Posted on 11/21/2023 11:15:34 PM PST by beaversmom
Thanks for sharing...
What is it about?
Wow, now that is a surprise ending! I had no idea. Thanks for posting!
About a true American hero in a B29 over Japan in WW II.
It’s a “short.” Well worth your minute.
Bronson was great. I liked him in Breakheart pass and Death Wish. I had forgotten what a raw, sad and hard hitting movie that was.
Bronson brings to mind William Smith as Col. Strelnikov in Red Dawn. He was the Russian Spetznaz Colonel who gave the speech about needing to be a hunter to kill a wolverine.
He was a fluent Russian speaker with a master’s degree from UCLA, during the Korean War he was a Russian Intercept Interrogator and flew secret spy plane ferret missions over the USSR. He was reportedly also fluent in French, German and Serbo-Croatian. It had been while working on his doctorate that he was offered a contract from MGM, which would pave his career.
Another American hero.
Bronson’s parents were Lithuanian.
Very much so. Also another one was Richard Boone. He was Have Gun Will Travel and the bad guy in Big Jake and several other westerns.
He dropped out of Stanford prior to graduation and then worked as an oil rigger, bartender, painter, and writer. In 1941, Boone joined the United States Navy and served on three ships in the Pacific during World War II, seeing combat as an aviation ordnanceman, aircrewman, and tail gunner on Grumman TBF Avenger torpedo bombers, and ended his service with the rank of petty officer first class.
Lots of the good actors in those days had histories of being men. That is why the movies were so good.
That's a very good point.
Jimmy Stewart, too.
I just watched a 1950s western movie with Audie Murphy. He was an amazing guy...
Audie Leon Murphy (20 June 1925 – 28 May 1971) was an American soldier, actor, and songwriter. He was one of the most decorated American combat soldiers of World War II. He received every military combat award for valor available from the United States Army, as well as French and Belgian awards for heroism. Murphy received the Medal of Honor for valor that he demonstrated at the age of 19 for single-handedly holding off a company of German soldiers for an hour at the Colmar Pocket in France in January 1945, before leading a successful counterattack while wounded and out of ammunition.When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s, everybody knew Audie Murphy. These days nobody knows about him.
Yep. The barber lady who cuts my hair came from Lithuania the instant the wall came down. She was 25 and said she left because at that age, if she had no marriage prospects she said she never would.
Arrived in San Francisco cold with 50 bucks. Said she had spend her life standing in line for a small amount on milk... sometimes available.
Told me of her shock the first time she saw a dairy section in a supermarket. Said she put 5 gallons in her cart and was terrified someone would attack her and steal the milk.
Found a cheap closet room over a funeral home. The man asked if she was afraid of dead people. She said she was afraid of the live ones.
Got a job cutting hair. Saw the owners sin and straight out told him she wanted to marry him. Said he looked like Elvis. He explained to her that he was gay. Said she had literally never heard of such a thing.
Then said she lived in terror as her son and daughter grew up, hoping they wouldn’t become gay. Said because she knew she would have to kill them.
Those people lived a rough life.
Yep, Murphy and Steward. And Lee Marvin, a Marine shot on Saipan. James Arness wounded at Anzio. Hal Baylor from Sands of Iwo Jima who was the clumsy PFC who danced to learn bayonet was a Marine Rifleman for fought on Saipan and Tinian.
The list is endless. This would be a good thread all on it’s own. And btw all, remembering this thread was about Bronson who deserves his time. Didn’t mean to hijack it. Thinking of Brinson reminds me of so many other American heroes from that era.
About Audie Murphy, a small window into his war persona is found in Guns of Fort Petticoat. It’s a movie where he was stranded in a mission church with 20 women. He trains and organizes them into defending against an Apache attack.
Ignore that it’s women and watch him lead. Someone praying loudly when silence was critical, cowards, unexpected bravery, competence where you didn’t think to see it, hardness when a popular woman gets killed, keeping the discipline going.
It was filmed 12 years after his actions in combat. There are times in that film that you get a hint of what his mentality and leadership in a fight was like.
Unexpected, but watch it and see if you don’t see it too.
Thanks for the added info. He was quite accomplished/intelligent.
There's some great dialog! When the broken down wagon rolls into the mission, the opera singer says...
"And the first thing thing I wish to make clear is that I'm not with this...this...uh...uh..."
"...creature?"
"Thank you"
The expressions are priceless!
After they get the wagon tipped over, she simply says "Any three men, Lieutenant. Any three men!"
This is wonderful! They truly do not make them like they used to.
WWII Hero! #ww2 #shorts | 0:59
This Date in History with Nick Ragone
84.9K subscribers | 159,441 views | November 18, 2023
Transcript 0:00 · he grew up so poor that the first time 0:01 · he ate three meals in one day was when 0:04 · he was drafted by the Army Air Force in 0:06 · 1943 he was a nose Gunner on a b29 super 0:10 · Fortress where he would fly 25 missions 0:12 · throughout 1945 most of them over the 0:15 · Japanese Mainland and surrounding 0:17 · Islands his name was Corporal Charles 0:19 · Dennis binsky and it was during a 0:22 · bombing run over the critical hodia 0:24 · chemical plant where he was riddled with 0:26 · machine gun fire as the bomber 0:28 · approached the target bleeding profusely 0:31 · binsky refused Aid as he remained at his 0:34 · gun and fought off an onslaught of 0:36 · Fighters until they returned safely 0:38 · earning a Purple Heart the world would 0:40 · come to know him as Charles Bronson one 0:43 · of Hollywood's most bankable tough guy 0:45 · Leading Men whose breakthrough role came 0:47 · in the Great Escape Bronson's grave site 0:50 · speaks nothing of his acting career just 0:52 · that he served his country concluding 0:54 · witho not stand at my grave and cry I am 0:57 · not here I did not die.
Here is Audie Murphy’s TV western series.
Whispering Smith
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL_zO7cYdYLBR4dEmvpNoYtu407scYngVn
I’ll check them out. Big fan of his.
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