Movie Stars Medals

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

I don't know how long he was in the army, but would Billy Bragg have qualified for a service medal?

doogal

CSM - Northern Ireland &/or UN Cyprus I suspect - he left pre 1982 as I first saw a gig of his then.

[NIGEL]

Dare i say George Bush-------------senior of course a navy pilot not a star i know, then theres his son, a great comedian and is rumered to have done some kind of service, somewhere, sometime, in some army i think

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

George Bush Snr was a US Navy Pilot in WW2 and fought against the Japanese and I believe was decorated. He was also head of the CIA in the 1960s during the Vietnam War.

[NIGEL]

Is it true Ian as my dad always told me in his films, that Audey Murphy was the most decorated or highly decorated man of WW2 ?????

[Guest Ian Bowbrick]

Is it true Ian as my dad always told me in his films, that Audey Murphy was the most decorated or highly decorated man of WW2 ?????

I believe he was the most decorated US infantryman.

[J T Gray]

Arnold Ridley also played (at fly half?) rugby for bath, but his career was ended by his injury. Interesting to speculate how he got back in to the army for WW2.

Adrian

(OK, it's completely irrelevant to medals, but it fits in with Arnold Ridley)

[BottsGreys]

NIGEL:

As Ian said, Murphy was the most decorated U.S. combat soldier of WWII.

Audie Murphy's Military Award List

Military Service Number 01 692 509

Medal of Honor

Distinguished Service Cross

Silver Star with First Oak Leaf Cluster

Legion of Merit

Bronze Star Medal with "V" Device and First Oak Leaf Cluster

Purple Heart with Second Oak Leaf Cluster

U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal

Good Conduct Medal

Distinguished Unit Emblem with First Oak Leaf Cluster

American Campaign Medal

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with One Silver Star, 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

Chris

[NIGEL]

Can you imagine carrying that weight on you chest

[kevin ley]

For this years D-Day celebrations I bought a special issue of the movie The Longest Day. David Selznick, the Director of the Longest Day, was one of the most famous Hollywood Directors, and owned one of the major movie studios during the golden age of Hollywood. It turns out he was a very young teenager who served in WW1 and was subsequently influenced by his own experiences to honour the D-Day landings with the movie The Longest Day.

On the video there is a very moving scene at the end of some special footage where Selznick visits the WW2 American cemeteries near Omaha beach and reflects on the fact that "he had hoped that man would have learned about the futility of war after WW2, but sadly then went on to reflect that this was not the case since we had Korea, Vietnam etc etc." Says it all really. We can now add Iraq etc the list goes on.

There is that famous line in the The Furies beautiful song "The Green fields of France"... about a young soldier Willie McBride (buried in Authuille Cemetery down on the River Ancre "Did you really believe that this war would end wars".)

Back to the movie stars. James Stewart of course was on the bombers during WW2.

Kevin.

[P.B.]

Movie Stars at war...

Richard Todd -served with the Parachute Regiment, D-Day drop with 6th Airborne Division and some post-war service in Palestine.

David Niven -pre-war HLI, then Commandos and Phantom (Recon) Regiment.

Charles Durning (US actor, usually plays heavyweight cops in "The Sting" and "Dog Day Afternoon") -US Ranger with D-Day service (Pont Du Hoc?).

Basil Rathbone -Liverpool Scottish, as already mentioned, but also awarded MC for a trench raid.

Hardy Kruger -under-age panzergrenadier towards the end of WWII.

Bernard Cribbens (of "Wombles" fame) -Parachute Regiment, Palestine in the late '40s.

Lee Marvin, actor -USMC 1941-45 including the Pacific "Island-hopping" campaign. Decorated and wounded (shell splinters in the backside and sciatic nerve).

Gene Hackman -USMC, 1950s.

Dennis Frantz ("NYPD Blue") -Infantry, Vietnam.

Oliver Stone, director -23rd Infantry Division, Vietnam.

Christopher Lee -RAF in WWII, also attached to various Special Forces.

