This thread made me think of all the actors who served in WW II. Saving Private Ryan question
Jimmy Stewart was mentioned as was Charles Durning and Audie Murphy.

Jimmmy Stewart-20 confirmed combat missions.

Charles Durning-Malmedy massacre survivor.

Audie Murphy-Most Decorated serviceman of WWII.

James Doohan: (Star Trek-"Scotty") He served with the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division and went ashore at Juno Beach on D-Day. He was wounded that evening and lost a finger on his right hand due to those injuries.

Eddie Albert: (Green Acres TV)-He was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroic action as a U. S. Naval officer aiding Marines at the horrific battle on the island of Tarawa in the Pacific Nov. 1943.

Rod Stieger: He served as a Torpedoman aboard a destroyer escorting the U.S.S. Hornet as part of Task Force 18 on the Doolittle Raid. Steiger was credited in sinking one of the Japanese fishing boats that spotted the task force with machine gun fire.

Denholm Elliot: (Trading Places) Shot down over Denmark in 1942, He spent the rest of the war in a POW camp.

How many more can you name ??


Wheelsup


(Post # 144)

Info from wikipedia.

Charles Bronson: In 1943, Bronson joined the United States Army Air Forces and served as an aircraft gunner in the 760th Flexible Gunnery Training Squadron, and in 1945 as a B-29 Superfortress crewman with the 39th Bombardment Group based on Guam. He was awarded a Purple Heart for wounds received during his service.


Lee Marvin: Marvin left school to join the US Marine Corps, serving as a sniper in the 4th Marine Division. He was wounded in action during the WWII Battle of Saipan. Most of his platoon were killed during the battle. Marvin's wound (in the buttocks) was from machine-gun fire which severed his sciatic nerve. He was awarded the Purple Heart medal and was given a medical discharge with the rank of Private First Class.


Christopher Lee: He volunteered to fight for the Finnish forces during the Winter War against the Soviet Union in 1939; however, as Lee admits in his autobiography, he and his fellow British volunteers were in Finland only a fortnight and kept well away from the Russian forces the whole time. He went on to serve in the Royal Air Force and intelligence services during World War II including serving as an Intelligence officer with the Long Range Desert Group. He trained in South Africa as a pilot but eyesight problems forced him to drop out. He eventually ended up in North Africa as Cipher Officer for No. 260 Squadron RAF and was with it through Sicily and Italy. Additionally, he has mentioned serving in Special Operations Executive, though all details of actions undertaken by members of the SOE are still classified. Lee retired from the RAF after the end of the War with the rank of Flight Lieutenant.


Ernest Borgnine: Borgnine joined the United States Navy in 1935 after high school. He was discharged in 1941, but he re-enlisted when the United States entered World War II and served until 1945 (a total of ten years), reaching the rank of Gunner's Mate 1st Class. His military decorations included the American Campaign Medal, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Medal with Fleet Clasp, and the World War II Victory Medal.

In 2004, Borgnine received the honorary rank of Chief Petty Officer from the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Terry D. Scott�the US Navy's highest ranking enlisted sailor at the time�for Borgnine's support of the Navy and Navy families worldwide.


George Kennedy: Kennedy put aside show business during World War II and spent sixteen years in the United States Army, seeing combat and working in the Armed Forces radio. He was involved with the opening of the first Army Information Office,[4] which provided technical assistance to films and TV shows.


Don Knotts: At 19, Knotts was drafted into the Army and served during World War II as part of a traveling GI variety show and as a nurse, including in the Pacific Theater.

Don't know if anyone mentioned Paul Newman yet - remember these details from Paul Newman thread we had when he passed away:

From Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Newman#Military_service

While he was never in the military, I think Bob Hope definitely deserves mention in this thread. I can't think of anyone else who gave so much to the military.

Johnny Carson US Navy

Ed McMahon USMC

Singer Tony Bennett served in WWll as a combat rifleman in France and Germany at the end of the war before going over to perform with an entertainment unit at war's end.

