OT Jack Warden the rest of the story

[Mark in Rochester]

He worked as a nightclub bouncer, tugboat deckhand and lifeguard before joining the United States Navy in 1938. He was stationed in China for three years with the Yangtze River Patrol.[4]

In 1941, he joined the United States Merchant Marine but, quickly tiring of the long convoy runs, he switched to the United States Army in 1942 where he served as a paratrooper in the 501st Parachute Infantry Regiment, with the elite 101st Airborne Division during World War II.

In 1944, on the eve of the D-Day invasion (during which many of his friends died), Staff Sergeant (Lebzelter) Warden shattered his leg by landing on a fence during a night-time practice jump in England. After almost a year in the hospital (during which time he read a Clifford Odets play and decided to become an actor after the end of the war), he recovered enough to participate in the Battle of the Bulge in 1944.

Information

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[smle-man]

The old time Hollywood actors were a tough bunch. Doug Fairbanks Jr was a naval officer in WW2 and participated in some clandestine operations. His autobiography is a great read. Victor McLaughlin was a CPT in the British army and a provost marshal in Iraq (from Wikipedia):

He left home at fourteen to join the British Army with the intention of fighting in the Second Boer War. However, much to his chagrin, he was stationed at Windsor Castle with the Life Guards and was later forced to leave the army when his true age was discovered.

Four years later, he moved to Canada, where he earned a living as a wrestler and heavyweight boxer, with several notable wins in the ring. One of his most famous fights was against Heavyweight Champion Jack Johnson, in a 6 round exhibition bout.[4] (This bout was Johnson's first bout since winning the heavyweight title from Tommy Burns.) Between bouts, McLaglen toured with a circus, which offered $25 to anyone who could go three rounds with him. He returned to England in 1913 and claimed to have served with the Royal Irish Fusiliers during World War I although he actually served as a Temporary Captain with the 10th Battalion, Middlesex Regiment, now part of the The Princess of Wales's Royal Regiment (Queen's and Royal Hampshires). He served for a time as military Provost Marshal for the city of Baghdad.[5] He also continued boxing, and was named Heavyweight Champion of the British Army in 1918.[4] After the war, he began taking roles in British silent films.

[goo]

john wayne was in the army, navy, air corps and the marine corps in ww11. i know this to be a true fact

[sigman2]

john wayne was in the army, navy, air corps and the marine corps in ww11. i know this to be a true fact

Hell he was even a German captain in "The Sea Chase". He got around!

[Pepper]

Thanks Mark!!! Mr Warden had a long and colorful life.

Jack Warden - Biography

[Bob Womack]

James Doohan - Scotty on Star Trek:

At the outbreak of the Second World War, Doohan, aged 19, joined the Royal Canadian Artillery, and was eventually commissioned as a lieutenant in the 13th Field Regiment, part of the divisional artillery of the 3rd Canadian Infantry Division. Doohan went to the United Kingdom in 1940 for what became years of training. His first combat assignment was the invasion of Normandy at Juno Beach on D-Day. Shooting two snipers along the way, Doohan led his unit to higher ground through a field of anti-tank mines and took defensive positions for the night. Crossing between command posts at 11:30 that night, Doohan took six rounds from a Bren gun fired by a nervous sentry:[4] four in his leg, one in the chest, and one through his right middle finger. The bullet to his chest was halted by the silver cigarette case he carried, and his wounded right middle finger was amputated, which he would conceal during his career as an actor. However, despite his efforts, the injured hand can be seen in the Star Trek episode "Trouble with Tribbles", as well as "Tomorrow is Yesterday" and "Catspaw".

Despite his injuries, Doohan remained in the military, trained as a pilot and flew an artillery observation plane. He flew Taylorcraft Auster Mark V aircraft for 666 (AOP) Squadron, RCAF, as a Royal Canadian Artillery officer in a flying role in support of #1 Canadian AGRA (Army Groups Royal Artillery). All three Canadian (AOP) RCAF Squadrons were manned by Artillery Officer-pilots and accompanied by enlisted RCA and RCAF personnel serving as observers.[5][6]

Though he was never actually a member of the Royal Canadian Air Force, he was once labeled the "craziest pilot in the Canadian Air Forces." One of the many legendary stories of his flying years tells of Doohan slaloming a plane — variously cited as a Hurricane or a jet trainer — between mountainside telegraph poles to prove it could be done, which earned him a serious reprimand. (The actual feat was performed in a Mark IV Auster on the Salisbury Plain north of RAF Andover, in the late spring of 1945).

Bob

[jeffe]

Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. was a founding member of the U.S. Navy Beach Jumpers. Quite a story for a Hollywood actor!

[Louis of PA]

john wayne was in the army, navy, air corps and the marine corps in ww11. i know this to be a true fact

After he was tragically killed on Iwo by a sneaky Jap sniper, the medics insisted that he spend a few days recovering before taking command of the invasion of a mythical island "somewhere in the Pacific". In that campaign, Wayne, formerly a Marine sergeant, took personal command of all land and sea forces, ably assisted by Burgess Meredith who, as Ernie Pyle, had previously been killed by the same resourceful Jap sniper, but on Ie Shima, a suburb of Iwo Jima, and known for its variety of colorless volcanic rocks, worthless soil and boring ocean views.

In the resulting sea battle (a very noisy battle at that) with suspected Jap ships, Wayne lost a leg as well as his battleship, but woke up in the arms of Patricia Neal, a nurse he'd known intimately back in Hawaii and who happened to be on a Pacific Cruise aboard a ship full of nurses that just happened to be passing by his sinking ship at a crucial moment.

Having had enough of modern warfare, and having regrown the missing leg, Wayne chose a life of pursuing indians he assumed to be renegades across the Monument Valley, where he hooked up with Maureen O'Hara. He later whipped her brother Victor in a brawl over money.

One helluva role model, I say.
Regards,
Louis of PA

[Fredtheobviouspseudonym]

The story I heard was that Warden (Lebzelter) never attended a reunion of his old parachute infantry regiment.

He felt that since he had never entered combat with them he was not entitled to be in their company.

Apparently his old outfit felt unanimously that he did belong & should attend.

Every time they had a reunion they would invite him; every time he would politely refuse.

Given he was seriously injured in combat training and precluded from entering combat I would tend to agree with his old outfit. Nonetheless I admire Mr. Warden (Sgt. Lebzelter) for refusing to compromise on what he thought was right.

Kinda puts certain others in the public eye (who inflated the tale of their military service) to shame. Mr. Warden was a class act all the way through, and an excellent actor.

Others -- Rod Serling of Twilight Zone fame was in the paratroopers in the Pacific -- apparently he was dreadfully wounded during the battle for Manila (IIRC) and had problems from these wounds until he died thirty years later.

[goo]

john wayne was killed by a jap sniper on iwo, also.
go figger.