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, 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.