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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.

The war turned some men into movie stars, the most notable being Audie Murphy (US Army, He was the most decorated serviceman of WWII earning: Medal of Honor, Distinguished Service Cross, 2 Silver Star Medals, Legion of Merit, 2 Bronze Star Medals with "V", 2 Purple Hearts, U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal, Good Conduct Medal, 2 Distinguished Unit Emblems, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Silver Star, and Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze Arrowhead (representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France) World War II Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal with Germany Clasp, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar, Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar, French Fourragere in Colors of the Croix de Guerre, French Legion of Honor, Grade of Chevalier, French Croix de Guerre With Silver Star, French Croix de Guerre with Palm, Medal of Liberated France, Belgian Croix de Guerre 1940 Palm.) who, with his boyish features, Medal of Honor, and unofficial title of Most Decorated American Serviceman of World War II, was signed by the movie studios, mostly for B-Westerns. He starred in two memorable war films, however, the Civil War drama The Red Badge of Courage (1951) and 1955's To Hell and Back, in which he played himself.

Harold Russell (US Army, He joined the U.S. Army on Dec. 8, 1941, the day after the attack on Pearl Harbor; as an Instructor in the Parachute Corps. Sgt. Russell was working as an explosives expert in 1944 when a defective fuse exploded a charge of TNT he was holding as he instructed a demolition squad at Camp Mackall, N.C. Both hands were amputated. For his performance in Best Years of our Lives (1946), Russell won both the Academy Award as the year's Best Supporting Actor and a second, honorary Oscar "For bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans." He is the only actor ever to win two Oscars for the same role. He became an avid advocate for the disabled for the rest of his life and served three terms as the Commander of AMVETS.) had been a paratroop instructor when he lost both hands in a training accident in 1944 at Camp Mackall, North Carolina. He was cast as a war-wounded Navy veteran named Homer, trying to readjust to civilian life in William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives, for which Wyler won the Best Director and Best Picture Oscars in 1946. Russell won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor and a second, special Oscar "for bringing hope and courage to his fellow veterans." He is the only actor to win two Oscars for the same role. He later served three terms as Commander of AMVETS.

A 10-year Army veteran in his pre-acting life, Neville Brand (US Army, Neville Brand served in the U. S. Army during WWII. While convalescing from his wounds at the 21st General Hospital he was awarded the Silver Star for Gallantry in Combat. His other Awards and Decorations are the Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Ribbon, the European/African/Middle Eastern Theater Ribbon with three Battle Stars, one Overseas Service Bar, one Service Stripe, and the Combat Infantryman's Badge. Neville is listed as the fourth most decorated U.S. soldier of the war.), the officer who points out the window at the burning Pacific Fleet and tells a stunned Richard Anderson, "There's your confirmation, captain," in Tora, Tora, Tora (1970), earned the Silver Star when he wiped out a German machine-gun nest in the Ardennes in December 1944. In April 1945, with his unit pinned down at the Weser River in Germany, he was badly wounded in his right arm. Had he not been rescued in time, he would have bled to death. Brand also played Duke, a POW with a hair-trigger temper, in Stalag 17 (1953).

Several other featured players in Stalag 17 also wore khaki in real life. William Holden, who won the 1953 Best Actor Oscar for his role in the film, was a lieutenant in the Air Corps. He also starred in 1957s Oscar-winning The Bridge on the River Kwai. Peter Graves served two years, also in the Air Corps, and starred in the hit TV series of the 1960s, Mission Impossible.

Graves's brother, six-foot-seven James Arness (US Army, Served in the U.S. Army and was wounded at Anzio. He received both the Purple Heart and a Bronze Star Medal for Valor, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Ribbon, the European Theater Ribbon with four Battle Stars, one Overseas Service Bar.), who starred as Marshal Matt Dillon in the TV series Gunsmoke and played the alien in 1951's The Thing, was badly wounded in the leg at Anzio, Italy, while serving with the 3rd Infantry Division. He received the Bronze Star in addition to the Purple Heart.

Handsome Tyrone Power (USMC, He immediately joined the U.S. Marines, and was a Pilot flying supplies into, and flying wounded Marines out of, both Iwo Jima and Okinawa, earned the American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; Philippines Liberation Medal (w/battle star); and the Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/four battle stars and Overseas Service Bar.) was a Marine pilot who ferried troops and supplies into Pacific island bases and evacuated the wounded. Equally handsome Robert Taylor (USN, (Spangler Arlington Brugh) Film and tv actor. USN twin-engine Flight Instructor in WW2; also directed 17 USN training films; sportsman pilot.) interrupted his film career to become a flight instructor for the Navy and also directed 17 Navy training films.

