Before you knew them as actors, musicians, politicians and important personalities, these brave men and women served their respective countries in both times of war and times of peace. This page serves as nothing more than a way to honor that legacy of commitment and service.
Before you knew them as actors, musicians, politicians and important personalities, these brave men and women served their respective countries in both times of war and times of peace...
This page serves as nothing more than a way to honor that legacy of commitment and service.
Because of his expertise as an Olympic champion skeet shooter (1937), he was assigned to teach anti-aircraft gunnery. In honor of his three years of service, Stack was awarded the World War II Victory Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Campaign Medal, Expert Rifle Ribbon…
Read MoreAlready an established actor, on 27 Feb 1942, Burgess put his career on hold during and joined the United States Army Air Corps, where he eventually reached the rank of Captain. He transferred to the Office of War Information and was involved in making films for GIs. He was discharged in 1945 to work on the movie The Story of G.I. Joe, in which he starred as the popular war correspondent…
During his senior year of high school in 1942, Leon dropped out of school to enlist in the United States Marine Corps. His MOS (Military Occupational Specialty) was that of field radio operator. Following a period stationed in New Zealand, Uris served in combat on Guadalcanal and Tarawa as a …
Read MoreAdmitted to the U.S. Navy's V-12 officer training program in 1943 as an apprentice seaman Johnny Carson hoped to train as a pilot, but was sent instead to Columbia University for midshipman training. Commissioned as an ensign in 1945, he reported for duty aboard the USS Pennsylvania on Aug. 14…
Read MoreYou know him as a comedian and comedic actor who rose to fame in the 1950s with his television variety show and his character "Lonesome George". After graduating high school in Chicago, Gobel was working as a DJ in St Louis when WWII came calling. George served in the United States Army Air Forces as a flight instructor in AT-9 aircraft at Altus, Oklahoma…
Read MoreIn January 1939 Karola Ruth Siegel was sent to Switzerland by her mother and grandmother after her father was taken by the Nazis. By 1941, both her parents were presumed dead and Westheimer was left on her own. At 17 she emigrated to the British Mandate of Palestine, and dedicated to the building of a Jewish homeland, joined Haganah, an underground Jewish military organization. Despite her diminutive height (4’7”), she served as a sniper and a sharpshooter. Says Dr. Ruth of that interval…
Read MoreIn 1945, Peckinpah joined the United States Marine Corps where he was sent to China with the task of disarming Japanese soldiers and repatriating them following World War II. While he was disappointed that his duty did not include any actual combat, Sam claims to have witnessed ghastly acts of war between Chinese and Japanese soldiers. According to friends…
Read MoreThere is very little published information about Norman Noah Feld's (Norman Fell) time in the US Air Force. We do know he served as a tail gunner in the World War II Pacific theater. After his service was complete, he enrolled and studied drama at Temple University. During his long television and film career, Fell played a few choice parts in military films including Catch-22, PT 109and Pork Chop Hill.
Read MoreRocky Marciano, Rocco Francis Marchegiano, the real Rocky if you ask me, dropped out of high school after the tenth grade to work and help support his family in a variety of jobs — washing dishes, gardening and working both a candy and a shoe factory. On March 4, 1943, at the age of 20, Rocky enlisted the Army in Boston, Massachusetts and was sent overseas to Europe.
Davis was drafted into the US Army in 1944, when was eighteen, and his experiences were not happy ones. When he arrived for basic training he saw a PFC sitting on the steps of the barracks. He walked over to him and said, "Excuse me, buddy. I'm a little lost. Can you tell me where 202 is? The man jerked his head back and said "Two buildings down and I'm not your buddy, you black bastard!"
Star Trek’s loveable engineer Montgomery “Scotty” Scott, AKA James Doohan, attended high school at the Sarnia Collegiate Institute and Technical School (SCITS) in Ontario, Canada where he excelled in mathematics and science. His proficiency in these areas prompted him to join the 102nd Royal Canadian Army Cadet Corps in 1938.
Read MoreWith the outbreak of World War II in 1939, a 25 year old Desmond Llewelyn took a break from his stage career and joined the British Army. He was soon commissioned a second lieutenant, serving in the Royal Welch Fusiliers. Deployed to France with the British Expeditionary Force, he was captured in the massive German attack on France in May-June 1940, and spent the remainder of the war as a…
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