Yeah, that.
But it was the guys who lied about their age. What 16 yo would do that now?
John Wayne didn’t serve in the Armed Forces.
Charleton Heston?
Great photo! Thank you.
John Wayne didn’t serve but he did wonders for morale and the troops liked him a lot.
From Wiki:
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). He repeatedly wrote John Ford saying he wanted to enlist, on one occasion inquiring whether he could get into Ford’s military unit, but consistently kept postponing it until after “he finished just one or two pictures”.[4]:212 Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him; Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract,[4]:220 and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne’s further deferment.[4]:213
Wayne toured U.S. bases and hospitals in the South Pacific for three months in 1943 and 1944.[4]:253 with the USO[27][28][29] By many accounts, Wayne’s failure to serve in the military was the most painful experience of his life.[4]:212 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.”[30]
U.S. National Archives records indicate that Wayne had, in fact, made an application [31] to serve in the OSS, today’s equivalent of the CIA, and had been accepted within the U.S. Army’s allotted billet to the OSS. William Donovan, OSS Commander, wrote Wayne a letter informing him of his acceptance in to the Field Photographic Unit, but the letter went to his estranged wife Josephine’s home. She never told him about it.[32] Donovan also issued an OSS Certificate of Service to Wayne.[33]