Famous Veteran: Walter Matthau

combatvets ^ | 07/03/00 | combatvets

[eastforker]

Military Bio:

Walter Matthau Born Walter Matuschanskavasky in New York City on October 10, 1920, died July 2, 2000 . Matthau grew up in New York's Lower East Side, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants. He enlisted in the Army Air Corps in April 1942. After basic training, he was trained at the Army Air Force radio school at Savannah, Georgia, as a radio operator and gunner. (All flight crewmembers were required to take gunnery training.) After training, he was assigned to the 453rd Bomb Group and went overseas to RAF station 144, Old Buckenham, near Attleborough, England as part of the 8th Air Force. Matthau was a ground radio operator and cryptographer, and saw service in France, Belgium, Holland and Germany. He remembers serving with Jimmy Stewart, who was an operations officer giving mission briefings to the group. He returned to Reno, Nevada, as part of the Air Transport Command, and was discharged in October 1945 from Sacramento, California, as a staff sergeant.

[Henry Cavendish]

That’s quite a handle.

[Ace's Dad]

There was a time when actors and movie personalities were patriots.

There was a time when citizens were patriots (serving in the military); not so much anymore. What, 3%?

[Hootowl99]

Two other well known women from WWII... Please correct me if I tangle this too much, going from memory here...

Julia Childs was in the OSS and I believe it was Italy where she was based.

Greta Garbo while not in the military was a mathematician and developed a math method that she tried to give to the government for use in cryptology. The government was not interested then nor ever was. Well after the war, the math method was used as a basis for the machine language used in early computers. As she had earlier given rights to the government, she was never recognized nor compensated for her efforts when it went commercial.

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

There was a time when citizens were patriots (serving in the military); not so much anymore. What, 3%?

The end of the draft was a direct result of our Second Great No-Win War (Vietnam) which was preceded by the First Great No-Win War (Korea) and has now been succeeded by the Third Great No-Win War (Afghanistan and Iraq).

[Eric Pode of Croydon]

Well, if you’re gonna nitpick, the rank of “airman” did not exist until the USAF was created as a separate force. :-)

[BBell]

I was actually wondering about that. So when it was the Army Air Corps/Force they called them soldiers and not Airman right? I will take your word for it.