What did they do - Actors & Presidents in WW 2

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Lieutenant-Colonel David Niven fought a o in Normandy and was awarded Legionnaire of the Order of Merit. He had attended Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served in Rifle Brigade.

His batman was Peter Ustinov.

James Stewart served in US Airforce and received Air Medal and DFC. I think he ended up Brigadier-General.

Lee Marvin fought in USMC and was invalided out with a Purple Heart.

President Lyndon Johnson was awarded the Silver Star. I do not know why.

Photo:
David Niven as 007 James Bond.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

George Bush, later the 41st President of the United States, joined the Navy in 1942 and became the youngest naval aviator ever in June, 1943. He flew Grumman TBF Avengers with VT-51, from USS San Jacinto. On September 2, 1944 he was shot down over Chichi Jima. While Bush parachuted safely and was rescued, neither of his crewmen survived. Bush earned a DFC for delivering his bombload after his TBF had been hit.

Also see Presidents Who Served in the U.S. Navy at the Naval Historical Center web site.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thank you for that Hanno and for the links.

I found out that George Bush (sr) flew 58 combat missions. Astronaut and congressman John Glenn flew 59 combat missions but I don´t know in which unit.

Actor Clark Gable served in US Army Air Corps 1942-45 but I don´t know in what capacity. Reportedly Hitler had him wanted dead or alive.

[Tony Smith]

Australia had four consecutive Prime Ministers from both sides of politics over a ten year period (Coincidentally, our most intense period of involvement in Vietnam) who had active service in WW2:

Harold Holt (PM Jan '66- Dec '67) was a member of parliament from 1935 to Sep '39, when he resigned to join AIF as an Infantryman. Was recalled to parliament after Dec '40 air accident in Canberra killed 3 Gov senior ministers and senior military officers.

John Gorton (PM Jan '68-Mar '71) was a Pilot Officer flying fighters in RAAF. Wounded in action 3 times

William McMahon (PM Mar '71-Dec'72) enlisted in the 2nd AIF in 1939. He served in the Army throughout World War II, rising to the rank of Major before his discharge in 1945.

Gough Whitlam (PM Dec '72-Nov '75) enlisted in the RAAF 1941, served as a navigator, and was discharged as a Flight Lieutenant in 1945.

Compared with US presidents, it's surprising that none served in the Navy!

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thank you Tony!

Now I remember that the PM of Rhodesia, Ian Smith, was a RAF fighter pilot flying one of the three available Gloster Gradiators on Malta (A/Cs Hope, Faith, Glory?).

[gordon]

I remember seeing that gable was in the UK and was flying missions over Germany, but was stopped and prevented from doing any more in consideration of the propaganda value to Hilter should he be captured.

Gordon

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Interesting! Was Clark Gable a real airforceman or just there for propaganda?

Tony Curtis (Bernhard Schwarz) joined US Army in 1943. What did he do?

Kirk Douglas (Issur Demsky) joined US Navy in 1942. I think he was an officer - possibly submarines or anti submarine warfare?

[gordon]

Originally posted by Stellan Bojerud
Interesting! Was Clark Gable a real airforceman or just there for propaganda?

Gable was there doing the job, like James Stewart. I don't think Gable was a pilot though, but he was flight crew and up the sharp end.

G

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thank you Gordon!

I found out that Henry Fonda joined US Navy in 1942 and got the Bronze Star. Anybody know why?

[Keith Burke]

Lester B Pearson, the 14th Prime Minister of Canada was a World War 1 fighter pilot and later went on to form the United Nations peacekeeping forces, for which he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

There is another interesting anecdote about him being physically assaulted by a U.S. president....another time though.

Cheers
Keith (This is my first post on this forum)

[Phil Waterman]

I didn't see Ronald Reagan- Lieutenant Reagan to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, California, where he made over 400 training films.

John Kennedy 35th president served as a lieutenant in the United States Navy 1941-1945; PT boat commander in the South Pacific

Lyndon Johnson 36th president, Lieutenant Commander in the U. S. Naval Reserve after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, Johnson became the first member of Congress to volunteer for active duty in the armed forces (U.S. Navy), reporting for active duty on December 9, 1941.
He received the Silver Star from General Douglas MacArthur for gallantry in action during an aerial combat mission over hostile positions in New Guinea on June 9. President Roosevelt ordered all members of Congress in the armed forces to return to their offices, and Johnson was released from active duty on July 16, 1942.

Victor Mature recieving his discharge certificate.



