Posted on 04/25/2023 7:09:53 AM PDT by shadowlands1960
> Many Lefties joined the US military to fight Nazi Germany AFTER Germany and the USSR went to war. <
There is truth in that. But when a guy volunteers to serve during wartime (not just drafted), I try to give him every benefit of the doubt.
So Belafonte has my respect in that regard. John Wayne, on the other hand…
(I grant that your mileage may vary with this sort of thing.)
I’ve always thought a black man who made it to Carnegie Hall before JFK made it to the White House and then spent the rest of his life hatin’ on Whitey to be a bit of a stretch, ironic and a waste of talent. He coulda been somebody but in the end, Hate Mongers ain’t nobody.
I hope the tallyman smiles on him.
Communist = Civil rights champion to the msm
Emphasis on the MARXIST
Bye, commie. He was one way back in the day.
I think this the guy that Rush Limbaugh called "Calypso Louie".
Calypso Louie is Louis Farrakhan, who started out as a Calypso singer.
Ah, thanks for helping me keep my commies straight.
I understand.
Bye-O !
Comrade Harry finds out about the hereafter.
He cornered Calypso Louie out of the music market in the 1950’s. that’s for sure.
He helped Martin Luther King in the 1960’s later on a friend of Fidel and Hugo Chavez in Venezuela.
Louis Eugene Walcott was singing in the 1950’s as “Calypso Gene”. Belafonte became the star of that genre eclipsed Louis.
So Louis moved onto the Nation of Islam and found his “mother ship”
Then killed Malcolm X.
In the early days of his NOI career he was called “Louis X”.
I’d spend summers playing with Sheri and David. Gina was a baby. They had a summer residence in East Chatham, NY. Never saw much of Harry. We’d be sent home, or David would be picked up when he was in town. His second wife liked to drink sometimes . Don’t really blame her. She was arrested at the A&P store for shoplifting in the 60’s . Never saw them again after that.
From John Wayne's Wikipedia page:
America's entry into World War II resulted in a deluge of support for the war effort from all sectors of society, and Hollywood was no exception. Wayne was exempted from service due to his age (34 at the time of Pearl Harbor) and family status (classified as 3-A – family deferment). Wayne repeatedly wrote to John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion inquiring whether he could get into Ford's military unit.[39] Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him, since he was their only A-list actor under contract. Herbert J. Yates, president of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract,[40] and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne's further deferment.[41]U.S. National Archives records indicate that Wayne, in fact, did make an application[42] to serve in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the modern CIA, but his bid was ultimately unsuccessful. Wayne toured U.S. bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944,[43] with the USO.[44][45][46] During this trip, he carried out a request from William J. Donovan, head of the OSS, to assess whether General Douglas MacArthur, commander of the South West Pacific Area, or his staff were hindering the work of the OSS.[21]: 88 Donovan later issued Wayne an OSS Certificate of Service to memorialize Wayne's contribution to the OSS mission.[21]: 88 [47]
By many accounts, his failure to serve in the military later became the most painful part of his life.[39] His widow later suggested that his patriotism in later decades sprang from guilt, writing: "He would become a 'superpatriot' for the rest of his life trying to atone for staying home."[48]
Indeed shades of Obama
Clark Gable was even older than John Wayne, and Gable served. He flew on B-17 raids over Germany.
But I feel a little sorry for Wayne in this regard. It looks like his lack of service was mainly due to things just not falling the right way. It didn’t seem like deliberate, willful draft-dodging. And as you noted, it bothered Wayne for the rest of his life.
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