian Keith - USMC, Aerial gunner
	George Kennedy - US Army, served 16 Years
	Werner Klemperer - US Army
	Don Knotts - USA 1943

	Burt Lancaster - US Army
	Jack Lemmon - US Navy Reserve 1945-1946

Strother Martin - US Navy Swimming instructor

	Lee Marvin - US Marines, wounded in the battle of Saipan
	Patrick MacNee British Royal Navy.
	Steve McQueen USMC
	Jan Merlin - Enlisted in US Navy April, 1942, served as a destroyer torpedoman until April 1946, honorably discharged. Played Roger Manning, Space Cadet!
	Burgess Meredith - US Army Air Corps

	Gary Merrill US Army
	Robert Montgomery - US Navy Reserve
	Audie Murphy - US Army, most decorated soldier of WWII

David Niven Royal Army. His relates several charming tales of his war service (including the time he lets a German general slip away) in his autobiography The Moon's a Balloon

Caroll O’Connor - Merchant Marines 1942

	Jack Palance US Army Air Corps. 455th bomb group. Required facial reconstruction from terrible injuries received in 1943 when his B17 crash landed in Britain.
	Dick Peabody - US Navy
	Tyrone Power - USMC Pilot in the South Pacific.

Anthony Quayle Royal Artillery

	Jason Robards Jr - US Navy. He was a radioman on duty at Pearl Harbor during the Japanese attack. He wrote about his experiences in A Hell of a War.
	Ronald Reagan - Captain, US Army Air Corps. Because of a severe hearing loss, he was not allowed any flying duties. However, he appeared in training films. Prior to the war, he was a cavalry officer in the Nebraska National Guard.
	Carl Reiner Entered army In 1942 and trained as a radio operator. He later studied French on assignment at Georgetown University to become an interpreter, but became a teletype operator in the Signal Corps where, on the way to Iwo Jima from Hawaii, was assigned to Maurice Evans' Special Entertainment Unit. For 18 months, he toured the South Pacific as a comedian in GI reviews.
	Don Rickles - US Navy. Destroyer duty. He has said of one deployment, "It was so hot and humid, the crew rotted."
	Andy Rooney - (okay, not an actor, but he is a TV personality) Sergeant, US Army. Early in war served with artillery regiment assigned to England. Joined Stars And Stripes in London. In 1943, Rooney is among first correspondents allowed aboard B-17 bombers attacking Germany. He wrote of his war experiences in the book My War.
	Mickey Rooney - US Army. PFC. Served 21 months with a unit that entertained the troops []

	Albert Salmi - US Army.
	Charles Schultz (cartoonist) - US Army. Staff sergeant and leader of machine gun squad.
	Rod Serling - US Army paratroopers

	Robert Stack - US Navy. Because of his expertise as an Olympic champion skeet shooter, he was assigned to teach anti-aircraft gunnery.
	Rod Stieger - Torpedoman, US Navy. Falsified his age to enlist at 16
	Jimmy Stewart - US Army Air Corps.

	Judge Wapner of The People's Court was saved from a sniper's bullet when it lodged in a can of tuna he was carrying while an Army officer in the Pacific
	Eli Wallach Sergeant US Army Medical Corps as an admin clerk.
	Jack Warden Served in the 101st Airborne during WWII.

James Whitmore - USMC. WWII interrupted his pre-law studies at Yale. He received his degree while at boot camp and served as an officer in the Marine Corps.

That was then, this is now,

Sean Penn anti American activist

Tim Robbins Anti American activist

Susan Sarandon anti American Activist

Danny Glover Anti American activist and Hugo Chavaz Best friend, also admires Fidel Castro

Micheal Moore Anti American activist, director friend of Fidel Castro

The Dixie Chicks anti American activists

Jane Fonda Anti American activist {two wars}

Can anybody think of a single so called "STAR" of today that has fought for their country?

Comments (Page 2)

Sean Conners aka SConn1

on Jun 12, 2007

The America First Committee was the foremost pressure group against American entry into the Second World War.

