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Rallied Like Never Before

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In the 1940s, the American film industry rallied like never before or since to support the war effort. After Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor and America's formal entry into World War II, isolationist sentiments in the United States were swept away and millions of men and women of all backgrounds rushed to recruiting centers to volunteer for military duty.

The American movie colony in Hollywood was no exception. Many established stars, directors, cameramen, and other technicians put aside their safe, cushy, high-paying jobs for the duration and offered themselves up to the recruiters. Their example inspired thousands of other young men and women to also selflessly enlist and put themselves in harm's way. Others, without knowing that they would become stars after the war, also joined up without hesitation.

In the late 1930s and early 1940s, there was no bigger movie star than Clark Gable (USAAF, Although he was beyond the draft age at the time the U.S. entered WW II, Clark Gable enlisted as a private in the AAF on Aug. 12, 1942 at Los Angeles. He attended the Officers' Training School at Miami Beach, Fla. and graduated as a Second Lieutenant on Oct. 28, 1942. He then attended aerial gunnery school and in Feb. 1943 he was assigned, on personal orders from Gen. Arnold, to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook, England to make a motion picture of aerial gunners in action. He flew in operational missions over Europe in B-17s. Capt. 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.), who had captured the hearts of millions of women with his portrayal of Rhett Butler in the 1939 blockbuster film, Gone with the Wind. Yet, despite the fact that he was 41 years old in 1942 and technically no longer eligible for the draft, Gable enlisted as a private in the Army Air Corps in August 1942. Many speculate that the death of his beloved wife, the glamorous actress and comedienne Carole Lombard, prompted Gable to enlist.

Returning to California from a war bond tour of the Midwest on January 24, 1942, Lombard was killed when the TWA plane she was on crashed in Nevada. Her death shattered Gable, stunned the nation, and prompted President Franklin Roosevelt to remark, "She gave unselfishly of time and talent to serve her government in peace and war. She loved her country. She is and always will be a star, one we shall never forget nor cease to be grateful to."

Gable qualified for Officers' Candidate School and came out in October 1942 with second lieutenant's bars. He then attended aerial gunnery school and was assigned to the 351st Bomb Group in Polebrook, England, where he flew several operational missions in B-17s over Europe. Hitler reportedly offered a reward for any German who could capture him alive. In October 1943 he returned to the States as a major and was taken off active flying status. His service was recognized with the Distinguished Flying Cross and Air Medal. In 1948 he played an Air Force general in Command Decision.

Swashbuckler Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (USN, Served first as a Goodwill Ambassador from 1939-1941; later as a Naval Officer from 1941-1946, Fairbanks was appointed by President Roosevelt for a Commission as a Lieutenant j.g. in the Navy Reserves. He became the first American Officer to command a British Flotilla of small powered raiding craft during a commando operation in World War II. In 1942 he was Chief Officer of Special Operations, and in 1943 participated in the Allied invasion of Sicily and Elba. Following the war Fairbanks remained in the Reserves and worked his way up from Navy Lieutenant to Commander and finally, in 1954 to Captain before retiring.), one of Hollywood's hottest "properties" before the war, had already served in the Navy in the 1920s and was a member of the naval reserves. With the outbreak of World War II, he was sent as an exchange officer to England, where he participated with the British in several cross-Channel commando raids. After working with Lord Louis Mountbatten's staff to develop deception devices designed to fool the Germans, he lobbied his superiors to create an American unit that would similarly specialize in tactical cover, diversion, and deception operations.

The result was the formation of Beach Jumper Unit 1. Although Fairbanks did not command the unit, it was first successfully employed during the invasion of Sicily in 1943. As a naval officer, the actor, however, did take part in the invasions of Sicily and Elba. Eventually several more Beach jumper units were organized and deployed around the world. Fairbanks was working on deception plans to support the scheduled British landings on Singapore when the war ended. After the war, he was awarded the Silver Star, British Distinguished Service Cross, and the French Legion of Honor. He retired from the Navy with the rank of captain.