Tony lived around the corner from me in Astoria Queens, NY when I was a kid and he was our local hero before he started singing.

I thought Dale Dye was also in WWII? Or maybe it was Vietnam

edit: ya, he was born in '44 lol...thought he was older than that

I had the good fortune of meeting Paul Newman in the winner's circle after a Champ Car race where his car (Newman/Haas Racing team, Sebastian Bourdais driving) won the race. Paul talked to my friends and I about his service, and that he flew in Avenger torpedo bombers as a radioman/gunner. What he said then matches up well with the Wikipedia account. It was a great experience to talk to him a few years before his passing.

IIRC, Ed was a Corsair pilot. No aerial victories, probably not flying at the right place/time for that. Sounded like mostly air-to-ground work.



http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0573012/bio

Clark Gable was an aerial gunner on board bombers and was one of the only Americans on whom Adolf Hitler had personally placed a bounty. Hitler apparently liked Gable's acting and offered a sizable reward for his capture.

Tyrone Power was a USMC pilot.

Ronald Reagan was a cavalry officer in the Nebraska National Guard.

Bob Stack was an Olympic-level skeet shooter and was assigned to teach aerial gunnery.

Sterling Hayden was an OSS officer and ran guns to Tito's partisans.

pfunk

One of my all time favorite singing heroes and WII veteran:

Marty Robbins- served in the Solomon Islands working in landing craft.

Another singer I like:

Ray Price- a Marine during WW2

I remember reading something about Benny Hill being in the British Army during WWII.

Toshiro Mifune served in the Japanese Army in Manchuria during WWII.

Richard Todd - Played Major John Howard at Pegasus Bridge on D Day in the film "The Longest Day".

From Wikipedia:

During the Second World War, Todd served as an officer in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry and as a Paratrooper in the British 6th Airborne Division. As a member of the 7th (LI) Parachute Battalion, he was one of the first British officers to land in Normandy on D-Day and met up with Major John Howard on Pegasus Bridge. Todd would later play Howard in the film The Longest Day (1962), with another actor portraying Richard Todd.

Or putting it in reverse perspective, Ira Hayes, Bradley, and Gagnon were all in Sands of Iwo Jima and Big Duke actually hands them the flag.

A little off-topic, but same idea:

Julia Child served as a member of the OSS, fore-runner of the CIA, during WWII

Alec Guinness...don't remember what branch though.

Gene Roddenberry (Creator of my universe: Star Trek):

Roddenberry developed an interest in aeronautical engineering and soon obtained a pilot's license. He joined the U.S. Army Air Corps in 1941,and flew many combat B-17 Flying Fortress missions in the Pacific Theatre with the 394th Bomb Squadron (United States) who called themselves the "Bomber Barons." He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal[4] for his service. On 2 August 1943, Roddenberry was the pilot of B-17E Flying Fortress, 41-2463, "Yankee Doodle", of the 394th BS, 5th BG, when it crashed on takeoff due to mechanical failure at Espiritu Santo, New Hebrides, killing 2 crew.

Actors are citizens too, WWII was the war of the citizen soldier, so they did their bit as well, just like everybody else...

Here are a few of my countrymen who saw active service.

David Niven served with the HLI then Phantom (the signals commando unit).

Peter Ustinov was a private soldier in the British army & at one point was Niven's batman.

Anthony Quayle was a British Army Officer and Later he joined the Special Operations Executive and served with the partisans in Albania

Keneth Moore who played Douglas Bader in Reach for the sky was infact an officer in the Royal Navy throughout most of WWII.

Alec Guinness was also an officer in the Royal Navy, He commanded a landing craft during Operation Husky The Allied invasion of Sicily.

Avengers star Patric Macnee was commissioned as a Lieutenant in the Royal Navy and was awarded the Atlantic Star for his service during World War II.