Already a leading man, Van Heflin, who starred as Major Sam Huxley in the 1955 film Battle Cry, served as a combat photographer with the Ninth Air Force in Europe. Other actors with military experience in Battle Cry include Tab Hunter (Coast Guard) and gravel-voiced Aldo Ray (ex-Navy frogman).

Otto Preminger's 1965 film In Harm's Way also featured two other stars with World War II backgrounds: Kirk Douglas (USN, Hollywood actor. He enlisted in the U.S. Navy as a communications officer and served in Anti-Submarine Unit 1139 in the Pacific. Douglas received internal injuries when a depth charge exploded close to the patrol vessel he was aboard and was hospitalized for five months in San Diego. While in the hospital, he married Diana Dill on November 2, 1943, receiving a medical discharge in 1944.) and Burgess Meredith (Air Corps). Douglas was a communications officer on a submarine and was wounded during a depth charge attack by a Japanese destroyer. After the war, he starred in The Heroes of Telemark (1965), Is Paris Burning? (1966), and two of Stanley Kubrick's films, Paths of Glory (1958) and Spartacus (1960), as well as innumerable others.

Ernest Borgnine (USN, Academy Award-winning actor (Best Actor for the 1955 movie Marty). After high school in 1935, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served initially on board the U.S.S. Lamberton as an apprentice seaman. With the outbreak of World War II, he became a gunner's mate aboard a destroyer in the South Pacific where he earned the, American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; Philippines Liberation Medal (w/battle star); China Service Medal; Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/four battle stars and Overseas Service Bar. After the war, he attended drama school on his GI Bill.) joined the Navy in 1935 and was a chief gunner's mate aboard a destroyer during the war. His military movie roles included featured parts in From Here To Eternity (1952) and The Dirty Dozen (1967). He also played in TV's McHale's Navy and the movie of the same name.

Ronald Reagan (USAAF, Ronald Reagan joined the Army Reserve as a Private in 1937 as rumors of a second war in Europe began anew. Following intensive training he was Commissioned a 2nd Lieutenant in the Officers Reserve Corps of the Cavalry. In 1942, he was called to active duty with the US Army Air Corps and assigned to the 1st Motion Picture Unit (which made over 400 training films). In 1943 he was promoted to Captain; and it was in this grade that he was honorably discharged in 1945. Following the end of WW II he was elected President of the Screen Actors' Guild in 1947. He went on to become the 40th President of the United States on January 20th, 1981 serving two consecutive terms.), who would later become president of the United States, served as an officer in the Army Air Corps but was not assigned to flight duties due to a severe hearing loss. He made training films. Jason Robards, Jr. (USN, A military man before he became an actor (joining at 17). He served in the U.S. Navy, as a Radioman on the U.S.S. Northampton, home ported in Pearl Harbor, by chance his ship was at sea during the December 7, 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor. Jason served in 14 major battles in the Pacific, including Guadalcanal, Tassafaronga, Rabaul, Rendova-New Georgia, Doolittle's Raid, Kula Gulf, Leyte, Bougainville, Saipan, Guam, Marianas, Vila. Jason received the Navy Cross for his "Extraordinary Heroism" during the battle of Tassafaronga, American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; Philippines Liberation Medal (w/four battle stars); China Service Medal; Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/ten battle stars and Overseas Service Bar. He spent 7 years in the Navy before he was Honorably Discharged in 1947.) just missed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor as his ship, the cruiser USS Northampton, was at sea during the aerial assault. Robards did not miss the rest of the war, however. On November 30, 1942, off Guadalcanal, the ship was sunk and 1,000 survivors had to be rescued; Robards was one of them. He went on to participate in 14 major battles and was awarded the Navy Cross for heroism at Tassafaronga. He played General Walter Short in Tora, Tora, Tora.

Other stars and soon-to-be stars would also see action at sea. Paul Newman served as a Navy radioman in the South Pacific. Victor Mature, star of the 1949 hit Samson and Delilah, was a petty officer in the Coast Guard. Others in Coast Guard service were Alan Hale, the Skipper on Gilligan's Island, and Roots author Alex Haley.