...and some other famous ex-servicemen:

The German architect who invented the "Bauhaus" style served as an infantryman on the Western Front in WWI.

Bert Trautman, goalkeeper for Man City, 1950s -German Paratrooper throughout WWI, including Arnhem and the Ardennes. Famously played with a fractured neck-bone during a cup final -tough boys, those Fallschirmjager....

Compton MacKenzie, creator of "Monarch of the Glen" -served as an Intelligence Officer at Gallipoli and later ended up in court after writing his post-war memoirs.

Erskine Childers, writer of pre-WWI invasion scare novel "The Riddle of the Sands" -Boer War service with the CIV, later IRA gun-runner, subsequently executed.

Eric Newby, travel writer -SBS in WWII.

Paddy Leigh Fermor, writer and traveller -SAS and other Special Forces, WWII.

Charles Wheeler, political correspondant for "Newsnight" -Royal Marines, WWII including D-Day.

Wifred Theissinger, explorer -SAS and other Special Forces, WWII.

Michael Asher, explorer and writer -Parachute Regiment, 23 SAS and RUC, 1970s.

Rannulph Fiennes, explorer -Scots Guards(?) and 21 SAS, 1960s and 70s.

Frank Carson, comedian -Parachute Regiment, 1950s including active service against EOKA.

R.C. Sherriff, author of "Journey's End" -served in WWI with 9/East Surrey's. When the play was first performed, starring an unknown young actor named Laurence Olivier, costumes were in such short supply that Olivier wore Sherriffs old uniform with an MC ribbon added.

H.H Munro ("Saki"), author -KIA on the Western Front in WWI.

George MacDonald Fraser, author of the "Flashman" novels -service in Burma with the Border Regiment, later comissioned into the HLI, serving in Palestine.

...and to end with an Urban Myth (possibly, maybe someone here can confirm or deny this one...) John Denver, a qualified sniper during Vietnam War service...?

Hope this has been of some interest, all the best

Paul.

[charger]

Clark Gable (Capt, final rank Major)

USAF based at Polebrook with the 351st

regards

Steve

[ChrisC]

Again not WW1 but Richard Todd served in the Parachute Regiment in Normandy and went on to play the part of Major John Howard, whose company of the Ox & Bucks took "Pegasus" Bridge in "The Longest Day".

Lee Marvin fought with the USMC in the Pacific - apparently him and is buddies booed John Wayne when he came to entertain them wearing combat fatigues and a pistol! What a poseur!!

Kenneth Woolstenholme - football commentator - "They think it's all over..." etc. was a Mosquito pilot.

I was in the Army and in a school play

[charger]

Private Godfrey won the George Cross in the Dads Army episode

regards

Steve

[Blackblue]

The Furies beautiful song "The Green fields of France"... about a young soldier Willie McBride (buried in Authuille Cemetery down on the River Ancre "Did you really believe that this war would end wars".)

Written by a Scotsman and adopted Australian - Eric Bogle.

[Blackblue]

The Furies beautiful song "The Green fields of France"... about a young soldier Willie McBride (buried in Authuille Cemetery down on the River Ancre "Did you really believe that this war would end wars".)

Written by a Scotsman and adopted Australian - Eric Bogle.

Green Fields Of France - Eric Bogle

Well, how do you do, Private William McBride,

Do you mind if I sit down here by your graveside?

And rest for awhile in the warm summer sun,

I've been walking all day, and I'm nearly done.

And I see by your gravestone you were only 19

When you joined the glorious fallen in 1916,

Well, I hope you died quick and I hope you died clean

Or, Willie McBride, was it slow and obscene?

Did they Beat the drum slowly, did the play the pipes lowly?

Did the rifles fir o'er you as they lowered you down?

Did the bugles sound The Last Post in chorus?

Did the pipes play the Flowers of the Forest?

And did you leave a wife or a sweetheart behind

In some loyal heart is your memory enshrined?

And, though you died back in 1916,

To that loyal heart are you forever 19?