AFC was established September, 4, 1940 by Yale law student R. Douglas Stuart, Jr., along with other students including future President Gerald Ford, Sargent Shriver and future Supreme Court justice Potter Stewart. At its peak, America First may have had 800,000 members in 650 chapters, located mostly in a 300 mile radius of Chicago. It claimed 135,000 members in 60 chapters in Illinois, its strongest state. [Schneider 198] Few Southern chapters existed. Fundraising drives produced about $370,000 from some 25,000 contributors. Nearly half came from a few millionaires such as William H. Regnery, H. Smith Richardson of the Vick Chemical Company, General Wood, publisher Joseph M. Patterson (New York Daily News) and his cousin publisher Robert R. McCormick (Chicago Tribune). It was never able to get funding for its own public opinion poll. The New York chapter received slightly more than $190,000, most of it from its 47,000 contributors. Since it never had a national membership form or national dues, and local chapters were quite autonomous, historians suggest the leaders had no idea how many "members" it had. [Cole 1953, 25-33; Schneider 201-2]

Serious organizing of the America First Committee took place in Chicago not long after the September 1940 establishment. Chicago was to remain the national headquarters of the committee. To preside over their committee, America First chose General Robert E. Wood, the 61 year-old chairman of Sears, Roebuck and Co.. While Wood would accept only an interim position, he remained at the head of the committee until it was disbanded in the days after Pearl Harbor.

The America First Committee had its share of prominent businessmen as well as the sympathies of political figures like Senator Burton K. Wheeler, Senator Gerald P. Nye, and Socialist Party leader Norman Thomas, with its most prominent spokesman being Charles A. Lindbergh.

Other celebrities supporting America First were novelist Sinclair Lewis, poet E. E. Cummings, author Gore Vidal (as a student at Phillips Exeter Academy), Alice Roosevelt Longworth, film producer Walt Disney and actress Lillian Gish. Architect Frank Lloyd Wright attempted to join, but the board thought he had a "reputation for immorality".

Moderateman

on Jun 12, 2007

Reply By: Sean Conners aka SConn1Posted: Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Please Sean, I asked ever so politely for you to stay out of my blogs and I said I will stay out of yours. We are way to different to ever get along, long term and I personally do not need the grief.

So I ask again, please stay out of my blogs.

Sean Conners aka SConn1

on Jun 12, 2007

my apologies...this will be my last post / read of your stuff. i thought maybe ya "woke up grumpy" again..guess not.

have a nice day, and i wish only the best to you and yours.

Dr Guy

on Jun 12, 2007

The America First Committee was the foremost pressure group against American entry into the Second World War.

note the operative word here (bolded for those who like to shout).

Now note the content of the article (Hollywood then and now). No where in the article does anyone mention who was against getting into the war to begin with. Only what people did once we were in it.

Moderateman

on Jun 12, 2007

have a nice day, and i wish only the best to you and yours.

Reply By: Sean Conners aka SConn1Posted: Tuesday, June 12, 2007

As I to you, your wife, children and the newest addition to the conners clan.

Moderateman

on Jun 12, 2007

Reply By: Dr GuyPosted: Tuesday, June 12, 2007
The America First Committee was the foremost pressure group against American entry into the Second World War.

note the operative word here (bolded for those who like to shout).
Now note the content of the article (Hollywood then and now). No where in the article does anyone mention who was against getting into the war to begin with. Only what people did once we were in it.

This is why I asked Sean to not comment any more.. he seems to look for ways to either discount what the article is about or find some small issue {like a few that were not in Hollywood but in T.V. or did not become famous till after the war} to point out how wrong the article is, it just steams me, hence me politely asking.

The fact remains the Hollywood of old was filled with patriots, the new Hollywood is NOT!

Moderateman

on Jun 19, 2007

If it was up to todays Hollywood we qwould all be speaking Spanish and Castro and Chavez would be ruling the country.

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