"Durning served as a soldier in World War II, during which he was awarded a Silver Star, three Purple Heart medals, and a Good Conduct Medal. He was drafted into the U.S. Army at the age of 21, and landed on D-Day in the Normandy Invasion on June 6, 1944. Some sources state he was in the 1st Infantry Division at the time, but it is unclear if he was a rifleman or in an artillery unit by 1944.
On Omaha Beach itself, Pvt. Charles Durning was among the first troops to land. Drafted early in the war, he was first assigned as a rifleman with the 398th Infantry Regiment, but later served overseas with the 3rd Army Support troops and the 386th Anti-aircraft Artillery (AAA) Battalion.
Durning was wounded by an �??S�?? Mine on June 15, 1944, at Les Mare des Mares. He was transported by the 499th Medical Collection Company to the 24th Evacuation Hospital. By June 17, he was back in England at the 217th General Hospital. Although severely wounded by shrapnel in the left and right thigh, right hand, the frontal region of the head and the anterior left chest wall, Durning recovered quickly and was determined to be "fit for duty" on December 6, 1944. Durning was present for the Battle of the Bulge, the German counter-offensive in December 1944.
After being wounded in the chest, Durning was repatriated to the United States where he remained in army hospitals, receiving treatment for both physical and psychological wounds, until discharged with the rank of Private First Class on January 30, 1946.
Durning has said that he still suffers from nightmares about his war experiences (which is common among veterans living with post-traumatic stress disorder, although Durning himself is not confirmed to have suffered PTSD). He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his extraordinary portrayal of a Marine veteran in "Call of Silence", an unusual episode of the television series NCIS, first broadcast November 23, 2004. Clearly drawing on his first-hand knowledge of the lingering effects of battle-induced stress, Durning's character turns himself in to authorities, insisting that he must be prosecuted for having murdered his buddy during ferocious combat on Iwo Jima six decades earlier. The real truth of the incident only becomes known for certain when the guilt-stricken veteran goes through a cathartic reliving of the battlefield events.
Durning is well-known for participating in various functions to honor American veterans. He was the chairman one year of the U.S. National Salute to Hospitalized Veterans.
My Uncle Jack always spoke highly of Charles Durning - 'nuff said, as far as I'm concerned.
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 America demands Justice for the Fallen of Benghazi! |
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O stranger, tell the Lacedaemonians that we lie here, obedient to their command.
Listen, O isles, unto me; and hearken, ye people, from far; The LORD hath called me from the womb; from the bowels of my mother hath he made mention of my name. (Isaiah 49:1 KJV)