Many other future stars also served in uniform. George C. Scott (USMC, A decorated U. S. Marine Sgt., receiving the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Ribbon, the European Theater Ribbon with two Battle Stars and Overseas Service Bar.), who would win an Oscar but refuse to accept it for his portrayal as Patton (1970), served in the Marine Corps from 1945 (upon graduation from high school) until 1949, but never saw combat. Karl Malden, who played opposite Scott in Patton as General Omar Bradley, served as an enlisted man in the Air Corps. Charles Bronson (USAAF, Hollywood actor (Charles Buchinsky). Publicity information has stated that Bronson flew as a gunner in bombers during World War II. Actually, his war experiences are far from that glorious, since he drove a delivery truck in Kingman, Arizona, for the 760th Mess Squadron.), outstanding in The Dirty Dozen, was a gunner on bombers in the Pacific and flew 21 combat missions while serving with the Twentieth Air Force; he received the Purple Heart for wounds received during one operation.

Sterling Hayden had appeared in a couple of films before joining the Marines on the eve of Pearl Harbor. He served with the OSS in topsecret missions inside Nazi-occupied Yugoslavia. Mel Brooks (US Army, Hollywood producer, director, actor. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army as a combat engineer and took part in the Battle of the Bulge in December 1944, where his job was to deactivate land mines. After the battle, the Germans broadcast propaganda to U.S. troops via loudspeakers and Brooks answered by doing an Al Jolson imitation of Toot Toot Tootsie.), of Blazing Saddles and The Producers, was a combat engineer who cleared German mines after the Battle of the Bulge.

James Whitmore, who played in Battleground (1949) and Battle Cry (1955), was a Marine Corps officer in World War II. Art Carney (US Army, Hollywood Academy Award-winning actor. He was drafted into the U.S. Army on March 15, 1944, after being the voice of General Dwight D. Eisenhower on the radio program Report to the Nation the evening before. Carney was hit by shrapnel on Omaha beach during the D-Day landings. Wounded in the leg on his first day of combat, he never got to fire a shot. As a result of the wound his right leg is now three-quarters of an inch shorter than his left leg, causing him to limp.) served in a machine-gun squad with the 28th Division in Normandy and was wounded in the leg near St. Lo. Rod Steiger lied about his age to get into the Navy, where he served as a torpedoman. Jack Lemmon, who played the manic Ensign Pulver in Mr. Roberts, was an ensign in the Navy aboard the carrier USS Lake Champlain at war's end. Walter Matthau (USAAF, erroneously credited as Matuchansky or Matuschanskatasky, A radio cryptographer, Staff Sergeant Matthau served in the 453rd Bomb Group with Lieutenant Colonel Jimmy Stewart. Among his 87 films, Matthau's performance in The Fortune Cookie won the Oscar for Best Actor in 1966.) was a gunner on B-17s with the Eighth Air Force and earned eight battle stars. Martin Balsam, Admiral Husband E. Kimmel in Tora, Tora, Tora, also served in the Army Air Corps.

Rod Serling (US Amy, After graduation Serling enlisted in the United States Army. Beginning in May 1944 he served with the 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 11th Airborne Division in New Guinea and during the invasion of the Philippines. He was awarded the Purple Heart for a severe shrapnel wound to his knee, American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; Philippines Liberation Medal (w/battle star); Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/battle star and Overseas Service Bar.), screenwriter and creator of the hit TV series The Twilight Zone, was a paratrooper with the 11th Airborne Division, fought in New Guinea, and was wounded in the leg during the invasion of the Philippines. Eddie Albert (USN, Was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroic action as a U. S. Naval Landing Officer aiding Marines at the horrific battle on the Island of Tarawa in the Pacific Nov. 1943. He also earned the, American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; Philippines Liberation Medal (w/two battle stars); Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/battle star and Overseas Service Bar.), who played Colonel Thompson in The Longest Day and starred in the Green Acres TV series, was a decorated Navy officer and saw action during the invasion of Tarawa. Assigned as a salvage officer, he accompanied the second wave to the beachhead to examine military equipment abandoned on the battlefield to see if it was worth retrieving. In addition to the debris, he found wounded Marines and, while under fire, evacuated them to ships offshore. He earned commendations for his bravery.