Mature enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1942 after trying to enlist in the Navy. The Navy told the actor he was color blind and wouldn’t enlist him, but the Coast Guard took more interest in the actor and had him re tested and enlisted him immediately. Mature enlisted as a seaman recruit and immediately reported to the Cutter Storis in Boston Harbor. Known in Hollywood as "beautiful hunk of man", his Coast Guard shipmates, who took an immediate liking to the unpretentious actor, dubbed him "hunk of junk". Mature worked hard, eventually working his way up to Chief Boatswain Mate. Between tours sea duty, Mature appeared at Bond rallies for the Coast Guard eventually starring in the Coast Guard show "Tars and Spars", a morale show which toured the country during WWII. After the war he returned to acting but made his mark in real estate. Always proud of his Coast Guard service the actor died of cancer in 1999.
For the names of more stars in the USCG:
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/faqs/celeb.html

[cletrac (RIP)]

Clark Gable was a gunner on a B17.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thank you all!

I saw on the USCG-list that also Humphrey Bogart served in both wars.

I came across that Charles Bronson (Charles Buzhinsky) served in WW 2. But what did he do?

[Rob Fast]

Help me out here fellow Canadians. Lester B Pearson, Relic from the Beachcombers to mention a couple. Who has their history? Cheers Rob

Lester B started in the Medical Corp and transfered to the RFC where he was injured in a couple of training incidents and inviladed out. John Diefenbaker was also injured in training and invalidade out.

Pier le Fleur was a Zombie who reportedly walked down the streets of Montreal dressed as a German Soldier carrying a mock P40. A real Canadian Hero NOT

Ther were not too many Canadian Actors involved with Hollywood durinf WW II.
Raymond Massey:
Raymond Hart Massey was born on August 30, 1896 in Toronto. His father was Hart Massey, the owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Young Raymond grew up in comfort, as a member of one of Canada’s wealthiest families of the time.

Massey started acting while attending Appleby College in Oakville. He then attended at the University of Toronto and then Balliol College in Oxford, England, where he continued acting.

With the outbreak of The First World War, he enlisted in the Canadian Field Artillery. His brother, Vincent also served during World War I. While on duty in Siberia, Raymond broke the monotony of army life and appeared in an army minstrel show entertaining the American troops who were on occupation duty. Severely wounded in action in France he was shipped home where he eventually worked in the family business, selling farm implements. His brother, Vincent, would also join the family firm following the war, and become its president in the early 1920s.

But Raymond missed the stage and so, he returned to acting. In 1922, he made his stage debut in London. Through most of the 1920s he honed his abilities in innumerable stage appearances. His first movie role was High Treason in 1927, and he played Sherlock Holmes in The Speckled Band in the following year. But he was soon back in theatre working before an audience.

In the 1930s, he played in a total of 12 films including starring or co-starring classics like The Scarlett Pimpernel in 1934, Things to Come, and Fire Over England in 1936, and The Prisoner of Zenda in 1937, alternating between England and Hollywood.

In 1940, back in the United States, Massey played Abraham Lincoln in Abe Lincoln in Illinois. Ironically, early in Massey's career, Abraham Lincoln's son, Robert Todd Lincoln (1843-1926), heard Massey perform and was struck by the close similarity of Massey's speaking voice to that of his father. Massey was nominated for an Academy Award for his work in this film. A year later brought his powerful performance in The Forty-Ninth Parallel.

During World War II, Massey rejoined the Canadian Army, and was wounded and invalided out in 1943. Following the war, he became an American citizen. He returned however, to England for A Matter of Life and Death in 1946, excelling in his small part.

Massey decided to serve as narrator for A Canterbury Tale in 1944 and then accepted a role in the now classic Arsenic and Old Lace. Raymond's early military experience served as a solid foundation for his role in 1947 as Brigadier General Ezra Mannon in Mourning Becomes Electra. Later that same year he appeared in the cinematic version of Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. He worked steadily throughout the 50s, and was most effective when he appeared with James Dean in 1955's East of Eden.

Not limited to just the big screen, he became well known on television in the 1950s and 1960s. Massey also appeared in the hit series, I Spy which made its debut in 1966. He spent five years as Dr. Gillespie on Dr. Kildare from 1961 to 1966.

He narrated Jacqueline Kennedy's Asian Journey in 1962, after having reprised his role as Abe Lincoln in How the West Was Won. His last film was Mackenna's Gold in 1969. With his career winding down, he made a few made-for-TV movies, the last in 1973.

Raymond Massey died from pneumonia on July 29, 1983, in Los Angeles, California, at age 87. He is buried in New Haven, Connecticut. Massey had married three times. Children Daniel Massey and Anna Massey, both born in England, in the 1930s, became successful actors.

Massey has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movies at 1719 Vine Street and one for television at 6708 Hollywood Blvd.

After running the family business for a number of years, Massey’s brother Vincent went on to be the first Canadian-born Governor General of Canada, serving from 1952 to 1959. The family name graces Toronto's Massey Hall, a historic concert hall bought by his grandfather in 1894 for $150,000.

