Famous Veteran: Eddie Albert USNAVY Lt.

TWS ^ | 2014 | TWS

[eastforker]

Enlisting in the United States Navy during World War II, he was an active participant in the Battle of Tarawa in November, 1943, one of most savage battles in the Pacific Theatre. He is credited with braving enemy fire during 26 rescue missions saving wounded United States Marines, and was awarded the Bronze Star with a combat ‘V

[eastforker]

Albert (Heimberger) was the Salvage Officer on Sheridan. His job was to survey damaged equipment on the beach to determine what could be salvaged, repaired and reused. However, like most officers, he had other duties.. He, in a small boat (not a landing craft), was assisting the Boat Control Officer, Lt. Jack Fletcher, in overseeing the boats that were to land the 1 Battalion, 8th Marines on Red Two. After receiving the signal for 1/8 Marines to land, they organized the boats into waves and led them across the line of departure. They then turned to return to the ship. Meanwhile, the boats carrying 1/8 became hung up on the reef (the neap tide was even lower than the prior day), and came under heavy fire. Noticing this, Fletcher and Albert immediately came around and began to take aboard wounded Marines, carried them back to the ship, from which they were transferred to larger units for treatment. Albert's small boat was damaged, so he commandeered a Higgins boat, and made, along with Fletcher, at least two more round trips to the reef to rescue the wounded, all the while being under the same heavy fire barrage as the Marines they were rescuing. In all, the two were credited with rescuing 150 Marines that day, Albert with 70.

[Vermont Lt]

I am in awe of these stories. I wonder how many more officers and enlisted did things like this every day, and no one ever heard about them again.

[hoosiermama]

Have so enjoyed your series. Usual read late at night and don’t comment. What a treasure.

[yarddog]

I recall him saying that he saw many dead Marines on Tarawa and how if affected him.

[eastforker]

One day I was surfin and came accross the list of hundreds of famous people that served, I thought it would be nice to recognize their service.

[Jack Hammer]

Tarawa was a nightmare; an utter meat grinder. Hats off to anyone who was there.

[bravo whiskey]

IIRC he was also picking up bodies of those who had floated out to sea after the battle too. That would not have been pleasant.

[hoosiermama]

It is nice. Very patriotic.

[yarddog]

In one of his TV shows he sang “Lile Marlene”.

He had a great voice.

[TADSLOS]

That’s amazing!

[excalibur21]

These guys never ceased to amaze me. As a kid, I had a father and two uncles that were WWII. My father was in the Pacific and my uncles were in the army. One of them had 7 battle stars from serving in Europe. My next door neighbor still had shrapnel in his back from a German grenade. My neighbor across the street had been a Red Ball Express truck driverand another neighbor down the street was one of them who stormed the beaches on D-Day. Kids today don’t have a clue as to what has been done for them.

[larryjohnson]

The Music Man
[Musical, Comedy, Original]
Starring: Eddie Albert
Harold Hill - Replacement (Jan 11, 1959 - Jun 01, 1960)

I was a 2nd LT when I and my bride to be saw this . We were married 4 jun 60

[TADSLOS]

He was great in Roman Holiday.

[KC_Lion]

On the History Channel Documentary Battle History of The United States Marine Corps

There is an interview with him describing the action he saw at the Battle of Tarawa.

Absolutely heart breaking.

I would post a video link but that series has been thoroughly purged from the Internet.

I cannot find it, I have the DVD's but nothing on the net.

[Pelham]

The sea around Tarawa was filled with dead Marines. There was a reef that the landing craft were hanging up on, forcing the Marines to try to wade ashore under heavy fire. Tarawa was the first instance where a large Japanese force was prepared to fight an American landing. On previous islands like Guadalcanal the heavy fighting didn’t begin until well after the troops had landed.

[polymuser]

“Kids today don’t have a clue as to what has been done for them.”

No, they don’t. Hasn’t been taught to them. There’s only some history TV they don’t do on their smart phones.

[Larry Lucido]

With Ben Gazzara in FIREBALL FORWARD

[gigster]

"Kids today don't have a clue as to what has been done for them." I agree. Last year, on June sixth, I was at my doctor's office for a visit. I was watching the Discovery channel's coverage of D-day when nurse walked in the room. She asked me what I was watching and when I said the program was about D-day,she professed absolutely no knowledge about what the day was or any significance to our history. It was very disappointing seeing the ignorance of young people today

[dfwgator]

From "The Longest Day"

[microgood]

Thanks for this post. As someone who has unlimited admiration for the WWII generation, this is another hero whose story epitomizes the spirit it took to win that war.