David357
30500+ Posts
Some of this has been around before but it is interesting nonetheless. As I looked at the faces I saw all the differing character there that we saw on the big screen for decades. Some were leading men but many were the strong contributing actors that helped make the movie stories interesting and well above the electric crap on the screen today. These were normal people in extraordinary times but those of character and belief in their country.
They were not so engrossed with themselves as are the shallow “stars” of today. They were not the phoney glamor pusses of today that seem to be stamped out some bizzare mold of what a star is supposed to look like.
Anyhow look at these photos and realize what they went through to gain all that character as they endured those historical events that saved our country. They are after all .....just Americans serving their country.
There are over 90 pictures of these brave veterans. However due to posting limitations of about 12 pictures at a time, I will have to make about nine addtional posts.
| THE OLDER PEOPLE WILL REMEMBER THESE & THE YOUNGER ONES CAN LEARN ABOUT OUR PAST. THIS BROUGHT BACK A LOT OF MEMORIES. COMPARE WITH HOLLYWOOD TODAY! 
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.
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 $36 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.
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 they didn’t question, 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. I’m forever humble in their debt!