Or are you a stranger without even a name,

Forever enshrined behind some glass pane,

In an old photograph, torn and tattered and stained,

And fading to yellow in a brown leather frame?

The sun's shining down on these green fields of France;

The warm wind blows gently, and the red poppies dance.

The trenches have vanished long under the plow;

No gas and no barbed wire, no guns firing now.

But here in this graveyard that's still No Man's Land

The countless white crosses in mute witness stand

To man's blind indifference to his fellow man.

And a whole generation who were butchered and damned.

And I can't help but wonder, no Willie McBride,

Do all those who lie here know why they died?

Did you really believe them when they told you "The Cause?"

Did you really believe that this war would end wars?

Well the suffering, the sorrow, the glory, the shame

The killing, the dying, it was all done in vain,

For Willie McBride, it all happened again,

And again, and again, and again, and again.

[Blackblue]

There was the RN Lt Comd Harry Stoker, later an actor, who commanded the AE2 the first submarine to breach The Narrows.

http://www.awm.gov.au/people/1076732.asp

[Guest C729LEE]

Chaps,

I seem to recall somewhere that Johnnie Weismuller the Tarzan actor served as a paratrooper WW2 - I know he was some sort of competition swimmer.

Or was it the Man City Keeper, Bert Trautman. A filmstar, no. Well, I saw him on the telly. I think a documentary showed him with the Iron Cross 1st class, in an old photo, with his diving eagle para wings (Luftwaffe type)

interesting discussion, by the way

Lee

[wellsms]

There are two W McBrides in Authuille Cemetery. One is W McBride and the other is William.

Does anyone know which is the one mentioned in the poem?

thanks

Mike

[brownag]

I thought I'd add my tuppence worth on several replies and have thrown in a couple of new ones at the end

In no particular order.

George MacDonald Fraser served in the Gordon Highlanders in Libya post war not the HLI.

Roger Moore ended his service running an entertainment troop along with actor / director / writer and NCO Bryan Forbes

Pte Godfrey was an MM winner for rescuing wounded from no mans land in the First World War. The GC was a second world war medal.

Gene Hackman served in Korea in the USMC

Charles Wheeler (newsnight) ended WW2 with an Intelligence section hunting Nazis in Germany

I'd read that Michael Caine was sniper in Korea (Did he wear his own medals in the film 'The Whistle Blower'?)

Christopher Lee was in the SOE

Anthony Quayle was in the Royal Artillery in WW2 and spent some time as ADC to the Governor of Gibraltar and then spent some time helping the partisans in Albania (good background for his role in The Guns of Navarone). I don't know what medals he had.

Jack Hawkins won the MC as I've seen photos of him wearing it but I don't know what his war service was.

Cheers

Adam

[Blackblue]

Bit of a coincidence. Someone just sent me the following e-mail.

Real Hollywood Heroes

Alec Guinness (Star Wars) operated a British Royal Navy landing craft on D-Day.

James Doohan ("Scotty" on Star Trek) landed in Normandy with the U. S. Army on D-Day.

Donald Pleasance (The Great Escape) really was an R. A. F. pilot who was shot down, held prisoner and tortured by the Germans.

David Niven was a Sandhurst graduate and Lt. Colonel of the British Commandos in Normandy.

James Stewart Entered the Army Air Force as a private and worked his way to the rank of Colonel. During World War II, Stewart served as a bomber pilot, his service record crediting him with leading more than 20 missions over Germany, and taking part in hundreds of air strikes during his tour of duty. Stewart earned the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross, France's Croix de Guerre, and 7 Battle Stars during World War II. In peace time, Stewart continued to be an active member of the Air Force as a reservist, reaching the rank of Brigadier General before retiring in the late 1950s.

Clark Gable (Mega-Movie Star when war broke out) 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' Candidate 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 to the 351st Bomb Group at Polebrook where flew 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.

Charlton Heston was an Army Air Corps Sergeant in Kodiak.

Earnest Borgnine was a U. S. Navy Gunners Mate 1935-1945.

