Free Republic

Singer, songwriter and actor Kristoffer Kristofferson was born on June 22, 1936, in Brownsville, Texas. Son of a military officer, Kristofferson was equal parts intellectual and athlete growing up. He was an award-winning short story writer as well as a Golden Gloves boxer. He graduated from Pomona College in 1958 with a degree in creative writing and went on to attend Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar. While in England, he performed under the name Kris Carson, playing country and folk music. After leaving Oxford, Kristofferson joined the United States Army in 1960. He served as a helicopter pilot in...

World War II service In 1944, Heston enlisted in the United States Army Air Forces. He served for two years as a radio operator and aerial gunner aboard a B-25 Mitchell stationed in the Alaskan Aleutian Islands with the Eleventh Air Force. He reached the rank of Staff Sergeant. Heston married Northwestern University student Lydia Marie Clarke in the same year he joined the military.

With the outbreak of the Second World War, Palance's boxing career ended and his military career began as a member of the United States Army Air Forces. Palance's rugged face, which took many beatings in the boxing ring, was disfigured when he bailed out of a burning B-24 Liberator bomber while on a training flight over southern Arizona, where he was a student pilot. Plastic surgeons repaired the damage as best they could, but he was left with a distinctive, somewhat gaunt, look. After much reconstructive surgery, he was discharged in 1944.

Carlos Ray "Chuck" Norris was born on March 10, 1940 in Ryan, Oklahoma. In 1958, after high school, Norris joined the Air Force as an Air Policeman (AP) with the goal of training in the Security Police in preparation for a career in law enforcement. Norris was sent Osan Air Base, South Korea where he began his training in Tang Soo Do (tangsudo), an interest that led to the founding of the Chun Kuk Do ("Universal Way") form. When he returned to the United States, Norris continued to act as an AP at March Air Force Base, California, until he...

After graduating from high school, Rickles enlisted in the U.S. Navy and served for two years during World War II on the USS Cyrene as a seaman first class. He was honorably discharged in 1946. His ship departed Norfolk, Virginia 10 November 1944 transited the Panama Canal and arrived at Manus Province, in Papua New Guinea on 13 December to escort two squadrons of motor torpedo boats to Hollandia, New Guinea. She then sailed on convoy duty to Leyte Gulf, Phillipines, arriving 1 January 1945. Cyrene then served as tender for PT Boasts, and on 17 January 1945 became flagship...

He enlisted in the U.S. Navy on June 8, 1943, as an apprentice seaman enrolled in the V-5 program, which trained Navy and Marine pilots. He hoped to train as a pilot, but was sent instead to Columbia University for midshipman training. He performed magic for classmates on the side. Commissioned an ensign late in the war, Carson was assigned to the USS Pennsylvania, a battleship on station in the Pacific. He was en route to the combat zone aboard a troopship when the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki brought the war to a close. The Pennsylvania was torpedoed on...

Graduating high school in 1943, Newman briefly attended college before enlisting in the U.S. Navy Air Corps. He wanted to be a pilot, but he was told that he could never fly a plane as he was colorblind. He ended up serving as a radio operator and spent part of World War II serving in the Pacific. After leaving the military in 1946, Paul Newman attended Kenyon College in his home state of Ohio. He was on an athletic scholarship and played on the school’s football team. But after getting into some trouble, Newman changed course. “I got thrown in...

Red Skelton was already a popular comedian with his own show called The Raleigh Cigarette Program when he was drafted in March 1944, and the popular series was discontinued. Shipped overseas to serve with an Army entertainment unit as a private, Red Skelton had a nervous breakdown in Italy, spent three months in a hospital and was discharged in September, 1945. He once joked about his military career, "I was the only celebrity who went in and came out a private." On December 4, 1945. Raleigh Cigarette Program resumed where it left off with Red Skelton introducing some new characters,...

"A couple of weeks later, I was called into the commanding officer's headquarters, where he waved a telegram under my nose. Major Cohen bellowed ‘It says I should take you off of KP and it's supposedly signed by Red Skelton! Private, is this your idea of a joke'"

Gunny brought authenticity to his role as Sergeant Hartman, having himself served in Vietnam as a Marine. Ermey spent 11 years in the Marine Corps, according to his online biography. Two of these years, in fact, were spent as a Drill Instructor at Marine Corps Recruit Depot San Diego. Ermey arrived in Vietnam in 1968, spending 14 months attached to Marine Wing Support Group 17, followed by 2 tours in Okinawa. He rose to the rank of Staff Sergeant and was medically retired for injuries received.