Lee Marvin (USMC, Was a U.S. Marine Pvt. on Saipan during the Marianas campaign where he was wounded in fierce combat, earning the Purple Heart, American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; Philippines Liberation Medal (w/battle star); Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/battle star and Overseas Service Bar.), well known by war-film buffs for his role as Major Reisman in The Dirty Dozen, was wounded at Saipan while serving with the Marines. Brian Keith (USMC, Served as a U.S. Marine rear gunner in combat actions against the Japanese on Rabal in the Pacific 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 a gunner on Marine Corps planes in the Pacific. Richard Boone (USN, Hollywood actor. He served for three and a half years during World War II as a tail gunner on U.S. Navy torpedo planes and was stationed aboard the ships U.S.S. Intrepid, U.S.S. Enterprise, and the U.S.S. Hancock in the Pacific.), TV's Paladin, served on Navy torpedo planes.

Gene "The Singing Cowboy" Autry (USAAF, During World War II, Autry enlisted for service on the air during a broadcast of his show, going on to serve his country as a Flight Officer with the Air Transport Command. From 1943 until 1945, he flew C-47 cargo planes in the China-Burma-India theater, earning the American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; China Service Medal; Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/battle star and Overseas Service Bar. When the war ended, Autry was assigned to Special Services, where he toured with a USO Troupe in the South Pacific before resuming his movie career in 1946.), star of countless Westerns, served as a flight officer with the Air Transport Command, which shuttled troops to and from their Pacific and Asian combat areas. He also made several flights in C47s over the dangerous Burma Hump. Former child star Jackie Coogan (USAAF, Enlisted in the Army on Mar. 4, 1941. When the U.S. entered WW II as a result of the Pearl Harbor attack, Coogan requested transfer to the AAF as a glider pilot because of his civilian flying experience. Well-known child actor of the 1930's and first husband of actress Betty Grable. Coogan piloted the first glider to land at Myitkyina in March 1944 during the first Allied airborne operation of the Asiatic war. Coincidentally, the code name for the landing zone was "Broadway.") joined the Army in 1941 and, as a glider pilot, transported Chindit units in Burma.

Before earning fame as a brawny character actor, Charles Durning (US Army, The son of an Army officer, continued in his fathers footsteps with valor and distinction, serving in the Army's 1st Div. (The Big Red 1) earning a Silver Star and Purple Heart, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Ribbon, the European Theater Ribbon with three Battle Stars, one Overseas Service Bar, during the invasion of France.) landed at Omaha Beach on D-Day with the 1st Infantry Division and was wounded six months later during the Battle of the Bulge; he earned the Silver Star. Charlton Heston (USAAF, An Army Air Corps Sergeant in Kodiak earning the, American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal; Asiatic Pacific Theater Medal (w/battle star and Overseas Service Bar. Staff Sergeant Heston was a B-25 radio operator with the 11th Air Force in the Aleutians during World War II. He typically played heroic figures in more than 100 feature films and won the Best Actor Oscar for Ben Hur in 1959.), who had the title role in Ben-Hur (1959) and played Moses in The Ten Commandments (1956), dropped out of college to become an Air Corps radio operator stationed in the Aleutians. Although only 16, Gene Hackman lied about his age to join the Marines. He trained as a radio operator. Star Trek creator and producer Gene Roddenberry (USAAF, Creator of the Star Trek television series, Roddenberry flew 89 missions as a B-17 pilot in the Solomon Islands and subsequently entered commercial aviation.) flew for the Army Air Corps during the Battle of Guadalcanal. Dick Van Dyke served in the Army Air Corps but failed to become a pilot because he was underweight.

Tony Curtis (USN, Hollywood actor, born Bernard Schwartz, who was inspired to drop out of high school and join the U.S. Navy submarine force after watching Tyrone Power in the 1943 movie Crash Dive. He was assigned to the U.S.S. Dragonette which ran aground on an uncharted coral reef on December 15, 1944, flooding the entire forward torpedo room. It was the only submarine to survive such an accident. Curtis was injured on Guam while loading torpedoes when a chain broke and struck him across the back. The incident paralyzed him for awhile, and he spent seven weeks in the hospital where a nurse read to him from Shakespeare. This rekindled his interest in acting. After he returned to the submarine, he developed an impersonation of Cary Grant from the many times he saw Gunga Din (1939), which was the only movie aboard. After his discharge, he studied acting on the GI Bill and he and Cary Grant later acted together in a submarine movie Operation Petticoat (1959). Curtis also did his Cary Grant imitation in another 1959 movie Some Like It Hot, starring Marilyn Monroe. In 1964, Tony Curtis took actress Christine Kaufmann as his second wife. During World War II, Christine's father had served as a Luftwaffe pilot.), who earlier had been wounded at Guam, watched the Japanese surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay through binoculars while serving aboard a submarine tender.

