HOLLYWOODS GREATEST
Compare them to the Hollywood simpletons of today.
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 $3.6 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. The following is the start of a list of Hollywoods Greatest, who have made this amazing sacrifice. See if you recognize these handsome greats.
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George Gobel
United States Army Air Forces during World War II and served as a flight instructor. Johnny Carson made a big deal about it once on the Tonight Show, to which George said, "The Japs didn’t get past us!"
Sterling Hayden
US Marines and OSS. WWII. Smuggled guns into Yugoslavia and parachuted into Croatia.
James Stewart
US Army Air Corps. WWII. Bomber pilot who rose to the rank of General.
Ernest Borgnine
US Navy. WWII. Gunners Mate 1c, destroyer USS Lamberton.
Ed McMahon
US Marines. WWII. Fighter Pilot. (Flew OE-1 Bird Dogs over Korea as well.)
Telly Savalas
US Army, WWII Purple Heart.
Walter Matthau
US Army Air Corps. WWII. B-24 Radioman/Gunner and cryptographer.
Steve Forrest
US Army. WWII. Wounded, Battle of the Bulge.
Jonathan Winters
USMC. WWII. Battleship USS Wisconsin and Carrier USS Bon Homme Richard. Anti-aircraft gunner, Battle of Okinawa.
Paul Newman
US Navy. WWII. Rear seat gunner/radioman, torpedo bombers of USS Bunker Hill.
Kirk Douglas
US Navy. WWII. Sub-chaser in the Pacific. Wounded in action and medically discharged.
Robert Mitchum
US Army, WWII Victory Medal.
Dale Robertson
US Army. WWII. Tank Commander in North Africa under Patton. Wounded twice. Battlefield Commission.
Henry Fonda
US Navy, WWII. Destroyer USS Satterlee.
John Carroll
US Army Air Corps. WWII. Pilot in North Africa. Broke his back in a crash.
Lee Marvin
US Marines. WWII. Sniper. Wounded in action on Saipan. Buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Sec. 7A next to Greg Boyington and Joe Louis.
Art Carney
US Army. WWII. Wounded on Normandy beach, D-Day. Limped for the rest of his life.
Wayne Morris
US Navy fighter pilot, USS Essex. WWII. Downed seven Japanese fighters.
Rod Steiger
US Navy. WWII.Was aboard one of the ships that launched the Doolittle Raid.
Tony Curtis
US Navy. WWII. Sub tender USS Proteus. In Tokyo Bay for the surrender of Japan.
Larry Storch
US Navy. WWII. Sub tender USS Proteus with Tony Curtis.
Forrest Tucker
US Army. WWII. Enlisted as a private, rose to Lieutenant.
Robert Montgomery
US Navy. WWII. Bronze Star, the American Defense Service Ribbon, the European Theater Ribbon with two Battle Stars
George Kennedy
US Army. WWII Enlisted after Pearl Harbor, and stayed in sixteen years.
Mickey Rooney
US Army under Patton. WWII. Bronze Star.
Denver Pyle
US Navy. WWII. Wounded in the Battle of Guadalcanal. Medically discharged.
Burgess Meredith
US Army Air Corps. WWII. Reached the rank of Captain.
DeForest Kelley
US Army Air Corps. WWII. Public relations writer and control tower operator.
Robert Stack
US Navy. WWII. Gunnery Officer.
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.
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Stay tuned as our list of celebrities continues....