He was transferred again to learn to fly F4U Corsairs in Goose Isle, Michigan and logged a few hours in the seat but the war coming to end. As Bob once said " I was a naval aviator, a fighter pilot. I completed all facets of my training, including my qualifying landings on a carrier. I was all ready to go, and when the enemy heard that I was headed for the Pacific, they surrendered. That was the end of World War II."

Before he could complete his degree in psychology from Brooklyn College, Brooks was drafted into the Army to fight during World War II. He served as a corporal in the 1104 Engineer Combat Battalion, 78th Infantry Division as a combat engineer. One of his tasks during the war was to defuse land mines, and he also fought in the Battle of the Bulge. It has been reported that when the Germans played propaganda recordings over loudspeakers, Brooks responded by setting up his own sound system and played music by Al Jolson, a Jewish musician

At age 17, Winters quit high school and joined the United States Marine Corps and served two and a half years in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Upon his return he attended Kenyon College. He later studied cartooning at Dayton Art Institute, where he met Eileen Schauder, whom he married in 1948.

"I was curious about the military service and went into the Army," said Franz. "[It] was a very traumatic, life-changing experience… I'm not as frivolous as I once was. I experienced death over there, and losing friends. I got as close to being shot as I care to. I could feel and hear bullets whizzing over my head, and that shakes you up quite a bit."

Following is a brief description of an incident encountered by Keith during World War II: 1941-1945 served with USMC - decorated with the Air Medal. "Brian was a Radio-Gunner in the rear cockpit of a two-man Douglass "Dauntless" (SDB) dive-bomber in a U.S. Marine squadron. During an attack on Rabaul, his plane was badly damaged by enemy ground fire. The pilot struggled to keep the plane in the air. Unable to keep up with the others, it fell behind. Two Japanese "Zero" fighters attacked the crippled plane from the rear. Both of Brian's machine guns jammed. He fired red tracer...

In 1941 he decided to apply for a Navy commission but was turned down even though he was spending time teaching seamanship to Naval Reserve OCS candidates. Ebsen applied for a commission in the Coast Guard. He was accepted and commissioned a Lieutenant (jg) in the Coast Guard. He served on the Navy frigate USS Pocatello, a weather ship that served on Station Able. He was honorably discharged a Lieutenant in 1946. Ebsen went on to various bit parts in movies, but his career really took off when Walt Disney hired him to play George Russel, Davey Crockett’s (Fess Parker),...

I messed up on the title, I guess admin is too busy to make correcthttp://www.freerepublic.com/focus/chat/3666917/posts?page=5#5ion so here is original post.

Soon after the United States entered World War II, Julia felt the need to serve her country. Too tall to join the military (she was 6’2”), Julia volunteered her services to the Office of Strategic Services (OSS), which was the forerunner of today’s Central Intelligence Agency. She was one of 4,500 women who served in the OSS. She started out at OSS Headquarters in Washington, working directly for General William J. Donovan, the leader of OSS. Working as a research assistant in the Secret Intelligence division, Julia typed up thousands of names on little white note cards, a system that...

Additional Information Last Known Activity Service in the Army in World War II; spent five years in the Medical Corps of the Army, reaching the rank of captain. As a medical administrative officer, a duty that sent him to various locations like Hawaii, Casablanca and France. It was in France that he began showing his acting talent by performing in a show to entertain the recovering troops. Wallach served as a staff sergeant in Hawaii in a military hospital in the United States Army in World War II. He was soon sent to Officer Candidate School (OCS) in Abilene, Texas...

He attended Alexander Hamilton Vocational School after graduating from high school, but dropped out and joined the Marines in 1956. When asked why he joined the Marines, Keitel has said, "The Marine Corps was one experience along my own particular path. I had to do what I did. I couldn't do otherwise. What was it that the guy said, 'Why'd you climb that mountain?' And the answer was 'Because it's there.' Sounds corny, but nevertheless it's somewhere in that area."