Maurice Evans, an English actor who had come to America to seek his fortune, organized a troupe of performers to provide comedic, dramatic, and musical entertainment close to the front lines. Known as the Central Pacific Theater of the Army Entertainment Section, Evans's unit featured such headliners as Mickey Rooney, Red Buttons, William Holden, and Carl Reiner.

Werner Klemperer, the son of symphony conductor Otto Klemperer, and best known as the POW-camp kommandant Colonel Wilhelm Klink in the long-running Hogan's Heroes series, escaped Germany with his family in the 1930s. He joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and served as a military policeman in the Pacific before being recruited for Evans's troupe. He played a powerful role in the 1961 film Judgment at Nuremberg.

Jack Palance (USAAF, (Walter Palanuik) Oscar-winner Palance (City Slickers, 1991) sustained serious injuries as a B-24 pilot in training when his Liberator crashed on takeoff.) required complete facial reconstruction after he was seriously injured in the crash-landing of his Army Air Corps B-24 bomber while patrolling the California coast. Other sources say he was wounded in combat or crashed in England. He starred with Eddie Albert and Lee Marvin in Attack! (1956).

TV legend Johnny Carson was a Navy officer who had the grim task of removing the dead and mangled bodies of fellow sailors following a Japanese attack on his ship. His TV sidekick Ed McMahon (USMC, Earned his wings as a Marine Fighter Pilot in 1944 and became an instructor teaching carrier landings and a test pilot. After World War II, he remained in the Marine Reserves and his television career was interrupted in 1952 when he was called back into the Marine Corps. He flew 85 combat missions in Korea. Later he retired from the Marines as a full Colonel.) was a Marine fighter pilot who served in both World War II and Korea, flying a total of 85 combat missions.

George Kennedy, the burly star of the Airport and Naked Gun movies, as well as The Dirty Dozen, spent 16 years in the Army and was an officer in Lt. Gen. George Patton, Jr.'s Third Army. He went on to play Patton in 1979's Brass Target and was the military advisor for The Phil Silvers Show.

Women, too, performed wartime duties admirably. Nancy Kulp (USN, A graduate of Florida State and the University of Miami, Kulp served as a WAVE lieutenant during World War II, specializing in electronics. During her Naval service Nancy earned the American Campaign Medal; National Defense Medal, and the Good Conduct Medal), the skinny spinster Jane Hathaway on The Beverly Hillbillies TV series, served as a lieutenant in the WAVES. Martha Raye, in addition to entertaining the troops near the front lines with the USO, also pitched in as a nurse to help the wounded. Marlene Dietrich (US Army, A star many considered a living legend prior to WW2. She was born Marie Magdalene Dietrich on December 27, 1901 in Berlin Germany. Her real name was Maria Magdalene Dietrich and she took up acting in her late teens. She became an American citizen in 1939. During World War II she entertained U.S. troops, participated in war bond drives, and made Anti-Nazi broadcasts in German; she was awarded the Medal of Freedom for "meeting a grueling schedule of performances under battle conditions... despite risk to her life". She was also named Chevalier of the French Legion of Honor.) left Germany before the war and became a U.S. citizen. During the war, in addition to entertaining American troops, she promoted the sale of war bonds and made anti-Nazi broadcasts in German. Bea Arthur, star of TV's Maude and Golden Girls, served in the women's Marine Corps.

Black cabaret singer and expatriate Josephine Baker remained in France after the Nazi takeover and worked as a spy, providing intelligence information to the Allies. Teenager Audrey Hepburn, who was vacationing with her Dutch mother in Holland when the Germans invaded, was stuck in Nazi-controlled Arnhem and spent much of the war serving as a courier between Dutch resistance groups.