Charles Durning was a U. S. Army Ranger at Normandy earning a Silver Star and awarded the Purple Heart.

Charles Bronson was a tail gunner in the Army Air Corps, more specifically on B-29s in the 20th Air Force out of Guam, Tinian, and Saipan

George C Scott was a decorated U. S. Marine.

Eddie Albert (Green Acres TV) was awarded a Bronze Star for his heroic action as a U. S. Naval officer aiding Marines at the horrific battle on the island of Tarawa in the Pacific Nov. 1943.

Brian Keith served as a U.S. Marine rear gunner in several actions against the Japanese on Rabal in the Pacific.

Lee Marvin was a U.S. Marine on Saipan during the Marianas campaign when he was wounded earning the Purple Heart.

John Russell: In 1942, he enlisted in the Marine Corps where he received a battlefield commission and was wounded and highly decorated for valor at Guadalcanal.

Robert Ryan was a U. S. Marine who served with the O. S. S. in Yugoslavia..

Tyrone Power (an established movie star when Pearl Harbor was bombed) joined the U.S. Marines, was a pilot flying supplies into, and wounded Marines out of, Iwo Jima and Okinawa.

Audie Murphy, little 5'5" tall 110 pound guy from Texas who played cowboy parts? Most Decorated serviceman of WWII and earned: 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, 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.

[Edward_N_Kelly]

David Niven was a Sandhurst graduate and Lt. Colonel of the British Commandos in Normandy.

Lt Col Niven was never in the Commandoes - 'tis a hoary old one....

When he returned to the UK to join the war effort he was determined not to return to HLI (too many bad memories there) so he was commissioned into the Rifle Brigade. He volunteered to join the GHQ Reconnaissance Regiment (or "Phantom") eventually commanding A Sqn (if my memory is correct).

By the time of Normandy he had been posted to SHAEF as a liaison officer and stayed there for the remainder of the war – he did not land on D-Day but arrived with the rest of SHAEF some months afterwards.

During his war service he was released to do film work periodically including "The Way Ahead" where he worked with Maj Eric Ambler and a certain Pte Peter Ustinov (who to allow him to be released for the film which he co-wrote was assigned as Niven's batman).

Cheers

Edward

[P.B.]

More celebs:

Jimi Hendrix -served with 101st Airborne Division, early 60s.

Rueben "Hurricane" Carter, boxer -another "Screaming Eagle", late 50s.

Lewis Collins, "Professional" -10 (V) PARA, 1970s.

Nigel Benn, boxer -RRF.

Paddy Ashdown, politician -Royal Marines Commando and SBS, 1960s.

[brownag]

I thought James 'Scotty' Doohan was a gunner in the Canadian Army. Leslie Neilson was in the Canadian Army as well wasn't he?

In his autobiography David Niven writes that his intention was to join the RAF when he returned to the UK in 1939 but they turned their noses at him because he was an actor so he told them where to go and one of his pals got him a place in the Rifel Brigade.

I also read somewhere that he refused to be in any film with James Mason because Mason had been a conscientious objector during the war.

Alec Guiness was at the Rhine Crossing with his landing craft as well.

Have any of these been mentioned yet?

Ian Carmichael was in a Tank regiment I believe.

Peter Sellars was in the RAF. Harry Secombe and Spike Milligan Royal Artillery.

Humphrey Bogart was in the US Navy in WW1

[Canadawwi]

I've put together a bit of research on Vernon Castle. Before WWI, Vernon and Irene Castle were a famous dancing couple - as famous at that time as Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire became in the 1930s.

Vernon Castle had immigrated to the US from England before the war. He joined the RFC in Canada. He died in 1918 in a training accident. CVM Record

If anyone is interested in knowing more about him, send me a message and I have a number of WWI articles that I can forward to you.

[Guest leibregiment100]

I have the WW1 medal group to Richard Fisher, screen writer, author and correspondant,

I was also the training cpl for Lewis Collins when he joined 10 (V) Para, storys could be told!