Henry Fonda (USN, Stopped his movie career and joined the U. S. Navy in 1943, serving aboard a Destroyer in the Pacific until his return in 1946 earning the American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; Philippines Liberation Medal (w/battle star); Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/battle star and Overseas Service Bar.) was also a recognized star before the war began, having earned considerable acclaim in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939) and The Grapes of Wrath (1940), in addition to many other pictures. After Pearl Harbor and against the wishes of his studio, 20th Century Fox, he enlisted in the Navy. He later played in several military-themed pictures, including the title role in Mr. Roberts (1955), In Harm's Way (1965), Battle of the Bulge (1965), as General Teddy Roosevelt in The Longest Day, and as Admiral Chester Nimitz in Midway (1976).

Many British stars, too, served with distinction. One of the greatest English actors of his generation, Lawrence Olivier (HMS Army, Film and tv actor, director (UK and USA). Academy Awards (1947, 1949), BAFTAs (1956, 1970), Emmy Awards (1960, 1973, 1975, 1982, 1984), Golden Globes (1949, 1977), C B DeMille Award (1983); knighthood 19??. RNAS utility pilot with 757 Sqn in WW2.), served as a pilot instructor in the Royal Air Force but was relieved from instructor duty after crashing five planes within a seven-month period. He played a memorable role as Dr. Spaander in A Bridge Too Far (1977) and narrated the award-winning BBC documentary series The World at War.

Richard Todd, who played glider-borne commando leader Major John Howard in The Longest Day, had been a paratrooper on D-Day. As a member of a pathfinder unit assigned to light a drop zone, he reportedly was the first man to jump from a transport into France on June 6. He later was engaged in the brutal fighting at Arnhem during September 1944.

Richard Burton (RAF, British actor who served in the Royal Air Force from 1944 to 1947 as a navigator. He was sent to Canada for training just prior to V-E Day and finished on V-J Day, so he never made it to an operational combat unit.) was a Royal Navy veteran of World War II who appeared in The Longest Day. Richard Attenborough , (RAF British actor. He debuted in Noel Coward's 1942 movie In Which We Serve and joined the Royal Air Force the following year. He served three years with the R.A.F In the 1963 movie The Great Escape, he portrayed R.A.F squadron leader Roger Bushell.), who directed A Bridge Too Far, served with the Royal Air Force. Dirk Bogarde (HMS Army, British actor. He enlisted in the British Army in 1940 and served at Normandy and in battles across France and Germany. He made sketches of the D-Day landings that are now in the British War Museum in London. During the battle for the Arnhem Bridge in September 1944, Bogarde served under General Frederick Browning, whom he portrayed in the 1977 movie A Bridge Too Far. He was discharged in 1946 as a major.), who played Lt. Gen. Frederick "Boy" Browning in A Bridge Too Far, served with distinction in the Queen's Royal Regiment. After the war, Bogarde returned to civilian life after being discharged with the rank of major.

Dashing, debonair David Niven's war service was exemplary. After graduating from Sandhurst and receiving a commission, he served in the Highland Light Infantry, saw action on Malta and at Normandy, headed a commando unit, and reached the rank of lieutenant colonel by war's end. The son of an Army captain who was killed at Gallipoli in World War I, Niven appeared in many war films, including The Charge of the Light Brigade (1936), Dawn Patrol (1938), The True Glory (1939), Spitfire (1942), and The Guns of Navarone (1961).

Alec Guinness (HMS Navy, Operated a British Royal Navy landing craft in the invasion of Sicily and Elba and later ferrying supplies to the Yugoslav partisans under Lt. Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.), unforgettable as Colonel Nicholson in The Bridge on the River Kwai, for which he won the 1957 Best Actor Oscar, served in the Sicily, Elba, and Yugoslavia operations and reportedly skippered a British landing craft to the invasion beaches of Normandy on D-Day.

Donald Pleasance (RAF, An R. A. F. Fighter Pilot who was shot down, held prisoner and tortured by the Germans.), who played the Royal Air Force soldier who goes blind while a POW in The Great Escape (1963), was actually an RAF pilot who was shot down by the Germans and held in a POW camp until the end of the war.

Although not a member of the military, 50-year-old Leslie Howard, who portrayed Ashley Wilkes in Gone with the Wind, lost his life on a commercial airliner when it was shot down by German fighters off the coast of Spain on June 1, 1943. There is some evidence to suggest that because the Germans thought British Prime Minister Winston Churchill was aboard the flight, the attack was an assassination attempt. Howard did, however, have connections with British intelligence, and the actor's manager, Alfred Chenhalls, who was aboard the plane, greatly resembled Churchill, which may have led spies to conclude that the prime minister was among the passengers.

Other British actors who served in the military during World War II include Rex Harrison (RAF, Reginald Carey, RAF flight controller) of My Fair Lady fame, Christopher Lee, Kenneth More, Ralph Richardson, Peter Sellers, and Peter Ustinov, who served as Lt. Col. David Niven's batman.

Once peace returned in 1945, so did the celebrities, many of whom went on to play roles in war films - films that often eerily reflected their own combat experiences. Robert Montgomery (USN, An Oscar winning actor before the war; having started in motion pictures in 1929. After World War II broke out in Europe, Montgomery enlisted in London for American field service and drove ambulances in France until the Dunkirk evacuation. Upon America' entrance into the war, Montgomery joined the U.S. Navy and served as Naval Attache on British destroyers hunting U-boats. He attended torpedo boat school, became a PT boat commander, and participated in the D-Day invasion on board a Destroyer. Montgomery served five years of active war duty, was awarded a Bronze Star, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Ribbon, the European Theater Ribbon with two Battle Stars, one Overseas Service Bar, and promoted to the rank of Lt. Commander.) was such an actor. One of prewar Hollywood's top draws, the debonair Montgomery joined the U.S. Naval Reserve in 1941. He enlisted in the British military before America was drawn into the war and drove ambulances in France until the Dunkirk evacuation. He returned home and joined the active Navy, first serving as assistant naval attache at the American embassy in London, then going on to command PT boats in the Pacific. He next served as operations officer aboard a destroyer during Operation Overlord, the June 6, 1944, invasion of France. He reprised his real-life role of a PT boat commander in the taut 1945 Pacific War drama They Were Expendable, with John Wayne.

Not all of the actors returned home to resume their acting careers. The movies' first Lone Ranger, Lee Powell (USMC, He enlisted in the Marines in the Summer of 1942, and saw action at Tarawa and Saipan. On July 30, 1944, Sgt. Lee Powell, serial number 442926, 18th Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, was killed in action on Tinian (Marianas Islands). He was buried in Tinian Cemetery, but in March, 1949, his remains were transferred to the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, Honolulu, Hawaii (AKA 'The Punchbowl'). On March 14, 1949 he was laid to rest in Section F, Gravesite Number 1246. The silver screen's first Lone Ranger (1938).), joined the 2nd Marine Division and saw action at Tarawa and Saipan before being killed on July 30, 1944, on Tinian in the Marianas. He is buried in the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the Punchbowl, in Honolulu. Another B-Western actor, Richard Fiske, who also played in some Three Stooges comedies, lost his life in action in France in August 1944.

Directors, too, often found themselves under fire. John Ford (USN, Sean O'Fienne USN Capt Purple Heart for wounds while filming The Battle of Midway), appointed chief of the Photographic Branch of the Office of Strategic Services with the rank of lieutenant commander in the Navy, filmed battle scenes at Midway, where he was severely wounded. George Stevens, Frank Capra, John Huston, and studio heads Darryl E Zanuck (USAAF-FMPU, In 1917, when he was 15, he lied about his age and joined the Nebraska National Guard, and saw combat in France and Belgium during World War I. He also did some boxing while in uniform, as a bantamweight. In World War II he was a Colonel in the USAAF.) and Jack Warner were all involved in the making of documentaries as well as training films. George Roy Hill, who would become a director after the war, flew fighters for the Army Air Corps.

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