A number of stars saw more combat on the back lots and sound stages of Hollywood than they did on any real battlefield. Several legendary actors were exempt from World War II military service, including Marlon Brando (knee injury), Gary Cooper (bad hip), Peter Falk (glass eye), Errol Flynn (heart condition), Jackie Gleason (overweight), Van Johnson (injuries sustained in a car crash), Danny Kaye (bad back), Peter Lawford (shoulder injury), Dean Martin (hernia), Frank Sinatra (perforated eardrum), Richard Widmark (same condition), Gregory Peck (old rowing injury), and Bob Hope, Fred Astaire, and George Raft (too old). Some actors avoided service, such as Cary Grant, Dick Haymes, and John Wayne (bad knee from a football injury, although some less-than-charitable accounts claim that The Duke deliberately avoided military service).

Humphrey Bogart, an established star who had served in the Navy in World War I, tried to enlist but was rejected for service in World War II because the draft board said he was too old (43 in 1942). His roles in Action in the North Atlantic, Sahara, and Casablanca (all 1943), however, inspired a generation to the idealistic calling of national service.

Several Canadian actors served during World War II as well. James Doohan (RCAF, While landing in Normandy on D-Day was wounded in the leg and hand; losing a finger. Then he retrained as a Pilot, earned a Commission with the RCAF, and completed the war serving as a Pilot Artillery Observer.), best known as Scotty in the Star Trek TV series, was shot seven times and lost a finger while serving as an officer with a Canadian artillery unit on Juno Beach in Normandy on D-Day. After recovering, he switched branches to join the RCAF and served as a pilot/artillery spotter. Other notable Canadians who answered their country's call include Raymond Massey; Glenn Ford (USMC, (Gwyllyn Ford) When the United States entered World War II Glenn enlisted in the Marines. Among his numerous Medals and Commendations are, the Good Conduct Medal, the American Defense Service Ribbon, the European Theater Ribbon with three Battle Stars, one Overseas Service Bar, and the French Legion of Honor for his service in France during World War II. Following his WWII service, he transferred his commission to the U. S. Naval Reserves. He retired as a Captain in the US Naval Reserve.), who served with the U.S. Navy; Leslie Nielsen, and TV game-show host Monty Hall.

German Oskar Werner, who won international acclaim in Francois Truffaut's Jules et Jim (1961), tried to avoid military service but in December 1941 was drafted into the Wehrmacht. A dedicated pacifist and anti-Nazi, he acted like an incompetent soldier, deliberately falling from his horse and pretending not to understand how to operate an artillery piece. As a result, instead of being sent to the Russian Front, he was put to work in a garrison in Austria peeling potatoes and cleaning latrines. While still a soldier, he married a half-Jewish woman with whom he had a daughter. During an Allied bombing of Vienna, he was buried under rubble for three days. On December 8, 1944, with his wife and baby, he deserted from the Wehrmacht, hiding in a shack in the Vienna Woods until the Russians closed in.

Japanese actor Toshiro Mifune, the star of Rashomon (1950) and Seven Samurai (1954), was drafted into the Japanese Army and transferred to an air force squadron stationed in Manchuria. An experienced photographer, he was soon put in charge of the squadron's aerial photography unit. At war's end, he was stationed at a kamikaze base. In 1969, Mifune and Lee Marvin starred together in Hell in the Pacific.

Sessue Hayakawa had planned on a naval career, but a hearing loss prevented it. He is best remembered by American audiences as Colonel Saito, the Japanese officer in The Bridge on the River Kwai, a performance for which he received an Oscar nomination.

Several fine books chronicle the military lives of the celebrities, including Stars in Khaki: Movie Actors in the Army and the Air Services by James Wise and Paul Wilderson; Stars in Blue: Movie Actors in America's Sea Services by James Wise and Ann Rehill; Stars at War by Michael Munn; and International Stars at War by James E. Wise and Scott Baron.

All the books convey a certain nostalgia for a time when the country was in grave peril from a world full of foreign enemies and hundreds of Hollywood stars, and those destined to become stars, gave up their careers and put their lives on the line.

Flint Whitlock is the author of several books, including Soldiers On Skis, The Rock Of Anzio, and The Fighting First. Insight. WWII History. November 2006.

Given Up for Dead: American GIS in the Nazi Concentration Camp at Berga Award-winning military historian Flint Whitlock chronicles the little-known story of American GIs who were taken prisoner at the Battle of the Bulge and forced into slavery inside the Nazi concentration camp at Berga.

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