In 1915, when he was 17, he enrolled at the University of New Brunswick in Fredericton. "I didn't know what I wanted to be, if a pirate sailing the oceans doesn't count," he said. "But the next year, at 18, 1 left the university and joined the 65th Battery of the Canadian Field Artillery. I was full of adventure and was ready to face the trenches in France, but fate intervened. In training, I became trapped between two rolling gun carriages and spent the next 16 months in a Toronto military hospital."

A number of Canadian TV personel didn't emerge untill after the war.

Dick Mcdougal on the CBC served in "D" Coy of the 48th Highlanders in Italy.

Court Benson was a platoon commander in the 48th Highlanders in Italy before joining the cast of Hockey Night in Canada.

Jimmy Kieth stalward of the Balmy Beach Football club was a CSM in the 48th in Italy. His father had been an RSM of the 15th Bn during WW I.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Thank you for those interesting posts, Art!

Dr Kildare = Lew Ayres served in the Medical Corps, Pacific theathre.

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Originally posted by Phil Waterman
I didn't see Ronald Reagan- Lieutenant Reagan to the 1st Motion Picture Unit in Culver City, California, where he made over 400 training films.

I was once told that the most frequent background of an US President is lawyer. Next in numbers are Army Generals. Is that true?

Did President Jackson have children with a black woman?

Hi ... I recall mentioning "Relic" as being with the RCAF 426 Squadron ... here is the thread where I mentioned him:

http://mapleleafup.org/forums/showth...ighlight=Relic

And HERE is a link to RCAF site that mentions and shows a photo of him:

http://www.rcaf.com/6group/Clothier426.html

Karmen (ps: I'm enjoying this thread )

[Stellan Bojerud (RIP)]

Gene Hackman served in USMC. That is all I know.

Charlton Heston joined US Army in 1944. Doing what?

Jack Lemmon (John Uhler Lemmon III) was Communications Officer aboard aircraft carrier CV-39 USS Lake Champlain (Essex-class).

Photo:
An Essex-class carrier. USS Lake Champlain was commissioned 3rd June 1945.

[Garry Shipton (RIP)]

If you want to read more hilarious anecdotes on him,read the book called "The moon's a Baloon"You'll die laughing of his early military life.

Two more well known Canadians who served in the RCAF during WW II.

GOLAB, TONY, Elected as a Player, November 26, 1964. For a decade he was the Golden Boy of Canadian football with the Ottawa Rough Riders. One of the game's great Backfielders, he won the Jeff Russell Trophy in 1941 and was a Big Four All-Star three times. Despite suffering serious wounds to the arms and legs during World War II, Golab returned to star with Ottawa until 1950.

Lorne Greene was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada on February 12, 1915, an only child, he later said that he tried to base his posrtrayal of Ben Cartwright on his own father, Daniel Greene, who made orthopedic boots and shoes. Daniel Greene died in 1956, three years before the premier of "Bonanza". "But he will always be alive somewhere when the show is aired," Green said.
Greene enrolled at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario, to study chemical engineering, but succumbed to his love of the theater and his desire to be a part of it. He served as both an actor and director in the school's drama guild. He won a fellowship to the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater located in New York City. Returning home in 1939, Greene became "The Voice of Canada" when the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation hired him . One columnist went so far to describe his voice as "surely one of the finest ever wrought by nature". After service as a flying officer in the RCAF during World War II, Lorne returned to Toronto and founded the Academy of Radio Arts.

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Stellan Bojerud
Thank you Tony!

Now I remember that the PM of Rhodesia, Ian Smith, was a RAF fighter pilot flying one of the three available Gloster Gradiators on Malta (A/Cs Hope, Faith, Glory?).

Gladiators... Faith, Hope, Charity.

[Jon Skagfeld]

Originally posted by Art Johnson
Ther were not too many Canadian Actors involved with Hollywood durinf WW II.
Raymond Massey:
Raymond Hart Massey was born on August 30, 1896 in Toronto. His father was Hart Massey,{ the owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company.} Young Raymond grew up in comfort, as a member of one of Canada’s wealthiest families of the time.

Art...Surely you mean Massey-Harris?...on Strachan Avenue?

My grand father was a chauffeur for Lady Harris. His Ontario Operator's license was number 17, or maybe 27.

Jon you are right to a point. After WW II it became Massey Ferguson. Jon you would not reconize the area now. The factories are all gone replaced by housing projects. I don't know what happened to the War Memorial for the Massey-Harris employees but the last time I was in the area it was gone. The 48th often provided a Guard Mount for the Nov 11 ceromeries of Massey-Harris.

Didn't Richard Todd (6th Airborne) "do" Pegasus Bridge "twice?"

R.

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by FV623
Didn't Richard Todd (6th Airborne) "do" Pegasus Bridge "twice?"

R.

"Hold until relieved. Hold until relieved."