Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

To: Ol' Dan Tucker

Actually Wayne did not dodge the draft.

Here is story of Wayne’s status and what happened to him:

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). Wayne repeatedly wrote to 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”.[1]:212 Wayne did not attempt to prevent his reclassification as 1-A (draft eligible), but Republic Studios was emphatically resistant to losing him since he was their only A-list actor under contract. Herbert J. Yates, President of Republic, threatened Wayne with a lawsuit if he walked away from his contract,[1]:220 and Republic Pictures intervened in the Selective Service process, requesting Wayne’s further deferment.[1]:213

U.S. National Archives records indicate that Wayne, in fact, did make an application[33] to serve in the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), precursor to the modern CIA, and had been accepted within the U.S. Army’s allotted billet to the OSS. William J. Donovan, OSS Commander, wrote Wayne a letter informing him of his acceptance into the Field Photographic Unit, but the letter went to his estranged wife Josephine’s home. She never told him about it. Donovan also issued an OSS Certificate of Service to Wayne.[34]


111 posted on 04/15/2019 1:41:05 PM PDT by Captain Peter Blood
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 100 | View Replies ]


To: Captain Peter Blood
Actually Wayne did not dodge the draft.

Well, he also didn't enlist, unlike the rest of his Hollywood contemporaries.

Oh, sure. He said he would join after making one or two more movies, but somehow made 13 more before the war ended and never joined.

No studio boss was going to sue anyone for joining up at a time of war, despite Wayne's excuses to the contrary. It was Yates who got Wayne reclassified back to 2-A.

WRT the family deferment, it's true that Wayne did have a wife and kids. But, so did Henry Fonda, Jimmy Stewart, Robert Montgomery, Ronald Reagan, (blind as a bat) and Clark Gable, who, incidentally, was 41 when he joined. Gene Autry (who was married and the same age as Wayne) joined up and earned the rank of tech sergeant and eventually worked his way up to being a pilot flying the Hump between India and China.

BTW, John Ford ran the O.S.S. film unit. Reportedly, Wayne asked Ford to let him join his unit as a Marine or Sailor, but the only openings were in the Army unit.

Dan Ford recalled that Wayne told him he had been approved by O.S.S. commander William Donovan to join the Field Photographic Unit, but that the letter went to his estranged wife Josephine’s home and she never told him about it. That story is a yarn because here is a photo of Wayne in (civilian) uniform standing next to Donovan.

Wayne is quoted in Dan Ford’s book that “I got to go places the average entertainer wouldn’t get to go… but I never did catch up with MacArthur. When I got back to the States I made my report, and they gave me a plaque saying I had served in the O.S.S. But it was a copperhead, something Jack (Ford) had set up. It didn’t mean anything.” When the certificate was sent to Ford’s home to give to Wayne, he (Wayne) didn’t even bother to pick it up and it remained amongst the director’s personal effects until his death.

See: John Wayne, World War II and the Draft
Was John Wayne a Draft Dodger?

123 posted on 04/15/2019 2:42:02 PM PDT by Ol' Dan Tucker (For 'tis the sport to have the engineer hoist with his own petard., -- Hamlet, Act 3, Scene 4)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 111 | View Replies ]

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article


FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson